Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Dollar Bin Film - "Screamers"


A group of escaped convicts soon wish that they had stayed in jail when they discover that their island hideout is inhabited by a deranged doctor who enjoys "turning people inside out."

Screamers is an Italian horror film retelling the story of the Island of Dr. Moreau. It's very entertaining but it's tagline is a bit misleading. The men who are being experimented on aren't being "turned inside out", as the tagline states, but into amphibious deep-sea diving creatures. None the less, the movie is gory, well acted and very well shot. The effects even seem to be ahead of it's time. The first fifteen minutes are the most shocking, and the rest of the film is entertaining with plot twists at every turn (I have no doubt that is was films like this that inspired the first SAW film). It was filmed at the same time and in the same location as Zombi 2, and also stars Zombi 2's Richard Johnson (talk about cost effective shooting!). This is an old grindhouse gem that shows how amazing Italian horror is. Now if your planning on buying or renting this film, take note that there are two versions out there. The first is the VHS version (the one I have) in which Roger Corman added a few additional gory scenes for the American audiences. The second is the original Italian version on a newly restored DVD (I have not seen this version, so if you have let me know what you think!). If you love on grindhouse films, Italian horror, and just plain old good horror films, I recommend you take a gander at Screamers (also known as L'isola degli uomini pesce).

3 comments:

a paperback horror said...

That first sentence alone made me want to get out there and grab this movie. Awesome find!

Jeremy [Retro] said...

you hit this on the head!

Franco Macabro said...

I love Italiah horror films, I just recently reviewed one called Contamination (1980) it was an entertaining splatter fest!

Screamers looks like fun, I had no idea it was on dvd, Ill be looking for that one!