The Island of the Fishmen – Cineploit (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1979
Director: Sergio Martino
Writers: Cesare Frugoni, Luciano Martino, Sergio Donati, Cesare Frugoni, Sergio Martino
Cast: Barbara Bach, Claudio Cassinelli, Richard Johnson, Beryl Cunningham, Joseph Cotten, Franco Javarone, Roberto Posse, Giuseppe Castellano, Franco Mazzieri

Release Date: October 11th, 2021
Approximate Running Time: 98 Minutes 57 seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Italian, DTS-HD Mono English, DTS-HD Mono German
Subtitles: English, German
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: 29,90 EUR

"A group of sailors end up on an unknown island after the sinking of their ship. There they meet Edmon Rackham (Richard Johnson). a white man who obviously rules the island. The beautiful Amanda at his side (Barbara Bach) is the daughter of the biologist Marvin (Jospeh Cotton), whom he hides from the strangers. The young ship's doctor Claude (Claudio Cassinelli) senses that a deep secret surrounds this lost group of people." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.25/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Worldwide 2K Blu-Ray Premiere!"

The Island of the Fishmen comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 42.5 GB

Feature: 28.8 GB (Cineploit), 19.3 GB (Full Moon Features)

The source used for this transfer is in excellent shape. Colors are nicely saturated, flesh tones appear healthy, image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid. When compared to Full Moon Features’ transfer, this new transfer from Cineploit is superior in every way.

Audio: 4.25/5 (DTS-HD Mono Italian, DTS-HD Mono English)

This release comes with three audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in English, a DTS-HD mono mix in Italian and a DTS-HD mono mix in German. The English and Italian language tracks are in great shape. There are no issues with background hiss or distortion. Dialog always comes through clearly; everything sounds balanced and robust when it should. Included with this release are removable English and removable German subtitles for the Italian language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an image gallery (112 images - posters/home video art/stills/lobby cards/soundtrack art), U.S. theatrical trailer under the title Something Waits in the Dark (1 minute 25 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Italian theatrical trailer (3 minutes 47 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Italian, no subtitles), an option to listen to Luciano Michelini’s twenty-two song score, Scream America Scream, a featurette with text about and footage from Screamers' US version (17 minutes 45 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles, text is in English), a featurette with Miller Drake, who directed the Screamers scenes, and Joe Dante, who edited the Screamers footage, titled All about the Island of the Fishmen (19 minutes 3 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable German subtitles), an archival featurette titled Acque Profonde, that originally appeared on NoShame’s The Last Round DVD (58 minutes 37 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles and removable German subtitles), a double-sided Poster with German and Italian Artwork, and a media book packaging that contains a twenty-eight page booklet with composer Luciano Michelini biography (text in German) written by Alex Wank, an essay titled The Way to the Fishmen written by Udo Rotenberg (text in German & English), actor Claudio Cassinelli biography written by Udo Rotenberg (text in German & English), and images from the film (lobby cards/posters).

Also, this release also comes with multilingual menus, English and German.

Extras on Full Moon Features' Blu-ray release include trailers The Island of the Fishmen, Barb Wire Dolls, Naked Girl Murdered in the Park, Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun, Sexy Sisters, Voodoo Passion and Women in Cellblock 9.

Summary:

The Island of the Fishmen is a cross between H.G. Wells' Island of Dr. Moreau and the amphibious creatures from H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu universe. And though the narrative does a good job of building tension, its most glaring shortcoming is its half-man, half-fish creatures, which at times really show off how poorly constructed they were.

Sergio Martino once again delivers solid visuals that take full advantage of the island location. Also, there’s an ample amount of carnage, albeit most of the half-man, half-fish creatures' attacks are not that bloody.

The Island of the Fishmen has a strong cast of characters who are all very good in their roles. The most memorable performance was by Joseph Cotton (Baron Blood) in the role of Professor Ernest Marvin, the man who brought the half-man, half-fish creatures to life. Barbara Bach (The Black Belly of the Tarantula) plays Professor Ernest Marvin's daughter, Amanda, and Richard Johnson (Zombie) plays Edmond Rackham, a man who exploits half-man, half-fish creatures who help him retrieve treasure from a sunken city.

When Island of the Fishmen was released theatrically in the U.S. under the title Something Waits in the Dark, it performed poorly at the box office. The film was subsequently re-titled Screamers, new scenes were shot, and the film was re-edited. Also, additional cast members like Mel Ferrer and Cameron Mitchell were cast for these additional scenes. Another area where The Island of the Fishmen differs from Screamers is that they feature different scores. The score for the version known as Screamers is credited to Sandy Berman, while all other versions list Luciano Michelini (The Suspicious Death of a Minor).

Ultimately, though not one of Sergio Martino’s best films, The Island of the Fishmen is still an entertaining film that holds up well with repeated viewings.

Cineploit’s Blu-ray looks and sounds better than Full Moon Features' Blu-ray, and Cineploit’s Blu-ray has a wealth of informative extras, while Full Moon Features' Blu-ray has no substantial extras. Also, since Cineploit’s Blu-ray is region-free, there is no reason to choose Full Moon Features' Blu-ray over Cineploit’s Blu-ray. The Island of the Fishmen gets an exceptional release from Cineploit that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and informative extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer