I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

the audience applauded

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

They say that familiarity breeds contempt, and that is definitely the case with this unassuming rip-off of STAR WARS, one of many similar Italian films spawned in the late '70s in their rush to make a quick buck off an American hit. Characters, subplots, effects, costumes - even the opening scrolling text - are ripped off wholesale in this predictable sci-fi outing, and it's a wonder that George Lucas didn't sue - but then again, I guess this wannabe "epic" wasn't exactly on wide release in the cinemas back in those days.Aldo Lado - the director previously responsible for such acclaimed gialli as SHORT NIGHT OF THE GLASS DOLLS and WHO SAW HER DIE? - is the man helming this puerile trash, and is seemingly unable to invest his scenes with any dynamism or energy whatsoever. However, there is one exception - the all-out action finale, which is basically a huge shoot-em-up between good guys and bad, with plenty of effects and madness going on to make it hugely entertaining. It's a shame it only lasts for ten minutes of the ninety, because if the entire film had been in this over-the-top and action-packed vein then it would have at least got a four - or even five - star rating. As it is, THE HUMANOID is a plodding, paceless, and even lifeless affair with cardboard-quality effects and unremarkable plotting which serves to waste the talents of a well-known cast.As in STAR WARS, there's a bunch of good guys all teaming up together to fight off the bad, and these include Princess Leia-wannabe Corinne Clery as the female lead and supposed love interest, although this film is definitely lacking in cheesy romance. Clery was a minor Italian actress of the period who later went on to star in Antonio Margheriti's equally tacky YOR - THE HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE. Here, she's totally unmemorable, apart from the one brief interlude in which she falls in a pool and her white dress suddenly becomes see-through - this, and another brief moment of nudity equal the film's sex content.Leonard Mann (who he?) is the totally unremarkable Luke Skywalker clone, a square-jawed curly-haired fresh-faced action star who is, quite frankly, pathetic, and the worst member of the cast. Then there's Richard Kiel, fresh from the success of MOONRAKER and taking a major role as a good-guy pilot who gets zapped by evil forces, mysteriously loses his beard, and becomes the old sticky-out-jawed hulking brute we all know and love, throwing people through windows and against walls as he goes on a short-lived rampage. The odd thing is that when he jumps into a pool, he returns to his old lovable self complete with a beard, seemingly grown in the space of only two minutes! Then there are the pair of somewhat respectable actors who really don't deserve to be seen in this mess. The first up is the always-beautiful Barbara Bach, as a big-haired evil spare vampiress who, like Ingrid Pitt in COUNTESS Dracula, is forced to have the blood of young women in order to retain her youth. Then there's Arthur Kennedy as an evil scientist whose diabolical plan is pretty pathetic. Exploitation stalwart Ivan Rassimov (DEEP RIVER SAVAGES) is Graal, a bad guy who costume so resembles that of Darth Vader that you wouldn't be able to spot which was which in an identity parade, but at least Rassimov is hidden behind a mask for the entire film to spare him the embarrassment of being seen - let alone heard, as his dialogue is frankly ridiculous.The biggest surprise is that the "old sage" role taken by Alec Guinness in STAR WARS has been replaced by Tom-Tom, an obnoxiously twee Chinese boy played by the unknown Marco Yeh! I don't know who thought it would be "clever" to replace the old with the young, but this annoying kid just takes the biscuit as he patronisingly deals out advice to our heroes. Shoot the little git! Finally, we have old-timer Massimo Serato (THE WILD, WILD PLANET) as the "Great Brother", a minor good guy role, and he inexplicably disappears halfway through anyway.As well as the undistinguished efforts of a familiar cast, there's also a worrying amount of familiar names in the crew of the film as well. Aside from director Aldo Lado, the usually stylish Enzo G. Castellari is credited as the second unit director, Antonio Margheriti contributes miniatures and effects work, goremeister Giannetto De Rossi is on hand with the makeup effects and Ennio Morricone, of all people, contributes the awful synthesiser music which is one of the film's lowest points. It's a shame that the combination of all this raw talent couldn't have been channelled into a beter film, but I guess everybody has their off days and somehow everyone's off day happened to be when making this film! Elsewhere, we have lots of tacky models flying about in a supposed space (they were wise to concentrate on ground-level action for the finale, is all I'll say), plenty of laser beams and shooting which is just about on a level with that in STAR WARS, a rubbishy robot R2D2-wannabe which is so bad it has to be seen to be believed (a scene in which this robot squirts robo-grease over the ground, causing all the bad guys to fall over, is the saddest in the movie), loads of enemy soldiers being decapitated in a row, bows which fire glowing blue arrows instead of light sabers, Rassimov shooting blue lasers out of his hands, too much shoddy back projection and poor blue-screen effects work, and a neck-breaking (I guess those exploitative Italians couldn't resist throwing in just a little violence). Although the last fifteen minutes is hugely entertaining, the rest of the film is sub-par making this a film for bad movie lovers only.

I too must own up to having seen this film at the cinema when it first came out, in a double bill with The Manitou (what a night at the movies that was!).Despite having some decent stars in it (Corinne Clery, Barbara Bach, Arthur Kennedy and, er, Richard "Jaws" Kiel, who is the lead), The Humanoid (original title "l'Umanoide") is truly dreadful.There is some entertainment value to be gained by counting all the direct Star Wars swipes (I'll start you off with spaceship and costume design), and some elements of the script are so laughable as to be funny (the two don't necessarily go together).But the music, dubbing, and wobbly mattes are beyond poor, and the rip-off status which oozes from every frame is so seedy that it irritates.

I saw this in the cinema when it first came out, riding the Star Wars wave like a stoned surfer.I managed to get hold of a VHS copy some years back, and when I viewed it with adult eyes, I was astounded by how dreadful the whole film is.The film is so bad in every way that it manages to reach the 'Plan-9' point and gains entertainment value from being so crummy and downright lame.I have to agree, I'd sit down to watch this film with a nostalgic bag of cheesy Wotsits and a bottle of fizzy pop over laying eyes on the risible Phantom Menace any day!

THE HUMANOID is one of the most entertaining movies ever made. Aldo Lado has supplied me with some of the most bizarre and twisted images you could never imagine. You know you're in for a treat when the main character is named Golob, played by a bearded Richard Kiel and he's got a robot-dog in his crappy spaceship. You somehow can't go wrong from there on.The Tom Tom character is also doing his to make THE HUMANOID one of the ultimate Italian science fiction epics, beware his excellent wisdom. Barbara Bach and the gigantic Kiel was quite the team in the Seventies, and as always she's looking hot in this; "The story of Golob turning Unfriendly and Unstoppable". I love Golob and his dog, I wish to see more of them. Why weren't there any sequels?Ahhh! The glory of Italian Cinema of the Seventies and Eighties continues. These directors and screenwriters seemed to have no limits in ripping off the Hollywood big-seller. There's still plenty of somewhat obscure masterpieces to be discovered, I'm glad I found this one.