Anyone besides me know who Guillermo del Toro is or his world famous and highly acclaimed Pan's Labyrinth? Well when Guillermo was young he use to love a film called "L'isola Degli Uomini Pesce" Or just simply known as "Island of the Fishmen".
This is one of the films and the one of the reason he made Pan's Labyrinth.
Now I'm not a big fan of American produced fantasy films or anything made there I prefer foreign made one's and Island of the Fishmen was this 70s produced Italian one that simply does not disappointed. You better be warned though, There are many versions with different footage (With American actors) and soundtracks ETC to make the film more marketable because people aren't interested in reading subtitles.
After their prison ship sinks in the Caribbean, a group of prisoners and a doctor wash ashore on a seemingly deserted island. They soon discover a strange couple, who invite them to stay at their house. While the prisoners try to plan an escape, the doctor does some investigating, and soon finds out just what the pair are really doing, and why the prisoners keep disappearing mysteriously. Little do they know something sinister is happening beneath the sea...and its only getting worse.
The film is kind of a cross between something made by H.G. Wells's classic story The Island of Dr. Moreau or and legends based on the Lost City of Atlantis. But the combination works perfectly and the story tends to never lack in its greatness at most. Again to be confused by the different versions out there such as Something Waits In The Dark and Screamers. (These versions were dubbed into English and have new openings and scenes filmed for the movie) The version you need to see is the original but it's sadly only available in Italy.
The version Screamers made the film more violent with gore inserts, in Sergio's original version it had none. The music is extremely good for the original cut the monsters aren't fantastic looking but are still awesome and add to the films amusingness.
Here are some facts I found.
The out of print British video was trimmed for time reasons. Simply, the video company Vipco video cut the 99 minute film to fit on a 90 minute tape. Unlike their release of the Driller Killer which removed a 6 minute chunk for the same reasons, the cuts to Island of the Mutations are spread throughout the film- making it hard to work out exactly what's missing. However the tape is noticeably absent of Jose discovering the underground ship and being knocked out by Rackham's henchmen and Claude being beaten up, force-fed a Voodoo potion and suffering a nightmare.
The German TV version removes around 10 minutes of footage after the boat is sank by the fishmen. This robs the film of its introduction to the main characters, and now begins with a fishman killing one of the boat's crew (in the complete version he's looking for food to help the other survivors). The German print is also missing the following scene where the other members of the crew find his body, in order to belatedly introduce them in the scene after.
Overall great Italian fantasy/adventure film and worth havening a go easy if you like these films. Overall my final verdict is recommended (Note only see the original cut).
March 30, 2011
