Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957) review

 

ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS 1957

Richard Garland (Dale Drewer), Pamela Duncan (Martha Hunter), Russell Johnson (Hank Chapman), Leslie Bradley (Dr. Karl Weigand), Mel Welles (Jules Deveroux), Richard H. Cutting (Dr. James Carson), Beach Dickerson (Ron Fellows), Charles Griffith (Tate), Maitland Stuart (Mac), David Arvedon (voice of Hoolar the Giant Crab)

Directed by Roger Corman

The Short Version: Seven years before he was marooned on Gilligan's Island, Russell Johnson was part of another expedition that ends up trapped on an island dominated by gigantic, atomically enhanced crabs with both the gift of gab and a taste for human flesh. There's action, some brief gore, and bad special effects aplenty. A lot more fun than you'd expect it to be due to the unapologetically ludicrous premise. Played entirely straight, the thought of giant, telepathic crabs hellbent on world domination dares you to keep a straight face the duration of the "Tidal Wave of Terror" promised by the film's trailer. It's all you can eat crab legs, cheap but delicious for the seafood horror lover in you.

 

After communication is cut off on a Pacific island where scientists were conducting experiments on the effects of nuclear fallout, a second group of scientists and other personnel are sent to find out what has happened to them. Upon their arrival, they immediately discover dangers both on the island and beneath the waves when a crew member is decapitated by something underwater. Finding all of the previous group have mysteriously disappeared, the rescue team themselves become stranded on the dangerously unstable island. Strange noises, including disembodied voices, leads to the discovery of gigantic, irradiated crabs that not only eat their victims, but absorb their intelligence; and intend to make meals of them all.

The 1950s was the decade of Atomic Monsters, and particularly movies about giant bugs. The high point of these is unequivocally Gordon Douglas's THEM! (1954). Towards the low end, but above bottom-dwellers like THE CYCLOPS and BEGINNING OF THE END (both 1957) lies Roger Corman's ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS (1957). At just a little over an hour, Corman keeps his pace as brisk as the silliness. Writer Charles B. Griffith was a frequent Corman collaborater (he has a small role in the picture) and his script is a good one despite its ridiculous scenario. The pitch meeting must have been an eyebrow-raiser for sure. "Well, you see, these people are trapped on an island by giant, regenerating crabs that talk and use telepathy to lure the humans to their deaths." It's an utterly absurd premise that's far more fun than you'd think.

As corny as talking crabs with bulging eyeballs are, Corman manages some minor tension in the film's early scenes. There's some palpable eeriness to the fog-encrusted shoreline and some moody atmosphere enhancing some stock miniature shots during a storm. Apparently audiences were privy to it as well. CRAB MONSTERS was made for a reported $70,000 and made more money than any of Corman's movies up to that point.

The giant crabs are goofy-looking, parade-level constructs that are about as mobile as the alien cucumber from Corman's IT CONQUERED THE WORLD (1956). Apparently there are some moments where you can see the shoes of the crew members operating the big crab. You see a few brief glimpses of them early on, but mostly the creepy clacking sounds of their claws; that is till they reveal they can talk, and start boasting about world domination.

Made for Allied Artists between AIP gigs, Corman's directorial prowess is in abundance, as is his "all hands on deck" approach to filmmaking where many of the crew performed more than one duty on set. Despite the minuscule budget, the picture is remarkably well made. Corman and his crew are able to give the impression of an isolated island locale when it's just Leo Carillo beach in California. Some (presumably stock) shots complement this illusion; but it's later betrayed by some of the underwater shots filmed at the now closed Marineland park in Los Angeles. Lots of movies and television programs filmed there before and after its closure in 1987.

Third-billed Russell Johnson is one of the few cast members that went on to a successful Hollywood career. For him it was primarily in television. Other than CRAB MONSTERS, Johnson pops up in a few other SciFi features, some of them bonafide classics such as IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953) and THIS ISLAND EARTH (1955). His last genre picture was THE SPACE CHILDREN in 1958. He did however appear in small screen SciFi with a 1964 episode of THE OUTER LIMITS (1963--1965) and a 1967 episode of THE INVADERS (1967--1968). Johnson starred in two TWILIGHT ZONE (1959--1964) episodes, both of which dealt with time travel--the classic 'Back There' saw him travel back to 1865 to try and stop Lincoln's assassination; and in 'Execution', he creates a time machine that brings an Old West murderer dangling from the hangman's noose to then modern-day 1961.

Elsewhere on the film front,  he appeared in some great westerns; such as LAW AND ORDER (1953), where he co-starred with future President of the United States Ronald Reagan playing Reagan's brother, Jimmy Johnson. Around the same time he appeared in some Audie Murphy adventures like COLUMN SOUTH (1953) and RIDE CLEAR OF DIABLO (1954); and the 3-D western TAZA, SON OF COCHISE (1954) starring Rock Hudson and Jeff Chandler. He played a vicious gunfighter on the season 2 episode of GUNSMOKE (1955-1975), 'Bloody Hands' from 1957. Johnson had three other guest appearances on the show playing different characters. But his most recognized role was playing the Professor on three seasons of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND (1964--1967) and three Made For TV movies and voicing on cartoon series.

Mel Welles is another name on the roster, only not necessarily in star status. Cult film fans know his face primarily as the flower shop owner in Roger Corman's THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1960); but he had a very busy career behind the camera as well as in front of it. Welles was a director and performed voice acting on a variety of foreign pictures. He was fluent in several languages so this came in handy for his prolific sojourn overseas; particularly when writing and or directing such entertaining movies like MANEATER OF HYDRA (1967) and LADY FRANKENSTEIN (1971).

Roger Corman directed several other highly entertaining SciFi cheapies in a similar mold to CRAB MONSTERS, but none quite as fun as this bad movie made good. The title is one of the catchiest, exploitation-heavy monikers ever devised, and it's attached to a movie that matches it. If you're a fan of Corman, Drive-in movies, vintage and cheaply made SciFi, you will welcome this ATTACK into your blu-ray player.

This review is representative of the Scream Factory blu-ray. Specs and extras: 1080p anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1; new 2K scan from a fine grain print limited to 1,000 units; audio commentary with Tom Weaver, John and Mike Brunas; A Salute to Roger Corman featurette; theatrical trailer; running time: 01:02:51

The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959) review

 

THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS 1959

Les Tremayne (Dr. Sam Jorgenson), Don Sullivan (Fred), Jeanne Carmen (Lucy), John Harmon (Sturges), Forrest Lewis (Constable George Matson)

Directed by Irvin Berwick

The Short Version: Inspired by the BLACK LAGOON's most famous resident, this similar, yet cheaper looking beast roams the California coast in and around the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse (filmed at the Point Conception Lighthouse and in Cayucos) seeking human flesh. A shocking instance of gore, a memorable monster that isn't shy about the age range of its victims, and a spectacularly silly finale where a dummy does cartwheels off the top of the lighthouse compensate for a sluggish pace and logic-lapsed script. Much better than you'd expect from a flick costing $29,000; if it weren't for the delightfully derivative (but effective), head-ripping monster, Berwick's movie wouldn't be the pseudo-celebrated obscurity it is today. 

Local physicians believe something not human is lurking around a small, seaside village off the California coast after a string of headless corpses begin turning up. Unknown to the townsfolk, Sturges, the Lighthouse Keeper, has been quietly feeding fish and meat scraps to a legendary creature living in a nearby cave.... the Monster of Piedras Blancas.

The success of THEM! (1954) gave many producers hope that other bugs and creepy critters would result in box office receipts of gigantic proportions. Strangely, despite its popularity, there wasn't a slew of CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954) knock-offs. One of them that wasn't a remake (like OCTAMAN), but followed the same template was Irvin Berwick's THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS from 1959--appearing in theaters three years after the Gill Man's last adventure, THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US (1956).

Written by Berwick with little attention paid to logic, the huge gaps in the narrative will leave viewers scratching their heads if the bland performances don't put them to sleep first. As is, THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS isn't that bad, but it isn't particularly good, either. Obviously, its best asset is the monster.... if only we saw more of it.

Jack Kevan, who helped shape the look of the Gill-Man, was a producer on this picture--as well as creating, and wrangling the parts for the monster suit. If the monster's hands and feet look familiar, that's because they were borrowed from the Metaluna Mutant (from 1955s THIS ISLAND EARTH) and The Mole People (from the 1956 film of the same name) respectively. 

Dubbed a Diplovertebron by the pseudo-scientific jargon written for the scientists to deliver, the beast's reveal is quite an entrance. Coming into close-up with about a pint of drool rolling out of its carnivorous kisser, it does what any red-blooded American monster would do--it grabs the girl and carries her off to its inevitable oblivion. 

Berwick keeps the monster mostly hidden till the last ten minutes; normally this would be a great suspense-builder if there was a solid foundation to keep the tension properly mounted....

There are times where a slow build is a benefit to a picture; for MONSTER, it's a detriment. It would've been nice if that slow build had more shadowy appearances and clawed arms claiming a few more victims in the interim. Moreover, the molasses-like pacing wouldn't be so bad if the characters given us were more palatable; and some of their motivations been less vague.

At 71 minutes, the film feels more like 91. The characters are standard for this type of SciFi-Horror, if only cardboard cut-outs of those of much better movies. The script doesn't improve them, riddled with silly dialog and a ridiculous reasoning for the monster having what amounts to a foster father....

Sturges, the old man who runs the lighthouse, is the creature's caretaker--feeding it over the years and taking care of it like a pet; it's only when Kocheck refused to give him the required meat scraps that the toothy critter take a liking to human-sized morsels. During his bizarre explanation for his years-long actions, Sturges bewilderingly blurts out, "I had a protective feeling, like it was my own... I was very lonely....; in a moment of self-awareness, Sturges continues with, "I know it's stupid..." 

Les Tremayne's stock scientist is the best performer of the bunch. A radio actor with an unmistakable voice, Tremayne (above in middle) and his pipes are recognizable in greats like WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953), FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956) and THE MONOLITH MONSTERS (1958). THE ANGRY RED PLANET (1959) and THE SLIME PEOPLE (1963) are among his lesser works. Japanese monster fans will naturally know his voice work from the US version of KING KONG VS. GODZILLA (1962).

In spite of the deficiencies, Tremayne and the monster are among the film's strongest assets. One other area Berwick's movie stands out is an unexpectedly nasty scene of gore where the monster emerges from a freezer carrying the severed head of one of its victims. This nipped noggin shows up again a short time later being gnoshed on by a large crab.

Berwick's son, little Wayne Berwick, is in the movie as a crippled kid who discovers a headless corpse. He would grow up to direct an obscure exploitation picture of his own, the heat-it-up horror that is MICROWAVE MASSACRE (1983).

Elsewhere, pin-up model and B movie queen Jeanne Carmen goes swimming topless, emerging from the surf in a wide shot, but photographed in silhouette. According to Jeanne Carmen in a 2008 interview, she objected to doing nudity so a stand-in did the skinny-dipping in her place. Intended to be serious, this sequence comes complete with unintended snickers when the monster--off camera--reveals himself to be a heavy breather. The late Ms. Carmen lived quite a life, rubbing elbows with many of Hollywood's top personalities and had her own E! TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORY that aired in 1998. Of her numerous film roles, MONSTER is the best-loved of the bunch.

The main audience for THE MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS (1959) are those with an appreciation for the monster movies of that era--especially those shot in glorious B/W. If you're a fan of Jack Arnold's CREATURE, you'll certainly want to see this cheaper variant. It's not a patch on the Gill-Man's escapades, but for a production with a $29,000 budget, you could do far worse. It's recent release on bluray (and it looks fantastic), saved from relative obscurity by Olive Films, adds an enormous amount of appeal for fans--old and new--to either revisit, or discover, this minor league gem from the Fabulous 50s.

This review is representative of the Olive Films Bluray. Specs and Extras: 1080p 1.78:1 aspect ratio; optional English subtitles; running time: 01:11:12

The Crater Lake Monster (1977) review

THE CRATER LAKE MONSTER 1977

Richard Cardella (Steve Hanson), Glenn Roberts (Arnie Chabot), Mark Siegel (Mitch Kowalski), Bob Hyman (Richard Calkins), Richard Garrison (Dan Turner), Kacey Cobb (Susan Patterson)

Directed by William R. Stromberg

The Short Version: A creature resembling a Plesiosaur hatches from a dormant egg after a meteor crashes into Crater Lake in this moderately ambitious, if failed low budget throwback to the monsters of many a Fab 50s flick. Periodic dino attacks and bad acting ensues. Lots of meaningless dialog, hillbilly comedy, and an intrusive sub-plot involving the sheriff chasing a crazy man (he kills for his booze but pays for his meals!) around the lake defy the viewer to keep watching. Hindered by a handful of behind the scenes mishaps, this nearly worthless monster movie is redeemed by the stop-motion animated Crater Lake critter.

A meteor crashes into Crater Lake, attracting the attention of local scientists and law enforcement. Acting as an incubator, the heat from the falling rock hatches a dormant prehistoric egg at the bottom of the lake. Six months later a very hungry aquatic dinosaur goes on a modest rampage devouring anyone who goes near, or into the water.

Reportedly financed through an inheritance, the one and only directorial effort of William R. Stromberg is torture to sit through. It begins promisingly, but sinks faster than a mob victim wearing cement shoes. Outside of a few fleeting moments of potential, the monster sequences keep it alive, but even some of these are infected with inertia. Most grievous is the finale--where you'd expect it to shine the most. According to sources, an animation shot for the climax inexplicably went missing (more about this below). Filmed for approximately $200,000, Stromberg's big screen debut as director was, like many a movie, not without its share of production problems.

A portion of the movie had already been shot when the filmmakers came to the conclusion that what they had was inefficient. The decision was made to scrap what they had and start over. According to director Stromberg he cast himself in the role of the doctor for the initial version, but stayed behind the camera for the do-over. Crown International came aboard bringing additional financing with them. With Crown involved, Stromberg reportedly lost a lot of control. Planned monster sequences such as an attack in a cavern and the beast ripping off the roof of a building to get at room full of dancers went unfilmed due to budgetary constraints. Reportedly, Stromberg also had little input in regards to the editing of his movie. Existing expository scenes were cut, yet, oddly, some others were extended leaving a mostly boring mess of a movie when the monster isn't onscreen. 

 
Moreover, the editing is totally backwards by forcing the stock 50s monster characters (law enforcement that wants the thing dead and the scientists that want the thing alive) into the background and putting the spotlight on a hillbilly Laurel & Hardy schtick that takes up far too much of the running time. Elsewhere an utterly stupid sub-plot about a disgruntled long hair killing two people in a convenient store leading to a gunfight-chase with the sheriff adds nothing except more questions. Why does he gun down a store clerk and a customer over a $4.75 bottle of liquor, but has no problem paying for a meal in a diner shortly thereafter? If this bit of padding led to the sheriff's discovery of the monster it would make more sense for its placement, but it doesn't. The sheriff (played by co-scripter Cardella) stumbles upon the monster a few scenes later.

Aside from leaden to bad acting, horrible pacing, and incongruous editing, Paul Gentry salvages some of the technical aspects with his cinematography; his camera captures some beautiful, as well as haunting visuals of the title body of water. Filmed on location at Huntington Lake in the High Sierras and on Palomar Mountain, some moody shots of natural fog and mist add an enormous amount of production value to a film with very little of it. Scotland's Loch Ness Monster is evoked in some of these shots where the monsters neck breaks the water, gliding a ways before descending back into the lake.

Before making his creature feature, Stromberg dabbled in amateur cinema; at an early age he concocted a 16mm version of 'Sound of Thunder' by Ray Bradbury (later made into an execrable, big budget disaster in 2005) and working in animation for DAVEY AND GOLIATH cartoons and commercials. Collaborating with long-time friend and filmmaking associate Richard Cardella (he plays the sheriff in the film), the duo set about writing a script about that most famous of mystery monsters, Bigfoot. This being the mid 70s, Bigfoot sightings were on a multitude of Silver Screens with a variety of interpretations, so this idea was eventually abandoned--settling on a monster more akin to that other famous folkloric creature, the aforementioned Loch Ness Monster.

The strength of CRATER LAKE (what little there is) lies mostly in its stop-motion creation. The picture had quite a pedigree behind the scenes in bringing the beast to life. David Allen, well known to insiders and cult fans, but not established with mainstream viewers to the degree of Harryhausen or Danforth, signed on as stop-motion supervisor. If you remember those animated Swiss Miss, Pillsbury Doughboy, and Mrs. Butterworth commercials, you've seen just some of Allen's work. His King Kong Volkswagen commercial is his crowning achievement among his TV credits. 

Another friend of the director, Allen designed the title creature as well as assisting in the construction and sculpting of the 15 inch model. STAR WARS (1977) animator Jon Berg (also listed as John Berg) built the armature. Award winning FX artists Phil Tippett (DRAGONSLAYER, ROBOCOP, WILLOW, STARSHIP TROOPERS) and Randy Cook (CAVEMAN, THE THING, FRIGHT NIGHT, LORD OF THE RING series) joined the pack as assistant animators. Like Berg, Tippett worked on STAR WARS and popularized the use of the Go-Motion SPX technique; both he and Berg animated the chessboard monsters highlighted in the sequence where Luke is warned Wookies are prone to ripping arms out of sockets when they lose at the game.

Going back to the animation, Tippet sculpted the creature minus the head (which Allen handled). Along with assistant animators Tippet and Cook, the great Jim Danforth allegedly pitched in and did some animating of his own although there is conflicting information that he never worked on the film at all. Reportedly these effects took roughly two and a half months to complete. David Allen animated half of the stop-motion sequences, while Tippet and Cook did the rest of the work; which leaves us with Jim Danforth. According to an old Cinefantastique article, Danforth's minimal work on the picture was highlighted by a spectacular bit of animation during the climax showing the snowplow ramming into the monster. This particular bit ended up disappearing somehow or other. There are a couple of brief shots done live showing the plow cutting into the creature (yet no wounds are visible on the animated monster), but these are unimaginatively directed, doing nothing to help bring the film to a crescendo on the scale of one of Harryhausen's creature feature denouements.

Taking into account the films low-level status and Danforth's limited participation, one can speculate he wished to disassociate himself from the production. To see what Danforth was capable of, check out Hammer's WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH (1970); a picture that also featured David Allen animation (the Chasmosaurus sequence). Other Danforth credits include 7 FACES OF DR. LAO (1964), PLANET OF DINOSAURS (1978), CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981), and CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982). 

It wasn't all dimensional animation (or Fantamation as it's described on promotional materials and in the credits) seen onscreen in CRATER LAKE, though.

Contacted in 1975 to build a Bigfoot suit when the picture was still about the Sasquatch, makeup artist Steve Neill (GOD TOLD ME TO, STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, FULL MOON HIGH, GALAXY OF TERROR, Q, FORBIDDEN WORLD) was then tasked with building a large monster head instead. It's seen a few times under and above water, and matches very well with the animated creature. Funnily enough, Neill's aquatic dino noggin turned up a few years later in Mel Brooks' HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART 1 (1981) without the artists knowledge. Incidentally, all these guys  (minus Danforth) worked together on LASERBLAST (1978) the following year.

 
Regardless of circumstances determining how good or bad the finished product is, Stromberg's name is on it as director. Despite making quite a lot of money, Stromberg never directed again; but in articles of the time period, the man seemed to look forward to mounting another project. However, William's sons, Robert and William T. Stromberg, followed in his footsteps--the former having done visual effects for many major Hollywood pictures and directed MALEFICIENT (2014); the latter has more than two dozen credits as a composer. 

 
As for THE CRATER LAKE MONSTER, it's barely a footnote in monster cinema, but one that most everybody has seen on television or video at some point. Aside from being one of the better 'creature from the lake' flicks--a sub-genre with very little to recommend it--only the hardcore bad movie fans and stop-motion fanatics will have tolerance for it. The only things that save this MONSTER from remaining at the bottom of CRATER LAKE are its special effects and photography--two things that most other pictures built around a similar topic can rarely, if ever muster.

This review is representative of the Mill Creek blu-ray paired with GALAXINA (1980). Specs and extras: no extras; 16x9 widescreen 1.85:1; 1080i (for CRATER LAKE MONSTER); three English audio options: 2.0 DTS HD, 2.0 Dolby Digital, English PMC Uncompressed;  running time: 1:23:54