A Disappointing Continuation

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

First of all, a word of advice - don't buy or watch this thinking of it as a horror film. It most definitely is not, despite the best efforts of the American distributors who re-cut the movie, added in an opening sequence complete with graphic gore of men turned inside out, put in cameos from genre standbys Mel Ferrer and Cameron Mitchell and gave the film a horror-sounding title. All that aside, the film reviewed here is Sergio Martino's original Italian movie which plays it straight as an adventure film in the style of those Doug McClure movies of the mid '70s, with slightly rougher edges and a little bit more mild gore than they gave us. Despite being best-known for his series of above-average gialli in the early '70s, Martino is a perfectly capable director who also gave us a handful of adventure and post-apocalypse type movies in the late '70s and early '80s.ISLAND OF MUTATIONS begins well enough with a boat of assorted guys floating in the middle of a desolate sea. The film's first problem is apparent - half of the men are dubbed with some of the most appallingly fake British accents you're ever likely to hear, making this scene pretty laughable. Thankfully they all die pretty quickly. Soon enough the boat is attacked by some unseen rubbery creature which smashes it on the rocks and washes the men up on the shore of an island somewhere in the Atlantic. After encountering mysterious man-eating monsters, jungle traps, and treacherous lands, our sole survivor, as played by Claudio Cassinelli, then gets to meet the island's various unfriendly inhabitants.These include a tribe of natives; a mad scientist on the brink of death; a voodoo priestess; an evil gold-hungry bachelor; an army of genetically-mutated "fish men"; an erupting volcano; a laboratory of slimy mutations and lots more. The few things that aren't trying to kill Cassinelli include the underwater city of Atlantis (quite impressively shown, and enhanced by some fine underwater photography), and love interest Barbara Bach. The special effects are of the cheap-but-cheerful quotient, especially those rubbery fish men which you just have to love as they throttle minor cast members and threaten others with their gnashing teeth. Although the plot is somewhat familiar, it's helped along by various adventure staples including a man being put in a cell filling with water; somebody shinning down a rope over a pool of killer monsters; enduring fist-fights; chases and a number of exploding models.ISLAND OF MUTATIONS isn't an intellectually demanding movie; it rather feels like Martino is simply treading water for the first hour and preparing for his denouement. But what a finale it is, offering up tons of excitement and near-death experiences for our heroes. Cast-wise, Cassinelli is a somewhat ineffectual hero who doesn't actually do anything heroic for the first hour, but instead just stands around and watch other events playing out. Only in the climax does he get to fight baddies and monsters as a hero should in this type of movie, but never with the same cheesy determination as a Doug McClure would. Barbara Bach is the attractive love interest with a partly-developed character, so that's better than most for a start. Overacting honours go to Richard Johnson who really enjoys himself as the wicked, greedy, ruthless, selfish bad guy (plus half a dozen adjectives along those lines), while the ancient Joseph Cotten has fun as the atypical mad scientist on the verge of death. Then there's Beryl Cunningham, again in a wasted caricature role of a voodoo priestess who doesn't actually do anything and just seems to be there to free Cassinelli from his imminent watery demise, and a bit part from an unrecognisable Bobby Rhodes (DEMONS) as one of Johnson's native servants.Although it seems in retrospect to be aimed at kids or undemanding young adults, ISLAND OF MUTATIONS is actually an enjoyable and tight little film, done well on what quite clearly is a low budget. Although it has its misses - it repeatedly fails to be scary or chilling when it attempts to be - the hits are more memorable and the film is often exciting, and the last thirty minutes are what an action movie should always be - fast-paced and with lots of battles and stuff going on. Despite its predictability this is perfectly enjoyable stuff and great in an old-fashioned way; in fact it's nice to see they could make old-fashioned films like these when they wanted to in an era and country most recognised for its sadistic violence and bloodshed in its genre films.

Note: this review pertains to the Americanized version, known as "Screamers", devised by Roger Corman. The balance of the original Italian film, "Island of the Fishmen", was kept, and a new prologue, written and directed by Miller Drake, and featuring Mel Ferrer and Cameron Mitchell, was filmed. All in all, this movie is great fun. It's pure nonsense, but it throws a couple of different ideas into its brew, with irresistible results for schlock lovers. We have treasure hunting (in two separate eras), biological mutations, the supposed Lost City of Atlantis, and an international cast also including Claudio Cassinelli, Barbara Bach, Richard Johnson, Joseph Cotten, and Beryl Cunningham.Cassinelli plays Lt. Claude de Ross, a military doctor who's one of a handful of shipwreck survivors. They come across an isolated tropical island, populated by Creature from the Black Lagoon type monsters, and a number of humans, chief among them the dastardly Edmond Rackham (the charismatic Mr. Johnson of "The Haunting" and "Zombi 2"), his female companion Amanda (the stunning Ms. Bach), and her scientist father Ernest (Mr. Cotten).The additional American footage actually doesn't stick out that much from the Italian film; the material was pretty hokey from the start. But it's got tons of atmosphere, a whole lot of beautiful scenery, some pretty gnarly creature suits, and flavourful music composed by Luciano Michelini. The acting in the main story is pretty good, with Cassinelli making for a studly hero and Bach as an appealing leading lady. Johnson comes off the best; he's one of those villains you actually can't help but like. People such as Mitchell, Ferrer, and Cotten were clearly hired for name value and don't get to do all that much.If you're like this viewer, and are partial to this kind of thing to begin with, you should have a fine time watching this.Eight out of 10.

1891: Stalwart, morally upright military doctor Lieutenant Claude de Ross (solid Claudio Cassinelli) and several other shipwreck survivors wash ashore on a remote tropical island that's governed with an iron fist by the ruthless and sadistic Edmund Rackham (superbly played to the deliciously slimy hilt by Richard Johnson), who lives on the island with the feisty Amanda Martin (a winningly spunky performance by the ravishing Barbara Bach) and her unhinged rogue biologist father Professor Ernest Martin (a marvelously dotty portrayal by Joseph Cotten). Moreover, de Ross discovers that Professor Martin has control over a dangerous race of fishman beasts who are being exploited as slave labor by Rackham. Director/co-writer Sergio Martino relates the lively and absorbing story at a constant snappy pace, offers a flavorsome evocation of the lush and remote tropical setting, does an expert job of creating and maintaining a creepy and mysterious atmosphere in the spooky opening third, further spices things up with a nice line in dry humor, and stages the exhilarating action-loaded climax with considerable rip-roaring aplomb. While the central premise is obviously inspired by "The Island of Dr. Moreau," the story nonetheless is given a great deal of freshness and intrigue because of Martino's artful melding of such diverse elements as voodoo, the lost underwater city of Atlantis, a rousing mondo destructo climactic volcanic eruption, buried treasure, unscrupulous genetic experiments, and even some exciting rough'tumble fisticuffs between de Ross and Rackham during the thrilling conclusion into an altogether dynamic, imaginative, and often immensely entertaining whole. The sound acting by the sturdy cast qualifies as another substantial plus: Cassinelli makes for a likable hero, Johnson essays his juicy villain part with supremely lip-smacking aplomb, Bach rates as a quite fetching damsel in distress, plus there are neat supporting contributions by Beryl Cunningham as sinister voodoo priestess Shakira, Franco Iavarone as the superstitious Jose, and Roberto Posse as surly troublemaker Peter. Giancarlo Fernando's sumptuous widescreen cinematography delivers a wealth of striking visuals while Luciano Michelini's throbbing tribal score hits the funky spot. The amphibious humanoid fishman creatures are pretty gnarly-looking, too. An extremely fun flick.

Fans of Euro-horror flicks - Portland's video/DVD store Movie Madness has a whole section devoted to this genre - can't afford to miss Sergio Martino's gut-busting "L'isola degli uomini pesce" (called "Screamers" in the United States). Here's the lowdown: some shipwreck survivors land on an uncharted Caribbean island in 1891. The island is inhabited by a landowner, a scientist (Joseph Cotten) and his daughter (Barbara Bach). Sure enough, it turns out that the landowner is making the scientist create a race of fish-men. And while the fish-men remain calm as long as they can drink their potion, they get nasty otherwise.This movie is sort of a mixture of genres: Euro-horror, swashbuckling, voodoo, and maybe a little bit of "The Island of Dr. Moreau". But it's mostly an excuse to have the fish-men disembowel trespassers; ya gotta love that! I wouldn't be surprised if the Euro-horror genre gave Quentin Tarantino some of his ideas for "Grindhouse". After all, the European horror directors have no scruples about what they show. This is one that you're sure to like.So Joseph Cotten is the only cast member from an Alfred Hitchcock movie (I mean "Shadow of a Doubt") who later co-starred with Ringo Starr's soon-to-be wife and Audrey Hepburn's ex (by whom I mean Mel Ferrer) in an Italian horror flick. The things that we see in life...