Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)

User Rating:

4.2/10   

Director:

Roger Corman

Writer:

Charles B. Griffith (screenplay)

Release Date:

10 February 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

From the depths of the sea... a tidal wave of terror!

Plot:

People are trapped on a shrinking island by intelligent, brain-eating giant crabs. Roger Corman directs.

Plot Keywords:

Island | Giant Crab | Exploding Airplane | Eating Brains | B Movie

Cast

Richard Garland	...	Dale Drewer
Pamela Duncan	...	Dr. Martha 'Marti' Hunter
Russell Johnson	...	Hank Chapman
Leslie Bradley	...	Dr. Karl Weigand
Mel Welles	...	Jules Deveroux
Richard H. Cutting	...	Dr. James Carson
Beach Dickerson	...	Seaman Ron Fellows
Tony Miller	...	Seaman Jack Sommers
Ed Nelson	...	Ensign Quinlan
Maitland Stuart	...	Seaman Mac
Charles B. Griffith	...	Seaman Tate
Robin Riley
Doug Robberts

Runtime:

62 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Bronson Caves, Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Los Altos Productions

Trivia:

Russell Johnson broke his toe while splashing around in the water during one scene. Due to the low budget of the film, director Roger Corman had a stage tech tape up Johnson's toe and immediately ordered him back in the water to finish the scene.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Wheels and legs under the giant crabs.

Quotes:

Martha Hunter: But Doctor, that theory doesn't explain why Jules' and Carson's minds have turned against us.
Dale Drewer: Preservation of the species. Once they were men. Now they are land crabs.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Julie & Julia (2009)

So bad it's good!

Any movie that passes off a 1950s' home in the Hollywood Hills as a research center located atop a shrinking Pacific atoll, a well-foliaged hillside as a fresh landslide, Griffith Park's Bronson Caves as a passage to the sea, a dyed-blonde Mel Welles as a "French" scientist, and a rolling and flopping papier-mache model with humanesque eyes as a terrifying monster crab is MY kind of movie! Artistically, probably one of Corman's worst, this still is great FUN. Like many other "bad" horror movies of the fifties, I can watch it over again and again! Unfortunately, though, the only print that seems to be available--either on VHS or DVD--is not a very good one. Enjoy! (NOTE: An earlier reviewer indicated that Beverly Garland is in this film; she is not.)