I first saw this film way, way back in the early 80's as a teenager around 13 or 14. The film had some memorable scenes etched in my mind and, I thought the film was an intense, well-crafted thriller. After reviewing it again, I realized the only scene which really stuck with me was the bizarre tent scene and that makes perfect sense considering my age then. What I DID forget is just how awfully bad a film this one is. I mean it is a stinker! Where to begin...the story is about mutated salmon that are eaten by prehistoric-like fish that quickly evolve into man-sized creature from the black lagoon/alien ripoffs. These monsters are plentiful and have only one goal: to capture as many girls in a bikini and have sex on the beach to procreate in order to create more mutant fish people. Fish people having babies with real people despite any biological problems that might arise(no pun intended). Hmm. Next, add Doug McClure, Vic Morrow, and Ann Turkel into the mix. None of them great actors...not bad either when they have some decent direction. Not evident here. Morrow overacts, McClure is over his head when he is the lead, and Turkel is less than mediocre. One scene really showcases her "talent." The scene where she is in the lab telling us how much she has fought to bring the news of the superfish out is one of the finest pieces of bad acting I have seen in a long time. It is almost an inspiration for everyone else in the film to do likewise. Director Barbara Peters really seems to set out to be solely exploitative and there is nothing wrong with that if you can do it well or with a point. I mean her producer Roger Corman did it all the time. Here plot, acting, and all those other qualities that make a movie good are secondary(or tertiary) to gore, violence and nudity. Peters does do some things fairly well. The pacing of the first three-fourths of the film is rapid and there are some well-shot scenes of menace. I particularly liked the scene in the water with the naked(of course!) girl and boyfriend playing splash...soon to be victims of the fishman's enormous libido. The last scene...roughly 20 minutes or more is just simply too ridiculous as creature after creature pop out of the boards on a boardwalk and start gutting everyone. OK. I think I would prefer keeping my adolescent opinion of the film intact; the entire film centered around a beautiful, full-figured woman, her man, and a dummy.
