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In my opinion, this is one of the greatest cult classic flicks made. It is so ridiculous that it is entertaining. It is interesting to see Russell Johnson in the process of being typecast as a scientist (see "This Island Earth" and of course "Gilligan's Island"). It is also fun to see the feet underneath the crab monsters. Definitely much better than Cormon's overrated "The Undead' (BORING!). Without a doubt his best movie from the 50's.

I agree with the other comment here.  Well, maybe not "the greatest", but damn good.  I especially dug the personality assumption by the crabs everytime they ate someone.  Parts of this threat by the psychic alien presence reminded me of an actually very good film, Five Million Years to Earth.  Indeed, one could imagine Professor Quatermass in a similar fix.  Yep, ol' Roger Corman has more than justified his existence on Earth via panders to our purient interests such as these.  Also, really cool giant rubber crab claws!!  See the film--don't YOU want a set of these giant rubber claws?

I saw this great (bad) film at the theatres as a pre-teen.  ...Crab Monsters, Attack of the Killer Shrews, and Curse of the Demon are my three all time favorites.  James Best (of the Duke's of Hazzard) is excellent in the Killer Shrews, as is Dana Andrews in ...Demon!  I have since bought DVD's and videos of all three for my home library.  

This movie aired on television at something like 4 o'clock in the A.M.  Being a terrible bear to wake up I opted to stay awake until it aired and then go to bed when it was over, just so I would not missed this monster opus I had never heard of.  Imagine the look on my father's face when he discovered me up at 5:30 and I told him it was so I would not miss Attack of the Crab Monsters!  Let me say this was long before VCRs were introduced onto the market.

I thought the idea was interesting, but the movie itself was a tad weak.  Still the idea of absorbing the mind of the victim, creating not only a monster of increasing cunning, but one that could play mind games with you (pun!) as well if one or more of its victims had been a friend or loved one of yours is a great one.  Goofball exercises like this, that dared to try anything, no matter how silly the end result wound up looking, is what made the 50's such a "Golden Age" of science fiction and monster movies.  These movies just have personality to burn!

Not a great movie, perhaps, but still I found this one incredibly creepy when I was a kid with the feeling of being trapped, the disembodied voice of the crabs and the way they absorbed the personalities of the people they devoured.  

This was about the scariest thing I'd ever seen - when I was four years old.  I was scared of crabs for a month afterward.  Then we had a big windstorm and I got over my fear of movie monsters.  I had the good fortune to view it again on the Late Late Terror Theater Show when I was in junior high.  I've liked goofy s.f. movies ever since.

In grade school this one scared me and my best friend half to death.  When it was over I noticed his hair, which was really short, was literally standing on end.  Although land-locked in Oklahoma, we weren't taking any chances and for weeks afterward kept a sharp listen for that crackling sound of an approaching crab.

Oh to only have giant radioactive crabs to worry about these days.  

As a film collector (film not video) this is a 'Holy Grail' and VERY VERY hard to get.
I saw this in Theater (Empire Theater, Port Richmond, Staten Island NY) in '57. I was instantly a favorite. The claustrophobic concept of the Island shrinking to a mere slip of sand was brilliant.
Yeah...the Crabs have eyeballs...whatever...this is a tight fast fun Sci-Fi with lots of great ideas thrown around. Speaking of Crabs...that might be Jack Nicholson under the Crab! He WAS on set, and Corman is famous for putting everybody to work. Ed Nelson WAS under the Crab as well.
And yes...I JUST DID score a 16mm print of this movie. Tokk 35 years of searching...but, that's the way it goes. If you think paying $20 for a vhs is bad...try geting the film print! OUCH!

Doug
http://LionPoint.com
LionPoint 16mm

Seen it several times over the years. Everytime someone else has been there they say it..."The Professor!" Yes. The Professor...The man who could build a nuclear reactor from two cocoanut husks, a fist full of sand, a conch shell, and Gilligins hat...but couldn't figure out how to patch a two foot hole in a wooden boat. The crabs remind me of a Thanksgiving day parade float...I keep watching for somebody to trip and careen the whole thing into a nearby rock. Giant claws have never freaked me out. Why didn't these people just melt up a bucket of butter and go after the critters with a hammer? I rate movie monsters on a scale of 1 to 10...crabs, even giant mutated ones, only rate a 3...1s being monsters that are implied but never really seen, and 2s being monsters that are implied but do manage to pop up at the last minute very briefly. Has anyone ever seen Night of the Lupis? Giant man eating bunny rabbits chasing Stuart Whitman around the desert? They fried them with electricity too...the whole county had fried rabbit every night for three weeks afterwards. The giant bunnies got a 4 outta me...that should tell you what to expect from the Giant Crabs...It's a helluva choice to have to make...Giant Crabs or Giant Man Eating Bunnies. By the way...The Alien, the Predator, Karloffs original Frankenstien Creature, and Olivia Newton John in Xanadu all ranked as 10s. Sherwood Shwartz...the creator of both Gilligins Island and the Brady Bunch is an 11...

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I look forward to seeing it.  Especially since Richard Garland is my wife's uncle.  I have seen him in Friendly Persuaion in a fight scene.

I remember with affection the 70's New York Times TV Section critic (legendary for his succinct one liner reviews; I forgot his name, but I read he passed away last year)giving this choice, blunt assessment of "Attack of the Crab Monster": "Even tartar sauce couldn't help this stinker."

This movie is the basis for a poem by a very good poet who teaches at Williams college named Lawrence Raab.  I read the poem first, loved it(as I'm partial to old sci-fi), and immediately bought the vhs(thanks god for the corman classics releases).

Attack of the Crab Monsters by Lawrence Raab

       Even from the beach I could sense it--
       lack of welcome, lack of abiding life,
       like something in the air, a certain
       lack of sound. Yesterday
       there was a mountain out there.
       Now it's gone. And look

       at this radio, each tube neatly
       sliced in half. Blow the place up!
       That was my advice.
       But after the storm and the earthquake,
       after the tactic of the exploding plane
       and the strategy of the sinking boat, it looked

       like fate and I wanted to say, "Don't you see?
       So what if you are a famous biochemist!
       Lost with all hands is an old story."
       Sure, we're on the edge
       of an important breakthrough, everyone
       hearing voices, everyone falling

       into caves, and you're out
       wandering through the jungle
       in the middle of the night in your negligée.
       Yes, we're way out there
       on the edge of science, while the rest
       of the island continues to disappear until

       nothing's left except this
       cliff in the middle of the ocean,
       and you, in your bathing suit,
       crouched behind the scuba tanks.
       I'd like to tell you
       not to be afraid, but I've lost

       my voice. I'm not used to all these
       legs, these claws, these feelers.
       It's the old story, predictable
       as fallout--the rearrangement of molecules.
       And everyone is surprised
       and no one understands

       why each man tries to kill
       the thing he loves, when the change
       comes over him. So now you know
       what I never found the time to say.
       Sweetheart, put down your flamethrower.
       You know I always loved you.

This baby, along with 'House on Haunted Hill', made me wet my pants with fear as a sixth grader, and made me wet my pants with laughter as an adult...I am disappointed that it and others of its ilk are no longer shown on TV... sure the special effects are crap, hell, life was no fancier at the time!  'Martha, Help Me Martha' still ring in my ears 38 yrs later...

Another must-have B&W classic. My wife and I had a great laugh at seeing the poor schmuck from gilligan's isle playing pretty much the same role character. Buy it and play it for everybody.

Could the crabs have been more phoney, could Russel Johnson have given a worse performace, could the budget been much lower,god I love Rodger Corman.

During my pre-teens in the late 60's, this flick came on several times in East Texas as the afternoon movie. As an adult, I'd say it is a lame movie, but back then it scared the be-jeebers out'a me. Them big eyes (I even hate REAL crab eyes), that echoey voice, and that ominous clicking sound. Watch out for d'em pinchers, man!

I hate this film! When my mom gave me this for my birthday, I was glad. But I never told her how I felt when I wachted it. THIS MOVIE SUCKS!!!!!!!! 3 out of 100,000! The Crabs look dumb, the middle's boring, and the movie ends exactly after the guy sacrifices himself!!!!!!!

Man, if I saw crab monsters that look that retarded, I think I'd have to eat my own grenades.

I never saw it but i can remember a realy bad movie ISLAND CLAWS involving giant crabs eating people all they showed was a sceine with a giant crab grabbing someone and the its got what appears to be a tiny little dummy and moves it towards its mouth well you say crustations?

I can't believe how many comments this movie got. I thought I was the only one that remembered it. It does stink as far as today's standards go but it sure in hell impressed me when I saw it at the drive-in.

In my alter ego as CRAB MAN, I quite enjoyed this movie (except for the sad ending). And CRAB MAN did NOT appreciate the excessive and gratuitous crab violence.

Kind of reminds me of the giant crab in the movie MYSTERIOU ISLAND which they then dump into a volcanic crater and before you can say SHAZAM theres crab chowder for everyone

This is one of my all-time favorites from the Fifties.  I'm old enough to have seen it in the movie theater when it was originally released, and I've watched it dozens of times since -- but I have yet to see any human feet appearing under the crab apparatus, and I've studied each scene carefully.  Somebody help me out?  Give me some kind of reference point where the white sneakers apparently appear?  My impression is that Corman always framed the shots carefully, with something in the foreground masking the very bottom of the crab as it's moving, and yet so many people comment on the feet being visible... Thanks.

Watched this movie when I was a kid (Around 1964 ) When KIRO in seattle use to have a movie on saturday call SATURDAY AFTERNOON AT THE MOVIES, where I saw alot of clasic BIG BUG movies, couldn't wait to watch it back then, still watch it when I can.

I saw a movie called ISLAND CLAWS i was about giant crags but it looked more like a ordanary sized crab against a small back ground it would grag a hapless victim and chow down kind of awful but they are always trying to do better just look at DINO DeLARINTISES idiotic remake of the classic KING KONG

I was about 5 or 6 when I saw this film on television.  Scared the p**s out of me.  For a year afterword, clicking noises made my hair stand on end.  I kept expecting crab monster's to visit Skipper and Gilligan on their island!

I saw a bit of the movie a few years ago. Yes, it is so bad it is actually great. What fun to be scared by rubber claws and third string actors!  

This movie was and is so good that I feel that Roger Corman needs to do an updated version of this film.And out of all of Corman's films,Crab Monsters just happens to be Corman's favorite movie.Since he likes this movie so much,he really needs to update it.Besides with the latest technology,Corman can do alot more with this movie.It can be much more scarier and creepier,and the monsters would no doubt be computerized looking crabs.

If done right this could be even more scarier than the original version of this film.The scene where Mel Welles gets his neck grabbed by the crab was pretty scary for a 1957 movie.And the scene where McLean is under the water and the crab takes his head off is also very creepy for it's time.Can you just imagine this being redone? With all the gore and gut films of today,alot can happen in a newer updated version of this film.Imagine having your stomach's guts removed from a giant man eating crab? Only these newer crabs don't talk or take over their victims personality.These crabs growl like they did in the original as well is in the updated 1988 version of "The Blob".

Only this version of Crab Monsters is to be taken alot more serious than the new Blob of 1988.Blobs are not monsters that growl.They only go over their victims bodies and that's it.I would love to see a newer and updated version of Crab Monsters,but with some blood and guts being taken apart by the crabs.

I saw Attack Of The Crab Monsters for the first time at a drive-in in Topeka in 1957 or 1958.  I was eight years old.  To this day, I can't look a crab in the face...on a dinner plate, on the beach, in an aquarium, wherever.  God, I love this movie.

I have seen this film countless times when I was a kid growing up in New York.  There was a program on either channels WOR or WPIX called "Million Dollar Movie," which came on in the middle of the night.  Sometimes I would sneak out of bed to see what was on, and that's when I came across the "mind absorbing monsters."

This afteroon, some friends and I were were talking about cult horror movies and I mentioned "Attack of the Crab Monsters."  One of our friends had never heard of it and the rest of us had a good time telling her about how absurd it was, so much so, that it was entertaining.  This evening, I decided to Google it and found this site.  Thanks for posting the video clips.  It brought back fun memories!

I saw this movie when I was a kid visiting my grandparents in Douglaston, NY back in the early 60's. It was a late night movie and my brother and I managed to see it because the room we were put in was downstairs and there just happened to be a TV in it. I was maybe 7 years old and it scared the bajezus out of us. We couldn't sleep afterwards. The wife and I were talking about scary movies and my memories of this flick came back. One Yahoo! search and lookie what I found!!! Thanks for the memories!!
I find crab to be pretty darn tasty!

This is a great film. Fantastic entertainment. A crab with teeth and big round eyes. Brilliant.  I'm sure I heard it snore in the cave.

Foolish, very Foolish !!!

I watched this flick just last night, although, admittedly, my fortitude failed me and I only made it about 75% of the way through before switching to War of the Worlds. Anyway, this movie, although essentially absurd, is so nostalgic that it's like wrapping a warm blanket around mytself when I watch it. My wife can't believe I'm still watching such crap. She doesn't understand that 60's mentality.

I thought this was a great movie!  To appreciate this film, you must not try to make a comparison between it and a modern sci-fi flick.  For there is no comparison between a low-budget, low-tech, B & W drive-in movie and the multi-million budget films of today with computer assisted special effects, and top-notch sound and film equipment.

For what it was, a low-budget, low-tech drive-in movie from the late 1950's, it is actually pretty good.  I suspect this film, like other Roger Corman offerings, is going to divide people down the middle. Half will ridicule it, and half will like it.  Either enjoy it for what it is, and what it has to offer, or if you don't think you could find enjoyment from ninety-minutes of a corny, dated, B & W low-budget horror film, then spare yourself and just skip it and fast-forward yourself to a more recent sci-fi movie.

Just finished watching my DVD of this which I got through the mail. I was pretty impressed with the script, up to a certain point anyway. The movie had a rocky start, though. That one sailor falling into the water and getting his head torn off (in a scene that reminded me of an aquatic version of The Crawling Eye) shouldn't have happened right at the beginning, because it makes the characters look like total idiots. If I went to an island where people had disappeared without a trace, and a member of my party inexplicably lost his head, I would sure as hell suggest we all vamoose back to civilization ASAP, but no one in the group does this.

However despite this, once the actual plot starts, the movie is pretty good for a while. The strange underground rumblings, the plane exploding for (seemingly) no reason, the eerie voices in the night, Jim's voice insisting that the others come down and help him, etc., it's all a very well-crafted mystery. By the time the crabs finally show up, they're so goofy-looking that they more than made the wait worthwhile.

And then it all falls apart. First, that elaborate electrical trap they devise comes to nothing. Then there's some stupid business with Dale and Karl wanting to find out where the suddenly-appearing oil is coming from, ane re-entering the caves, where Karl ultimately falls victim to his own damn trap. Seriously, what the hell was the point of this sequence except to whittle the cast down just a little bit more? Why were Dale and Karl so interested in finding out where oil was coming from? Argh!

And then there's the ending. So the three survivors are on the last remaining chunk of the rapidly disintegrating island, and the final crab is closing in on them.  Hank bravely sacrifices himself to kill the crab by zapping it out of existence. And that's it. It just ends. What about Martha and Dale?! Will the island continue sinking, drowning them, or will they starve to death waiting for rescue to come?

Despite this, I enjoyed it a lot, and will definitely rewatch it many times, I think. :)

I wonder why people pick on B-movies,there's alot of fancy A movies that come and go without a lingering thought.  A constant parade of forgettable crap that finds it's way to cable and dvd without a sputter.  I always liked the bit where the crabs absorbed people's minds and their voices.  Pretty eerie.  When I was young,freaked at scene where sailor leans over edge of boat and his head is snipped off. Brrrr.

Ya know, one great thing about this flick...
If you ask anyone "Wanna see a movie that has crabs?", and they say "Sure", you have found one of us...one of us!...

There seems to be some confusion about the first name of Sommers (one of the two comic relief Navy demolitions guys) and the rank of Quinlan (the Navy officer who comes ashore with the group at the start).

Sommers is referred to as "Sam" in the dialogue, but the cast list calls him Jack Sommers.

As for Quinlan, he's constantly referred to as "Lieutenant" in dialogue but the cast list calls him Ensign Quinlan.

Anybody else catch onto this?

My wife and I just watched this late last Friday night (4 days ago) on Turner Classic Movies.

Some of the harsher commentors need to lighten up on this old Fifties favorite. I mean, what did they expect? Consider the title, the director, and the year it was made, 1957, then watch it late at night, and you'll discover it's a lot of guilty fun.

And yes, Russell Johnson should have played the first lead, but there's nothing we can do about that now.  (It was fun when my sleepy-eyed wife suddenly came awake blurting: "Oh my god, is that The Professor?")

One negative: Did anyone notice how very unattractive the female lead, Pamela Duncan, was? (Wonder if she ever worked again?) Her acting wasn't bad, but considering those bottle-blonde hotties usually appearing in Roger Corman's bathing suits, she was so godawfully ugly.

Now, someone will probably write and tell me she just died and I'll feel like a heal.

i saw this originally at the Avon Drive-In in Breese, Illinois, and I must say the crabs certainly are cheesy.  I've seen more realistic high school homecoming floats.

 :twirl:   ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS; big points alone for the fantastic title--it says it all. no false advertising here. The crabs are fairly hokey, but not really that far off of THEM if you really analyze them together.Roger Corman just goes for the jugular gets right to the point. I saw this flick when I was about five, and it actually freaked me out, the way the crabs took over the brains and voices of their victims. A creature as simple as a crab now with the twisted mind of human-kind--very freaky.. just  such an odd combo--telepathic crabs, who lure you to your death and if any animal would be formidable as a colossus, the armor; the giant pincher claws, the extended stalk eyeballs... It all adds up to a good solid little B- picture from the grindhouse mind of Roger Corman. He didn't pontificate With the ridiculous morality of the also excellent IT CONQURED THE WORLD. Giant monsters, mind control, brain-eating. Good stuff. Too bad it wasn't in lurid 50's Technicolor. An enjoyable popcorn movie to let your brain go crustacean on... :ton :tongueout:gueout:

This is a classic!,I don't think i've laughed so much in my life whilst watching this film.
I take my hat off to all those people who braved themselves and made movies like this.
A crab with a thick French accent???.
I like the decapitated tailor's dummy they dragged back onto the boat.
This is far from being a boring film, well paced of it's type.
But that caste?, need i say more?.
One things for sure, you wouldn't want crabs like these, your doctor would prescribe napalm not blue ointment!.
Very highly recommended, a must see!.

One things for sure, you wouldn't want crabs like these, your doctor would prescribe napalm not blue ointment!

lol, @"not blue ointment".....that is way too specific!

what is with it with the "crab" related posts???  should i know something about you guys??

I just whatched this flick last night, And i F*CKING loved it! its just another one of those great (bad) movies that you can just sit back and have a good laugh at and this is definantly one of my favorite 50s horrors now.

90 minutes? Why should I try to explain what's happening in the "next 90 minutes" if the movie is only about 60 minutes long? :P

Ah well, the movie does have it's moments. Some of the quotes are pretty funny (like the "but will you grow new lives when I have taken yours from you?" and "Are you getting through? - How should I know? I'm not on the other side of this thing!"). But the characters just act stupid and refuse to learn from their mistakes. They discover very quickly that bullets and grenades do no damage to the crabs, and yet we can see the characters wasting bullets and grenades on those things throughout the whole movie.

The ending is kind of weird as well (possible spoiler ahead, I guess): "He gave his life... - I know. - THE END"

As a young un' in the early to mid 70's, I used to see this movie a lot on WNEW 5's Creature Features showcase at 8 PM every Saturday night. Some of you may remember this show, and Lou Steele aka "The Creep" doing little segments in-between the movie. Steele came back briefly to host CF in 1979 in a midnight triple feature that sadly, wasn't enough to save the show when it tanked in 1980.

 :twirl:Frankly, I found this movie very entertaining as Hank (Russell Johnson of Gilligan's Island Fame) expertly advises his way as a handyman amongst all these klutzy brilliant scientists.  The hot babe almost falls for him before Hank is heroically killed by the crab monsters (which is heroic, Hank or the Cab Monsters, you be the judge).
Scientists of such brilliance keep falling into new holes that weren't in existence the night before.  How can that happen?  The clever, pesky crustaceans keep digging and exploding these holes to pin the scientists onto a smaller island land mass. 
Why?  They want to kill the brilliant crew, assume their total knowledge and proceed to conquer ze vurld.  No, I made that up, they are not German crabs.  Still, they are a rather ambitious bunch (maybe two-three) of crabs.  Overall, it is a load of laughs if not thrills and I watch it every chance I get. :bouncegiggle:

David Arvedon played the role of Hoolar The Giant Crab in this movie.  He also played Hoolar The Giant Crab in the recent movie, land of the lost.  He looks like a giant crab.  He is a beached whale.  He is nothing but a big fat ugly whale.

As owner of this quote in my earlier days here atBadmovies, I'll add a bit more to it.

I too enjoyed this movie, and as a young kid, the human-like eyes on the crab used to scare me because I knew crabs didn't look like that. But now I realize that the reason was because the crab was devouring humans and their intellect, and began showing such features.

Funny, the things you look back on and how they affected you at the time.  :bouncegiggle:   B-movies are either hit-or-miss, but one things for sure, you never forget some of em'!

Best movie ever! I especially love the crabs. I mean, look at those eyes!