The Island of the Fishmen (1979)

The Island of the Fishmen AKA Island of Mutations (original Italian title L'isola degli uomini pesce) is a 1979 horror film directed by Sergio Martino. It was released in the US by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures in a heavily edited form (including a great deal of newly shot footage replacing existing footage) under the title Screamers.

It is 1891 and a French prison ship has sunk, presumably somewhere in the Caribbean. There are a dozen or so survivors but their troubles have just begun. Something drags their lifeboat towards an island. They assume it’s a current but we have seen enough to know that there’s something sinister in the sea.

Half a dozen men make it to the beach but before long only three remain alive, the ship’s medical officer Lieutenant Claude de Ross (Claudio Cassinelli) and two prisoners.

One of the prisoners is convinced that this is a voodoo island. He’s at least partially correct.

They think their troubles are over when a beautiful young woman rides up on horseback but she informs them that the island belongs to Mr Rackham and that he does not like trespassers and they would be well advised to leave. They will later discover that the woman is Amanda Marvin (Barbara Bach).

They make their way to the house of Edmond Rackham (Richard Johnson) and he seems inclined to be hospitable.

There’s tension in the house between Amanda and Mr Rackham. He clearly has romantic designs on her and she most definitely does not reciprocate his feelings. The household also includes a Haitian voodoo priestess, Shakira (Beryl Cunningham), and she seems to feel a certain attraction to Rackham. There are other voodoo priestesses on the island and Rackham has a small private army of presumably Haitian warriors.

There are monstrous things living in the swamps and in the sea. They seem to be half man and half fish. Everyone on the island is aware of them and they don’t seem too worried. Claude on the other hand is very worried.

As one might have predicted a romance blossoms between Claude and Amanda. Gradually Claude learns the truth about what Rackham is up to on the island, and he also discovers that his services as a doctor are required. Rackham needs him to keep an old man alive. The old man is Amanda’s father Professor Ernest Marvin (Joseph Cotten). The professor had been involved in a scandal some years earlier, a scandal involving horrifying medical experiments. Rackham has good reasons for needing Professor Marvin’s services.

Just as Claude has put all the pieces of the puzzle together he finds that there are important things he did not know and those things change the picture completely.

Professor Marvin, Rackham and Shakira are all mad, but mad in different ways. Somehow Claude has to find a way to save Amanda. And there’s a time factor - this is a volcanic island and the volcano seems to be getting much more active.

The script obviously uses The Island of Dr Moreau as a jumping-off point but pretty soon the story starts developing in rather different directions. There are hints of certain well-known legends and some very definite Lovecraftian elements but I don’t want to risk spoilers by saying any more.

Richard Johnson is excellent as the sinister obsessed Rackham. Claudio Cassinelli plays the hero rôle pretty well and Barbara Bach is a fine spirited heroine (and she adds some glamour).

The movie has a definite steampunk feel. There are occasionally cheesy moments but the Italians had a knack for making cheesiness stylish. And mostly it isn’t that cheesy. The special effects work pretty well. The fishmen are obviously guys in rubber suits but they look fine. The sets are great. As low budget movies go this one looks terrific.

This isn’t really a horror movie. It’s more like a mutated version of a late 19th century scientific romance with some horror thrown in.

This movie doesn’t seem to have much of a reputation which might be a consequence of that heavily altered US version referred to earlier. This movie is so much fun. You’re not supposed to take it seriously. It’s a romp and it’s done with style and energy. Very highly recommended.

Full Moon’s Blu-Ray release is barebones but the transfer is excellent.

Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972)

Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (AKA Gently Before She Dies and Excite Me, Your Vice) is a 1972 giallo and one of Sergio Martino’s most admired movies. It’s based on Edgar Allan Poe’s famous story The Black Cat.

Oliviero Rouvigny (Luigi Pistilli) is a writer. He was a successful writer but after his mother’s death he gave in to booze and self-pity. Now he can’t even get published. He still has just enough money to maintain his villa although it seems that he pays the bills by selling the furniture.

He lives with his wife Irina (Anita Strindberg). The have a black maid named Brenda. Oliviero seems to be attracted to Brenda although this could just be a way of annoying his wife.

This is not exactly a marriage made in heaven. Oliviero brutalises and humiliates Irina. We assume he suffers from major feelings of inadequacy, probably both professional and sexual.

Their decadent lifestyle includes regularly playing host to a bunch of hippies.

Oliviero makes a date with his girlfriend Fausta. Their affair started ten years earlier when he was a schoolteacher and she was a schoolgirl.

There is of course a murder.

And another murder. At this stage it seems that this will be a typical giallo with a crazed killer stalking women. Then there’s a plot twist and the movie changes gears. It begins to focus on a romantic triangle involving Oliviero, Irina and Floriana (Edwige Fenech). Floriana has just arrived for an extended stay.

Floriana is some relation to Oliviero. She’s young, beautiful and sexy. She’s also highly sexed. Within a day or so of her arrival she’s slept with three of the characters in the movie.

It’s a complex romantic triangle. Floriana is sleeping with Irina as well as Oliviero.

It’s obvious that there’s the potential for trouble and we can guess that the trouble is likely to involve murder.

The original crazed killer plot-line isn’t totally forgotten.

There’s plenty of sexual jealousy and there’s bitterness and there’s craziness.

And there is a black cat. His name is Satan. And he has a part to play in this story.

While obviously lots of extra plot has been added the essential ingredients of Poe’s story are there.

The title of the movie comes from a line in an earlier Sergio Martino giallo, The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh. It was a line that just had to be used as a movie title.

Edwige Fenech looks stunning and gives a fine performance as the dangerously seductive Floriana. Anita Strindberg as Irina and Luigi Pistilli as Oliviero are also very good.

Ernesto Gastaldi contributed to the screenplay so it’s no surprise that the plot works even if it’s not strikingly original.

This movie doesn’t have the glamour we usually associate with the giallo genre. It’s moody and it takes place in an enclosed world in which suspicions can quickly ripen into paranoia. I suppose you could call this movie a giallo-tinged gothic psychological thriller but it’s close enough to being a giallo to satisfy most fans.

Sergio Martino directs with a sure hand. Maybe there aren’t the spectacular visual set-pieces that you get in some giallos but overall it’s visually impressive. While most giallos have a self-consciously modern urban look this is more of a rural giallo with a time setting that is never precisely specified.

Arrow have released this movie on DVD and also on Blu-Ray. The DVD transfer is good and there are plenty of extras.

Edwige Fenech is definitely the movie’s single biggest asset. There’s an interesting decadent feel and it’s a bit more plot-driven than most giallos. There’s plenty of entertainment value here. Highly recommended.