Monster of the Day #206

Updated on February 25, 2011 By Ken Begg 20 Comments

And this is why ugly guys join rock bands.

[Left to right: Billy Joel, Ringo Starr, Barbara Bach, Rick Ocasek]
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  • Ericb

    … and then Mr. Lovecraft bolted up with a yelp and realised that it was just a nightmare.

  • KeithB

    EricB:
    And the nightmare creature was the unfamiliar one in the middle!

    (OF course, this is probably what you meant and I am stating the obvious.)

  • Reed

    Barbara Bach was not a good actress, but she was (and probably still is) a stunning woman. That having been said, I have no idea what movie this is.

    Also, Ringo may have been the least talented Beatle, but if you ever get a chance to see one of the Ringo and His Friends tours that he does every couple of years you should check it out. It’s a good time, and less than a 10th of the price of tickets to see McCartney!

  • KeithB

    Reed:
    Hint – This post is linked to Ken’s “Tick Tock” post of a few days ago. I think we can consider it a preview – or a screenshot caption contest.

  • Ericb

    Wow, Barbara Bach was in a Lovecraft knockoff movie?

  • David Fullam

    Love this one (the original Italian version).

  • Good guess, but sadly I don’t have a copy of this at hand. There is a very nice DVD of it out, though.

  • Ericb

    Found out what this was from. An imaginative title and one more entry of shame in the Joseph Cotton filmogarphy.

  • Gamera

    Gee it’s like ‘Barbara and the BEMs’

    On most movies I have at least a guess but I’m totally stumped here.

  • The Rev.

    Gamera: Does it help if I mention that these critters (some kind of, I don’t know, fish-men) are on an island?

  • P Stroud

    And Ringo doesn’t waste stage time with arrogant and annoying social messages either. The best music always has no redeeming social value.

  • Gamera

    Well, other than Deep Ones I haven’t a clue :(

    Interested in finding out what film this is from.

  • Rock Baker

    It goes by the title of Island of the Fish-Men these days, which was aparently the original international title. It achieved a certain infamy in the early days of video where the US version, Screamers (if I’m correct, I never got to see that version), became a rental store standard. The Screamers version, I understand, has an added prolog featuring Cameron Mitchell.

  • Sandy Petersen

    The Screamers version is the one I’m familiar with. It’s completely devoid of anyone screaming though.

    Still, any chance to see Deep Ones in action, however ersatz, is a treat.

  • Eric —

    Are you kidding? This is probably the best movie Cotten made by far in his last 20 years.

  • Gamera

    Thanks! Hmmmm, I’ve heard of ‘Screamers’ but I don’t think I’d seen any screenshots of the monsters till now.

    And I want to confuse it with the Peter Weller robot movie with the same name that was based on Phillip K. Dick’s ‘Second Variety’ short story.

  • Gamera

    Oops! Guess I have seen them before. Andrew Borntreger has a review:

    http://www.badmovies.org/movies/screamers/

  • Rock Baker

    According to the reply by Chris K, this film is in desperate need of a Criterion treatment that includes all of the various versions mentioned. The Italian version, Island of the Fish Men, Something Waits in the Dark, Screamers version one, and Screamers version two! I need to see my version again, true, but I don’t recall it being a horrible movie. A sort of cross between the ’77 Island of Dr. Moreu and War-Gods of the Deep. Oddest thing about the Island of the Fish-Men dub is that the heavy sounds like Dudley Doo-Right’s boss!

  • Petoht

    Screamers? Wasn’t that also a space sci-fi/horror flick about killer robots?

    I can see why they changed things, but “Island of the Fish-People” sounds really… well… 50’s. Back when they’d take the monster and a location and just make that the title…

    Isthmus of the Crab Monsters!
    Aliens From Outer Space!
    Hippies From the Patchouli Nebula!

  • Rock Baker

    I like the sound of Something Waits in the Dark, although that title least reflects what the movie is about. I went back and watched the movie again last night (as Island of the Fish Men). Not bad for what it is, really. Sort of a late-to-the-party AIP Vincent Price flick of the 60s. (I can’t say I find Bach all that lovely, though. She’s no Susan Hart, that’s for sure.)