Island of Mutations (film)

Infobox Film
name = Island of Mutations (L'Isola degli uomini pesce)


caption = "They're men turned inside out! And worse... ...they're still alive!"
imdb_id = 0081467
writer = Sergio Martino
starring = Barbara Bach
Claudio Cassinelli
Richard Johnson
Joseph Cotten
director = Sergio Martino
producer = Luciano Martino
distributor = No Shame Films
released = "L'Isola degli uomini pesce"; "Island of the Fishmen" (1979)
"Something Waits in the Dark" (1980)
"Screamers" (1981)
runtime = 100 mins / 85 mins
music = Luciano Michelini
cinematography = Giancarlo Ferrando
awards =
language = Italian and English
budget =

"Island of Mutations (L'Isola degli uomini pesce)" is a 1979 Italian horror film directed by Sergio Martino loosely based on H. G. Wells' 1896 science fiction novel "The Island of Doctor Moreau".

Plot

It is 1891 and a military doctor, Lieutenant Claude de Ross (played by Claudio Cassinelli), is shipwrecked on a mysterious tropical island with a few newly escaped convicts. Claude comes across the sadistic Edmund Rackham (played by Richard Johnson) and the beautiful Amanda Marvin (played by Barbara Bach).

It transpires that Amanda's father, Professor Ernest Marvin (Joseph Cotten), is a mad scientist who has invented a way of transforming people into amphibious deep-sea diving creatures. Rackham has managed to manipulate Professor Marvin into turning the local native population of the island into these creatures by convincing him that the mutations are being created for the highest of scientific and humanitarian motives. Having discovered the lost city of Atlantis far beneath the sea, Rackham is in fact using the amphibious creatures to loot its treasures.

Amanda has a psychic link with the mutations. In one memorable scene, Amanda takes a midnight swim with some mutants wearing only a thin white cotton dress that leaves little to the imagination. All hell breaks loose once Claude discovers that José, one of the convicts he has befriended, has been turned into one of the creatures by Rackham and the scientist. The film ends with Claude and Amanda escaping the island as its great volcano begins to erupt.

Alternative Versions

The film was initially released in the US in an English dubbed uncut format as "Island of the Fishmen". The American distributor United Pictures Organization subsequently bought the rights to this and decided to release the film for full distribution in the US. Director Miller Drake shot a new beginning sequence featuring Mel Ferrer and Cameron Mitchell which contained new special effects scenes created by Chris Walas. The film was co-produced with Roger Corman's New World Pictures and further changes were made. Corman added some extra music, cut down the 100 minute running time by 15 minutes, added a different English language dub, and changed the title to "Something Waits in the Dark".

Unfortunately, the release of "Something Waits in the Dark" in 1980 proved unsuccessful. Jim Wynorski therefore came up with a way to re-release the film. Wynorski retitled "Something Waits in the Dark" as "Screamers", shot a trailer showing a scene of a man being turned inside out and included the tagline "Warning! In this film you will actually see a man turned inside-out!". On its release in 1981 "Screamers" did make some money, but cinema-goers complained when they did not see anyone being turned inside-out. The film prints were therefore returned to New World Pictures to have the inside-out scene tacked on. This inside-out sequence however never appeared on the video version as it had not been part of the original negative.

equel

In 1995 Sergio Martino made a sequel called The Fishmen and Their Queen.

Cast

*Barbara Bach as Amanda Marvin
*Claudio Cassinelli as Lieutenant Claude de Ross
*Richard Johnson as Edmund Rackham
*Joseph Cotten as Professor Ernest Marvin
*Beryl Cunningham as Shakira
*Franco Iavarone as José
*Roberto Posse as Peter
*Giuseppe Castellano as Skip
*Franco Mazzieri as François