Attack of the Crab Monsters

This movie was released with the lowest of budgets but at a time when similarly themed movies were made just as cheaply. Admittedly the last time I saw this movie was probably 1957, but it still stays in my mind because the monsters seemed impossible to defeat up until the end. Many movies of this type usually gave away their ending in the first 10 minutes - The heroes were definitely going to win or the monsters were just too powerful for there to be any hope. Among those films released in the same time period Attack of the Crab Monsters was more than a cut above the norm. In century of extremely sophisticated computer generated images, the special effects in this movie must be compared with those for the 50's (not much better). If you give it a chance I think you will give it a place in your collection as it is in mine.

(some SPOILERS) The second expedition to an isolated island begins to meet the same deadly fate as the first -- not only do their shipmates and fellow scientists keep disappearing (and appearing, headless), but the island they are stranded on is sinking into the sea. The cause of it all is the title crab monsters -- huge telepathic creatures of the deep! A memorable cast including Russell Johnson ("the professor" of TV's "Gilligan's Island") and Mel Welles as a frenchman. Within the space of its 60 or so minute running time, it manages to introduce a love melodrama (the "star" trio) and some nice monster/human confrontations. The fact that the crabs speak to the surviving humans with the voices and personalities of their dead friends is creepy and amusing (Mel Welles makes a great crab monster). A memorable cheapie from Corman and Griffith, in which he broadens the scope of the gruesome comedy that is his trademark.

I've seen Attack of the Crab Monsters just the once and this is one of Roger Corman's better movies. A group of people on a remote island come under attack from rather hungry giant crabs which are the result of an A-bomb test and to make matters worse, the island is sinking. These crabs turn out to be rather intelligent too as they absorb the brains of their victims and this makes them talk as well. The survivors are rescued at the end when the island finally sinks, taking the crabs with it. I have an NTSC copy of Attack of the Crab Monsters of which the quality of the print is rather bad. I'm sure there are better prints of it out there. The cast includes Richard Garland, Pamela Duncan and and Russell Johnson. A good movie, just a pity about the bad print. Rating: 3 and a half stars out of 5.