Screamers [Blu-ray]

Screamers is a recut of the 1979 Italian film,  l'isola degli uomini pesce  (aka, Isle of the Fishmen). This DVD's excellent special features include several interviews with people involved in the recut and its marketing, explaining the why of it.Roger Corman was given the opportunity to distribute L'Isola Degli Uomini Pesce, but the film, while horror, is a rubber-suit monster movie. Corman believed that American horror fans at the time were mostly interested in slasher films. So Corman cut some 20 minutes out of the Italian film, and filmed an additional 15 minutes (mostly a prologue). The additional scenes and some of the poster artwork (the monster's fingernail resembled a slasher's knife) allowed Corman to market the film, now retitled Something Waits in the Dark, as a slasher film. His trailers (included in the DVD) implied that Screamers is mostly about monsters that rape women.Corman later re-remarketed the film as about "a man turned inside out," re-retitling it Screamers. The newly shot "inside out" footage used in that trailer was not used in the re-recut film, causing a riot at one Georgia drive-in. So Corman inserted that very brief footage (which makes no sense in any version of the film) to please audiences.The special feature interviews include Corman, and people involved in directing, editing, and marketing the new scenes and film versions.It's all very interesting from a historical perspective. Even so, I think Corman was wrong to recut the film. As a horror fan, while I enjoy Screamers, I prefer  l'isola degli uomini pesce .I first saw Screamers over 30 years ago on broadcast TV. Later as an Embassy VHS cassette. Then I bought the Italian DVD (available only on PAL), and now this Blu-Ray Screamers.The Corman prologue is okay, but unnecessary. It adds nothing to the film. Screamers is about 89 minutes long, L'Isola Degli Uomini Pesce is 95 minutes. This means the Italian version has about 20 minutes you won't find on Screamers (which has 15 minutes you won't find on L'Isola Degli Uomini Pesce).The core story remains the same. The year is 1891. Rackham (Richard Johnson) is a white land baron who owns an uncharted Caribbean island. Primitive black natives obey his every whim. He's hired a well-intentioned mad scientist, Dr. Marvin (Joseph Cotten), to turn the natives into fishmen, so as to harvest undersea gold from the lost civilization of Atlantis. Amanda (Barbara Bach) is Dr. Marvin's beautiful daughter, who communicates with the fishmen, who love her.The hunky Claude (Claudio Cassinelli), a doctor on a prison ship, crashes onto the island, along with several prisoners. He uncovers Rackham's evil scheme, even as the fishmen kill off various people.If you've seen Screamers, you're missing a lot (20 minutes) from the original film. A few scenes are missing entirely, but mostly its scenes that have been trimmed. Things that are implied in Screamers are explicitly stated in L'Isola Degli Uomini Pesce.SOME OF WHAT'S MISSING ...* We sense that Rackham has the hots for Amanda, but it's never explicit in Screamers. But in L'Isola Degli Uomini Pesce he speaks of his jealousy for her, calls her his wife, and later admits that she's "not yet" his wife.* We sense that Dr. Marvin might be in trouble in Screamers, whereas in L'Isola Degli Uomini Pesce, Rackham explicitly states that he keeps Amanda in line by threatening to kill Marvin.* We sense that Shakira and Amanda are at odds in Screamers, but in L'Isola Degli Uomini Pesce Amanda explicitly accuses Shakira of spying on her.* Quick action events (e.g., the killing of Francois; the attempted rape of Amanda by another prisoner) are drawn out in L'Isola Degli Uomini Pesce, allowing for drawn-out suspenseful buildup, or drawn-out chase scenes.* There's a voodoo ritual scene in Screamers, but two such scenes in L'Isola Degli Uomini Pesce.* During dinner, Claude diagnoses Rackham of misanthropy. In L'Isola Degli Uomini Pesce, Claude later changes his diagnosis to paranoia.* Additional dialog between Claude and Amanda, and between other characters. The missing dialog is usually a line or two here and there. Trims from scenes rather than missing scenes.* The final scene/credit roll of Screamers has a fishman swimming ominously underwater. In L'Isola Degli Uomini Pesce, the credits roll over a shot of Claude and Amanda embracing on a raft, a beautiful pink sky behind them. Corman opted for horror, the Italians for romance.* One of the BIG differences (allegedly) is the transformation of Jose into a fishman. Claude and Amanda are horrified to find Jose-as-fishman in a laboratory tank. Corman redid the fishman, replacing his version with the Italian version. Supposedly because, Corman thought, his version was more gruesome, and more like "a man turned inside out." I disagree. Both fishmen are equally gruesome. It was an unnecessary bit of work on Corman's part.Some people, Corman included, think that L'Isola Degli Uomini Pesce is too slow moving, and that the trimming, with the addition of the prologue, makes for a faster-paced, more gruesome film. I don't think so. I find that the original version is well-paced, and makes for a richer film, with the characters and their relationships more fully developed.I like both versions, but I prefer the Italian.Film students should enjoy watching and comparing both versions, studying how films can change by what's left in or taken out. Is anything lost when those lines are lost? It's a ripe topic for discussion and analysis.A COMPARISON OF THE VISUALS:This Screamers is Blu-Ray, and the visuals are nice. But my DVD of  l'isola degli uomini pesce  also has rich, sharp visuals. I am referring to the NoShame DVD (which I link), and which is widescreen (2.35:1), unlike some other versions.The NoShame DVD is significantly BRIGHTER than the Screamers Blu-Ray DVD. Barbara Bach is a brunette in the Blu-Ray Screamers, but she's strawberry blonde in the NoShame L'Isola Degli Uomini Pesce DVD.The NoShame DVD has both Italian and English language soundtracks, but only Italian subtitles. If you're a deaf English speaker, you're out of luck.The NoShame DVD has great special features, including an hour documentary interviewing three of the people involved in the film, and trailers. However, these are all in Italian, without subtitles. So I couldn't understand what they were saying.I look forward to a Blu-Ray version of L'Isola Degli Uomini Pesce, with English subtitles===============Director Sergio Martino, and actors Richard Johnson, Claudio Cassinelli, and Barbara Bach all collaborated on another Italian horror film that same year -- 1979 -- called  The Big Alligator River  (aka The Great Alligator). Coincidentally, Mel Ferrer appears in that film and in Screamer's Corman prologue (but not in the original Italian version). So if you loved Screamers/L'Isola Degli Uomini Pesce, you'll want to see  The Big Alligator River  (read my review on its Amazon page).=============There seem to be a few bogus 5-star reviews for this film. You can tell because they don't say much, and they post several brief "reviews" all on the same day. Sites like Craigslist are full of ads for paid Amazon and Yelp reviewers. How to spot them:* They say very little in the review. Sometimes they'll reference stuff from the product description ("Parker Posey is a great indie actress" or "I love scary movies and this filled the bill."), but nothing to indicate that they've actually seen the film. Or they'll make pointless (and likely fake) references to their personal lives ("I bought this as a gift for my uncle.")* They post many reviews on the same day.* Shill reviewers have gotten more sophisticated, tossing in a few random 1-star reviews (doubtless from people who didn't pay) to appear credible. But they're all on the same day, among large batches of "reviews."* Being a "Verified Purchaser" does not mean the reviewer is not a shill, not if other signs are there (little said, many "reviews" on the same day).This is a great film, but shame on the shills.

I was expecting a cheap “rubber suited monster” movie with a few gory scenes. This, however, blew past my expectations as a creature feature and a somewhat fantasy-adventure movie.A small treasure-hunting expedition (victim fodder for the opening scenes) to a remote island ventures to the misty Cave of the Dead filled with gross decayed skeletons and corpses. Slime-covered monstrous claws are all we see at first, but they look great for the 70s and they waste no time before brutally ripping off a man’s head, making bloody fleshy lacerations of a victim’s throat and slashing out a guy’s intestines! This all happens in the first ten minutes. So we’re off to a great start.When we see the fishmen, they look great. I’d say better than Humanoids from the Deep (1980), especially in the opening shots, and maybe a bit less impressive in some subsequent shots as there is more than one creature/suit design. There are also some sort of animated corpse/zombies in the fishmen’s lair—and the corpses are gooey!When the survivors of a prison ship wash ashore on the remote island, they encounter the island’s owner, his native servants led by Shakira (Beryl Cunningham; The Exterminators of the Year 3000, Tarzana the Wild Woman), and the lovely Amanda (Barbara Bach; The Humanoid, Caveman, The Unseen)—who seems to be more like a prisoner treated liked a houseguest.After the opening scenes, this doesn’t feel much like a horror movie. An interesting plot unfolds more akin to an adventure movie than horror, and it relies on action perhaps more than “scares.” As if mixing The Island of Doctor Moreau (1977) with a treasure hunt action-mystery, the island’s owner has an elaborate plan to harvest the ancient treasures of the Lost City of Atlantis, and that plan involves Amanda and now his new guests.The effects of the fishmen vary (because there are differently designed costumes). Single monster appearances are more often the better creature designs (as well as the laboratory experiment scene), and multiple monsters present often indicates the weaker creature design. But overall, it’s always cool seeing these things. There are many long shots of the fishmen swimming underwater, creating great visuals. Actually, this film was really ambitious. Lots of interesting sets, lots of monsters that we see very often, a good amount of gore, scenes in caverns and beaches and caves, probably expensive underwater scenes and lots of structure fires. This whole undertaking looks expensive.But (maybe I missed something here) why is the American title release of this movie called Screamers? It turns out one of the title releases (for the USA, I think) carried that title along with the tagline: “They’re men turned inside out! And worse… they’re still alive!” But other than the skinned (maybe undead) thing in the early beach cave scene, there’s nothing of the sort. And, sure, the main bad guy does something to people. But this title and line is incredibly misleading, and probably generated by someone who just saw some screen shots out of context.Director Sergio Martino (2019: After the Fall of New York, Hands of Steel, Torso) made a satisfying, entertaining film. It definitely was not what I expected. And although it’s not something I plan on revisiting, it’s something I’m glad I saw.I was expecting a cheap rubber suited monster movie with a few gory scenes. This, however, blew past my expectations as a creature feature and a somewhat fantasy-adventure movie.

Roger Corman bought a slow moving and dull flick called Island Of The Fishmen. It didn't play too well so he had about 12 minutes of new footage shot and inserted at the start. Then he cut the fat from the rest of the film to bring it down to 90 minutes. Too bad he didn't have the rest of the film reshot because the first 12 minutes are pretty creepy, exciting and better than the rest of the film. I'm usually a purist when it comes to foreign films pushing that they be subtitled and as they were originally shot. But in some cases help is needed and this film is clearly one of them. It looks great and the extras are fun but it pretty much drags for the last hour. If you can find this cheap snap it up. Otherwise you're taking a dip into uncertain waters.

From the title and cover art I was expecting a straightforward trashy slasher/creature flick.This is actually a period piece about ship wreck survivors encountering strange doings by a rich white man living on a remote tropical island who is somehow involved with semi-human creatures. It isn't quite The Island of Dr. Moreau, but one might describe it as a 're-imagining' of that setup.Taking a ideas one of the foundational stories of sci-fi-horror which is also one of the most adapted works of fiction ever, makes it very hard for the plot or action to have any suspense which are so key in a movie like this. And it's not artful or well done enough to fully overcome this handicap.It's not bad, but it feels a bit unnecessary because it doesn't put enough new spin on well trodden tropes. Also it has Cameron Mitchel in it, but only for about 2 minutes which is an absolute waste, he would at least brought his trademark B-movie charm to the thing if he'd played a leading role.

Best thing about this one is the 12 minute added gory footage from Corman's team. The rest is a so-so story à la THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU. Very good picture quality and sound. The extras are of interesting interviews with the crew.

ます、日本語字幕はありません。当然ですが。国内発のDVD版を持っているので見比べ見ましたが、画面がかなり暗いのでテレビの設定で明るくしてもかなり暗いです。また、オープニングのフッテージとして別撮りの映像が挿入されていますが、うーんて感じです。この部分が気になって購入したのでまぁ損をした感じはなかったです。

I had mixed feeling about this movie, not too sure whether I liked it or not, will probably watch it again to make up my mind.