Attack of the Crab Monsters (Roger Corman, 1957)

Russell Johnson about throw a grenade.

When I was about fourteen, I came across this movie on TV in the middle of the night and loved it. I still like it, but I'm not sure why. I read somewhere that it was one of Roger Corman's more successful movies in its day. He thought it was because he only left in the science fiction elements.

This was the most successful of all the early low budget horror movies. I think its success had something to do with the wildness of the title which, even I admit, is pretty off-the-wall. However, I do think a lot of its popularity had to do with the construction of the plotline. I've always believed that, in horror and science fiction films, too much time is usually spent explaining the characters in depth and developing various subplots. Genre audiences really come to these movies for their science fiction elements or their shock value. Of course they want to understand the characters and want to empathize with them all in order to share the emotions present. But they don't wish to do that at the expense of the other aspects of the picture. I talked to Chuck Griffith about this. Chuck and I worked out a general storyline before he went to work on the script. I told him, 'I don't want any scene in this picture that doesn't either end with a shock or the suspicion that a shocking event is about to take place.' And that's how the finished script read. You always had the feeling when watching the movie that something, anything was about to happen. I think this construction, plus the fact that the creature was big and ugly, won audiences.

That quote came from Wikipedia. But there's a quote in the same article from Charles Griffith saying that Corman would cut out character development anyway.

Researchers and a few sailors are on a remote island. For some reason, they have regular furnished house to stay in. Corman was into Freudian symbolism. A big hole and a radio tower are the main features on the island.

The crab monsters eat people and take over their minds. In some scenes the people hang around and talk to their dead friends who speak to them in voice over while the crabs systematically destroy and sink the island.

The giant crab monsters seem to roll around on wheels. Their legs don't really move.

I didn't realize it was only an hour long.

With Russell Johnson.

 I saw it Pub-D-Hub, a public domain streaming video channel, so I would imagine it's available elsewhere.