Creature from the Haunted Sea

Only if you can appreciate the offbeat sense of wacky humor Roger Corman brings to life in this film will you truly appreciate it..this is in many ways a spoof of the monster on the loose and the spy film genres but at the same time it also seems to be laughing at itself. Notably Corman makes a cameo in which that's all he does--smiles and laughs at this movie's ridiculous lead character - a numbskull secret spy government agent. Clearly this film was never meant to be taken as seriously as some seem to take it. The biggest flaw with it however is it's too slow-moving...it takes forever before we get any kind of resolution. The highly entertaining rampage of the Monster at the end does make up for somewhat for the slow opening half. But once again I recommend this only for Corman staunchest fans.

What previous reviewers don't tell us is which movie they are reviewing, namely the 63 minutes theatrical version or the 75 minutes television take. The latter version is available on an excellent Alpha DVD and that is the version I watched last night. I thought it was awful, although I'll admit it had a few promising ideas here and there and maybe if it was "condensed to make the laughs come faster" (to utilize a prized slogan of showbiz patter back in the days when newsreel theatrettes dotted every second or third New York street corner) it would have seemed a lot more entertaining. As it is, all the jokes fall flat and most of the promising plot twists are negated by surprisingly incompetent direction, poor acting, lazy editing and "B" budget scruples.

After the Cuban Revolution, the mobster Renzo Capetto (Antony Carbone) and his lover Mary-Belle Monahan (Betsy Jones-Moreland) transport a group of exiled Cubans led by General Tostada (Edmundo Rivera Alvarez) to the United States with a Cuban treasure to finance a counterrevolution against Castro. However, Renzo and his gang formed by Pete Peterson Jr. (Beech Dickerson), Happy Jack Monahan (Robert Bean) and Sparks Moran (Edward Wain), who is indeed the American Agent XK150, plan to steal the treasure from the Cuban people. They fabricate a sea monster to change the course to San Juan and kill Cuban soldiers. However they discover that the creature does exist and is attacking them all. "Creature from the Haunted Sea" is an awfully lame and silly Z-movie by Roger Corman. The comedy and the horror never works and the acting, direction, narration, effects and make-up are really dreadful. My vote is two. Title (Brazil): "Criaturas do Fundo do Mar" {"Creatures from the Bottom of the Sea")

This is a film without any concept of quality. It makes a mockery of character, place, and plot, casually and thoroughly, almost subversive in its contempt for form and content. Have fun watching and thinking about the two or three days the cast and crew spent filming this and wondering exactly what they thought they were doing. Though it has slow moments, I have enjoyed this film all three times I've seen it. Underrated for sheer strangeness.

There are many bad movies that are entertaining enough to still be watchable. Sometimes people don't get parody and are unfair to movies. There is a third category. Movies that aren't campy or funny; they are just plain awful. A junior high kid with a camcorder could make a better film than this. Just because Roger Corman made it, people are willing to give it the benefit of a doubt. I would be willing to bet they had a little leftover film, a couple more days on the island, and decided to play a joke on the public. That anyone would plunk down ten cents on anything like this amazes me. I have a love of bad sci fi. I remember the guy with the gorilla suit and the diving helmet. This isn't that good. Characters with names like Mango and a couple of people who make animal sounds; a plot that is really non existent. Yes, I know it's tongue in cheek, but it has absolutely nothing going for it. Tongue in cheek needs to be clever. This is the antithesis of clever.