''Island of the Fishmen'' ( it, L'isola degli uomini pesce) is a 1979 Italian action-

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apo ...

directed by

Sergio Martino Sergio Martino (born 19 July 1938) is an Italian film director and producer, notable for his contributions to the giallo genre. Martino is the brother of the late producer Luciano Martino (who died in 2013). They collaborated frequently in their ...

, starring Barbara Bach,

Joseph Cotten Joseph Cheshire Cotten Jr. (May 15, 1905 – February 6, 1994) was an American film, stage, radio and television actor. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of '' The Philadelphia Story'' and '' Sa ...

and Richard Johnson. In 1981, about 30 minutes of footage was removed from the original film and replaced with new material for international release. This version was given the title ''Screamers''.

Plot

It is the year 1891 and a military doctor, Lieutenant Claude de Ross (Claudio Cassinelli) a survivor of not one, but ''two'' shipwrecks, washes ashore on a mysterious, uncharted Caribbean island along with a handful of convicts. When several of these convicts meet unfortunate ends at the hands of the titular fishmen, Claude and the other survivors flee into the jungle, only to encounter the sadistic Edmond Rackham ( Richard Johnson) and his beautiful captive Amanda Marvin ( Barbara Bach). Amanda's father, Professor Ernest Marvin (

), a once-famed biologist, has discovered a way to transform humans into amphibious creatures and controls their every move. Rackham manipulates Marvin into performing the procedure upon both willing and unwilling participants by assuring him that his work is undertaken for purely scientific and humanitarian motives (Marvin hopes to reduce strain on the world food supply by creating a race of people who can live in the resource-untapped ocean). Having discovered the lost city of

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus'' and ''Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that bes ...

beneath the waters surrounding the island however, Rackham is in actuality using the half-human monsters to plunder the lost city of its treasures. Shakira (Beryl Cunningham), a voodoo priestess in the employ of Rackham foretells death and destruction descending upon the island. The priestess' prophecy is fulfilled as the film ends with Claude and Amanda attempting an escape from a gun-wielding Rackham, a crazed Shakira, uncontrolled fishmen ''and'' the very volcano that doomed Atlantis which awakens and threatens to send what unsubmerged landmass remains to oblivion. Set Isola uomini pesce Grotte di Nettuno

Set Isola uomini pesce Grotte di Nettuno

Cast

* Claudio Cassinelli as Lieutenant Claude de Ross * Barbara Bach as Amanda Marvin * Richard Johnson as Edmond Rackham *

as Professor Ernest Marvin * Beryl Cunningham as Shakira *Franco Iavarone as José *Roberto Posse as Peter *Giuseppe Castellano as Skip *Franco Mazzieri as François

Release

''Islands of the Fishmen'' was released in Italy on January 18, 1979.

Alternate versions

After being acquired by American distributors

New World Pictures New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 19 ...

and United Pictures Organization, Miller Drake was hired to pen and helm a new opening for the film. This prologue featured Cameron Mitchell as a sea captain leading a gentleman ( Mel Ferrer) who had squandered his family fortune in search of Atlantean treasure on the island. This footage contained grisly special make-up effects of fishmen-inflicted wounds created by Chris Walas. Changes to the film itself included the addition of musical cues by Sandy Berman not present in the Italian cut, a new English dub track and a new title, ''Something Waits in the Dark''. After this 1980 release proved unsuccessful, Jim Wynorski spearheaded New World Pictures' re-release of the film. Wynorski re-titled the film (again) and for this new version, entitled ''Screamers'', a scene of a man being turned inside-out was filmed specifically for inclusion in a trailer designed to lure in audiences who failed to give ''Something Waits in the Dark'' much notice. Both ''Something Waits in the Dark'' and ''Screamers'' run approximately 85 minutes in length. Roughly half an hour of footage was edited from ''L'isola degli uomini pesce'' in order to make room for the above-mentioned stateside additions.

Reception

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...

of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' gave the film half of one star out of four and remarked, "'Screamers' (a fresh title for what appears to be an old film) never generates any scream." Siskel, Gene (June 15, 1981). "'Screamers' and 'It Came Without Warning'". ''

''. Section 3, p. 7.

Sequel

In 1995,

returned to direct a made-for-Italian-TV sequel titled ''The Fishmen and Their Queen'', a.k.a. ''Queen of the Fishmen''.

References

External links

* {{Sergio Martino 1979 films 1979 horror films Films directed by Sergio Martino Italian action horror films 1970s Italian-language films Films shot in Sardinia Films set in 1891 Films set in Atlantis Films set in the Caribbean 1970s historical horror films Italian historical films Films produced by Luciano Martino Films with screenplays by Sergio Donati Italian horror films 1970s Italian films