The Year is 1891, the Budget is 1970s Television
Sergio Martino’s Island of the Fishmen kicks off with Lieutenant Claude de Ross surviving his second shipwreck in what must be the most cursed career in naval history. This time, he washes up on a mysterious Caribbean island that comes complete with convicts, a mad scientist, and fishmen who look like they were designed by someone whose only reference for “sea creature” was a moldy bath mat.
Monsters from the Deep… or the Discount Bin
The fishmen themselves are the big selling point—or at least they should be. Instead, they shuffle around in rubber suits so stiff they look like they’ve wandered in from a school play about pollution. They don’t so much “attack” as “gently approach,” and the only thing scarier than their makeup is the thought of how hot those costumes must have been under Italian stage lights.
Barbara Bach: Beauty and the Beached Script
Barbara Bach plays Amanda Marvin, the beautiful captive who exists primarily to be imperiled, rescued, and stared at in awe. She spends much of the film looking like she’s thinking about her next paycheck, which, in fairness, is probably the most relatable character motivation here. Claudio Cassinelli’s Lieutenant Claude fares slightly better, though his performance mostly involves looking sweaty and alarmed—which, given the circumstances, is on brand.
Joseph Cotten Deserves a Better Retirement Plan
Hollywood legend Joseph Cotten shows up as Professor Ernest Marvin, a brilliant biologist who’s apparently never heard the phrase “ethics in science.” Cotten gamely delivers lines about creating an amphibious race to solve world hunger, but you can see in his eyes that he’s mentally walking through his grocery list. If this was meant to be a dignified late-career role, someone forgot to tell the fish suits.
Atlantis: The Lost City of Matte Paintings
One of the “big reveals” is that the island is near the lost city of Atlantis, which in this case appears to be a series of underwater sets so murky you half expect to see a scuba diver holding up the backdrop. The fishmen are being used to loot Atlantis for treasure, which sounds exciting until you realize most of this looting happens off-screen—probably because staging it would have cost more than the entire wardrobe budget.
Voodoo, Volcanoes, and Villains Who Won’t Shut Up
Richard Johnson’s Edmond Rackham is a colonial sadist with a gun, a private army, and the kind of endless villain monologues that make you hope the volcano will erupt just to move things along. There’s also Shakira, a voodoo priestess who predicts doom and then spends the rest of the film cackling like she’s auditioning for a haunted hayride.
The Climax: More Steam than Scream
By the finale, the fishmen are rampaging, Rackham’s waving his gun, Shakira’s losing her mind, and the volcano is finally blowing its top. It should be chaos in the best pulp tradition, but it’s staged with all the urgency of a Sunday matinee. The “destruction” looks like someone shaking the camera while tossing a little smoke into the frame. Claude and Amanda escape, but the real survivors are the audience members who managed to stay awake.
Final Verdict: Dead in the Water
Island of the Fishmen has all the ingredients for glorious B-movie fun—mad science, lost cities, monsters from the deep—but cooks them into a bland, rubbery stew. The monsters aren’t scary, the action isn’t thrilling, and the romance has less spark than a damp match. If you’re looking for adventure, keep swimming.
