Attack of the Crab Monsters

[MV]

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 !!!

[Brian]

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.

[Robert W.]

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.

[Kooshmeister]

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. :)

[Thornton Day]

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.

[Flangepart]

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!...

[Kooshmeister]

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?

[Johnny]

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.

[Chuck]

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.

[Aldo the film Spazz]

    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:

[marcus]

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!.

[paula]

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??

[ArmyOfMachines25]

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.

[Waka]

Opening Credits - "Roger Corman." That should explain anything you see in the next ninety minutes.

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"

[Umaril The Unfeathered]

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.