Plot: Lt. Claude de Ross (Claudio Cassinelli) served as the doctor on a prison ship and now, he and a number of prisoners float in the ocean. When the ship sank, Claude released the prisoners and allowed them a chance to survive. The group soon crashes into an island, but few survive the landing and the island seems desolate. Strange events soon start to happen, such as odd creatures being sighted and remnants from what appear to be rituals of some kind are found. Claude soon finds himself in the company of Edmond Rackham (Richard Johnson), who runs the island and is quite an asshole. The more Claude is around Rackham and learns about the island, it becomes more and more clear that something isn’t right in the tropics. Will Claude be able to uncover the truth about Rackham or will he simply be the next victim of the island’s strange inhabitants?

Entertainment Value: Roger Corman would tinker with many of the foreign films he distributed, often with inconsistent results. But Screamers is one that benefited from his prying hands, as it proves to be a more fun experience than the original, which was known as Island of the Fishmen. The end result is more of a horror movie, with added in violence and some improved creature effects. The prologue that opens the film is quite a sight and while the movie does slow down from there, it is still a fun flick. The story isn’t deep, but it has some cool elements, such as the Atlantis inclusion, the Moreau angle, and of course, the always fun fish creatures in general. A blend of light adventure and horror, which works well. The cast is solid, but some of the dubbing is…questionable. To me that adds to the entertainment, but I can see it throwing some folks off. I think Screamers is a solid movie and despite the reworked nature, it delivers monster movie goodness.

No naked women, half fish or otherwise. One of the big differences between Screamers and the original film is the prologue, which lets us see a group of visitors to the island knocked off in grand fashion. This section has some great moments of gore, including a throat ripped out and a glorious head torn right off the shoulders. The rest of the film has scenes of bloodshed at times, but this opening is the highlight, without question. The creature effects look cool, if a little low rent, but the inserted version of the monsters looks quite cool. The closeup of Jose’s transformed fish hybrid looks awesome and has a nice splash of blood too. The dialogue is memorable because of the dubbing of some characters and the wild, nasal performance of Richard Johnson. No one gets turned inside out, but Screamers still has some craziness. The performance of Johnson, the cool fish men, the Atlantis subplot, it all adds to the score.

Nudity: 0/10

Blood: 5/10

Dialogue: 4/10

Overall Insanity: 4/10