You can tell time and again that the film is directed by a woman, or rather a person with a feminist agenda. But then there are scenes that don’t fit into the picture at all, such as the rapes. No wonder, because these were not shot by director Barbara Peeters, but by Jimmy T. Murakami afterwards. Peeters knew about this, but it was agreed that she, as the director in charge, would be allowed to look over the film before it was released. Because this didn’t happen and Peeters rightly felt betrayed, she distanced herself from the film.
HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP was initially a box office flop and received poor reviews, but over the years it has become more and more of a cult film. That makes sense, since we are dealing with a strange film that oscillates between high entertainment value and triggering extreme discomfort. There are plenty of references to horror classics such as JAWS, ALIEN and the slasher genre, and the practical effects in the frequent gore scenes are impressive.
“Described by film critic Philip Frech as the “most senselessly violent and rape-obsessed” film of 1980, Humanoids from the Deep is an eco-horror hybrid of Jaws, Piranha and The Terror from the Amazon.” SLASH Film Festival
