SCREAMERS vs Island of the Fishmen

When Island of the Fishmen was released theatrically in the U.S. under the title “Something Waits in the Dark” and 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 where cast for these additional scenes. Another area where 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 also the composer of the film’s score.

The export edition of ISLAND OF THE FISHMEN was available pretty much everywhere else but the United States since Roger Corman's New World Pictures acquired the film, cut it down and tried to market it as a slasher called SOMETHING WAITING IN THE DARK.

When it did not sell, Corman had Miller Drake shoot a prologue (in Panavision to match the Techniscope ratio) featuring Cameron Mitchell and Mel Ferrer among others coming to the island in search of gold and being gorily killed by the fishmen (featuring far superior effects by Chris Walas of Cronenberg's THE FLY) - the creatures themselves in this opening scene were also superior to the original creations seen elsewhere in the film - and was retitled SCREAMERS.

The SCREAMERS version was promoted as featuring a scene in which a man was turned inside out and footage was specially shot for the trailer. When audiences complained that it did not occur in the film, footage from the trailer was spliced into theatrical prints (as such, that footage was not present in the inter-positive used for Embassy Entertainment's VHS release).


"Without mercy, a man is not a human being." Sansho the Bailiff, 1954