HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP

In a cheerful coastal town, before the controversial opening of a salmon farming facility, strange events occur: fish disappear worryingly from the seabed, all the dogs in the port are killed in one night, and a fishing boat explodes near the coast while it was hoisting the net in which something very large had gotten tangled. Jim, a local fisherman, along with an Indian friend of his, who had opposed the opening of the facility, and a marine biologist, will investigate the incident until they discover the terrible truth. Produced at a very low cost by the brilliant Roger Corman, "Monster" belongs to the Eco-Vengeance or Ecological genre; it is a B-movie, but of a certain value; the cast is well-chosen and features an old glory of 1970s sci-fi cinema, namely Doug McClure, seen in "The Land That Time Forgot," "The People That Time Forgot," "At the Earth's Core," all "small cult" films of the genre. The film is quite fast-paced, well-made (considering the budget), free of dull moments, endowed with a certain tension even if in some points a certain naivety transpires (the scene of the brawl in the bar and the fire at the port); some images are inappropriately repeated, as usual, given the considerable use of image recycling by Corman, to spend as little as possible and increase the runtime. Some dialogues could definitely have been spared, as they are obvious and especially useless; there are no significant discrepancies between the first and second halves, both are effective, although too brief (the film lasts only 75 min.). Absolutely noteworthy are the special effects, very gory and well-made, by big names, in one of their first attempts (Rob Bottin; Steve Johnson; Ken Meyers); such handmade effects are still missed. Many scenes are worth mentioning, but above all, the final one deserves it because it really has a certain effect and because it is shot in a film contemporary to "Monster," namely "Inseminoid;" the look of the monsters (present in the film in two versions) constitutes an interesting reference; the most obvious reference is to "The Creature from the Black Lagoon," but one could easily make an association with the Metalunians from "The Cosmic Man." The director wanted to include, in addition to the ecological element, a nod to the protection of Native American rights to make the film's moral lesson less obvious. Despite its simplicity, "Monster" certainly represents one of the best genre films of the last 20 years.