Attack Of The Crab Monsters!

Roger Corman is infamous as a perpetrator of schlock to fill the theater seats and  spending so little to do so that a profit will almost inevitably result. That's admirable on the level of a celebration of capitalism in operation, but as a creator of film it seems an unfit methodology. In his Attack of the Crab Monsters we end up with an overacted, under dressed melodrama which meanders in and out of holes (literally) as the "heroes" find ways to stumble into the paths of the virtually inert crab creatures. It's a debacle, an awful movie in almost every respect.

So why did I totally enjoy it! I happened by chance to watch this movie for the very first time last weekend and my daughter was unfortunate enough to be there when I did so. She had the proper disdain for the dismal outing, recognizing its aimless awfulness almost immediately but was somewhat struck by my continued pleasure in watching the heroes stumble into holes, fight clumsy claw props and try their best to see what was clearly not before them in any sense. She I think worried about her Dad as he took glee in a movie so bad at times it really is difficult to catalog the faults. But let me try.

The first thing I noticed about this cast at the very beginning of the show was that there were so many of them, and many which seemed to fill up the usual slots in a monster show cast. That indicated a high mortality rate from the get-go and that turns out the be the case, but frankly much of the possible tension and suspense in the movie is twittered away when folks are knocked off in bundles and pairs with little anticipation.

The show also makes heady use of the well-traveled Bronson Canyon, switching that familiar interior with the also well-documented Lee Carillo State Park Beach. The main thing which hurts the story is that  a scientist who seems to figure out much of the mystery early refuses for no apparent reason to share his insights, even as his colleagues die off and even more weirdly none of them press him for the information despite the face they know he knows more.

Despite all these narrative contrivances which battle against the movie's impact, I still have such an avid ardor for monster stories that I forgive all of them because of the climax which pits the Professor from Gilligan's Island against a giant crab monster on an bit rock which seems to be disappearing into the sea. That image is a mighty one though getting to it was harder work than it needed to be.

Another Sci-fi classic from  Roger Corman tomorrow -- you've been warned.

UPDATE: I discovered I'd already reviewed this movie on this blog five years ago. I generally search to check such things,but it didn't work this time. I was actually surprised how similar the two reviews are.

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