Roger Corman produces yet another classic piece of trash, having it helmed by Barbara Peeters (unsurprisingly her last movie ever directed). This time the black lagoon throwback delivers a story of sex-crazed mutant amphibians hell-bent on raping all the broads, whilst dispatching of any potential competition. Flailing long arms with razor-sharp talons disembowel and cause unwaning blood splattering, while girls show off their youthful graces while screaming in horror. To stop the onslaught a mild mannered elderly fisherman (or Fisherman to punctuate his hero status?) Jim Hill (Doug McClure) leads the stand-off with Indian Johnny Eagle (Anthony Pena) his brave Tonto. All in order to counterattack the science-initiated epidemic of killer trout-men with big bulging brains.

Unabashedly exploitational "Humanoids from the Deep" with a strong sexual innuendo (and several rape sequences) coupled with absolute adoration to gorrific entertainment, Corman produces another guilty pleasure - a movie so morally inept, script-horrific, but entirely enticing and engaging. Epitomising dumb fun, it is inexplicably entertaining offering a hearty laugh at the in-built stupidity, while also keeping the blood pumping through some well-defined tension. Albeit idiotic in base premise and execution the whole movie is done tongue and cheek, winking at the audience. A stand-out scene occurs during an absolutely hilarious attack on a ventriloquist and his girl, where the puppet rolls his eyes to get a glimpse at all the bloody action.

Wow! Every once in a while a B-movie comes along which makes you sit up in your seat and take note, and this cheesy, low-budget monster movie is such a film. From the production company of legendary exploitation king Roger Corman, this is an exciting, sometimes funny monster rampage romp with plenty of gratuitous violence and nudity to keep things moving swiftly along. What more can you ask for? We'll, there's plenty more. For a start, the cast is populated by B-movie stalwarts, including wooden hero Doug McClure. This was sadly McClure's last venture into the creature features (after he'd spent years in Britain fighting papier-mache creations in the likes of THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT), but he goes out with a bang, shooting up and fighting loads of the abominable fish-men. He's supported by plenty of actresses who find themselves in peril, including a surprisingly resourceful Ann Turkel and Cindy Weintraub. Vic Morrow also hams it up as an unbelievably stupid cannery employee.

The template of this film is typical of any monster movie; first off, we have isolated sporadic attacks, then an investigation, and finally an all out rampage with hundreds of people running and screaming from the beasts until they're finally defeated. This makes the film feel like an updated CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, and indeed it is: without the gore and nudity, this would fit in happily with the other monster larks of the 1950s. The first two thirds of the film show us these isolated attacks with glee. Almost every attack has a half-naked woman running away from these monsters, it's surprising how these women are so unlucky in getting their clothes ripped off! Corman cleverly decided to keep his monsters under wraps until the final third, but they don't disappoint when we finally do see them...in fact, they're excellent! This doesn't come as much of a surprise actually when you consider that Rob Bottin, who also created THE THING, was responsible for them. The seaweed-covered, slimy-looking monsters are absolutely excellent, and it's great how there's loads of them instead of the usual one or two.

Obviously the best parts of the movie are the bits where the monsters are attacking people. The best scene for me is where they burst up from underneath a pier. They also get to die messily, with blood squirting everywhere. As this was a year after ALIEN, no film would be complete without a monster bursting from a woman's chest, and this is no exception! Thankfully the rape scenes are only shown briefly. This film doesn't skimp on the violence, either, and there's plenty of gooey gore flying about. The monsters bleed red blood for a change, and frequently get the opportunity to do so! People have half their faces ripped off, are crushed, snapped, have their chests torn open, blood splashing everywhere. The fun spirit of this film shines through at all times, making it a classic example of a monster movie which seems strangely old-fashioned despite all of the extremes. Definitely worth tracking down, as this is quite difficult to find these days.