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If there’s such a thing as “a typical Roger Corman film”, this might well be it: a low budget, a game cast, a clever concept, and some ludicrously adorable monsters.
ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS (1957)
Following the disappearance of a team of scientists from a small Pacific island, where they were investigating the effects of nuclear fall-out, a second team arrives to find no clue to their predecessors’ fate, beyond some mysterious notes in a journal. But as gruesome accident piles on top of gruesome accident, the researchers realise that a terrible force has been unleashed on the island – a force intent on revenging itself upon any human being who ever tied on a bib and went for the finger bowl…
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#1 by Blake on November 28, 2010 - 9:50 am
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*read title* One of my favorite random Loony Tunes lines…*hugs Lyz*
That said, I quite enjoyed this movie. The monsters were cool (crabs are always awesome, no matter the size) and the film was well directed. When was the last time mankind was menaced by a giant crab? We need more killer crustaceans!!
#2 by The Mud Puppy on November 28, 2010 - 3:08 pm
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For years after seeing this in high school, I found the line the crab uses to taunt the protagonists after they steal its claw to be genuinely unnerving. However, that was because I thought the line went:
“I must grow a new claw. Well and good, for I can do it in a day! But will you grow new limbs when I have taken yours from you?”
Once I discovered it was “lives” not “limbs”, the line lot a lot of its effect. It’s still relatively creepy, but somehow”limbs” makes it about ten times more terrifying. Being killed by a giant crab? unpleasant, and possibly inevitable. Being gradually dismembered alive by a sadistic giant crab? That’s nightmare fuel.
#3 by Ken Begg on November 29, 2010 - 11:59 am
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Liz: You asked about the artist who did the title cards for the movie (and for other Corman flicks, like Swamp Women, which I’m reviewing). He was Lou Romano, and more info can be found at http://louromano.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html.
#4 by lyzard on November 29, 2010 - 4:24 pm
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Blake – yes, one of ours, too! – although it’s weird, I really hadn’t used it or even thought of it in ages when it popped into my mind the other day.
Pup – thanks so much for putting that image into my head…and after a decapitation and a severed hand, too…
Ken – thank you!! Can’t believe with all I’ve read about Corman that I’ve never come across that info before.
#5 by The Rev. on November 29, 2010 - 6:00 pm
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“Yeah, well, to be honest, I always thought that whole “Man” and “Woman” thing was a big mistake, and that the world would have been a much nicer place if the creating had stopped a little earlier; so I’m not surprised to find God having second thoughts on the subject; although I don’t know why He should repenteth the rest of it. Especially the creeping thing.”
Have I told you lately that I adore you?
#6 by lyzard on November 29, 2010 - 6:51 pm
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Well, not lately. You’ve been a little remiss in that department. 🙂
#7 by The Rev. on November 30, 2010 - 9:09 am
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I wholeheartedly apologize and resolve to be less remiss in that regard.
This is one of those movies that I really should have seen by now, and yet I have not. *sigh* Story of our lives…never enough time to watch it all. It sounds pretty damn fun, and like you said: crab monsters!
I don’t recall ever hearing about crabs attacking wounded soldiers, but on reflection it certainly seems plausbile, not to mention a bad way to go.* “Aww, crabby!…and lots of his crabby friends! Wait…oh shi–AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”
*Of course, being eaten alive by a swarm of anything would not be good.
#8 by Blake on November 30, 2010 - 10:06 am
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Well, if that anything at least produced a venom that made you drift into happy-dreamland as you were being devoured, that would at least make things a little better (didn’t that happen in the JURASSIC PARK book?).
#9 by The Rev. on November 30, 2010 - 12:45 pm
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Yeah, the compsognathuses (? — not sure of the plural on that) in the book had some sort of numbing/paralyzing poison in their bites.
I dunno, maybe a hallucinogen would make it a bit better. Getting shot full of dino-novocaine (dinovocaine?) seems less helpful, since it’s not so much the pain as the fact that they’re eating you. I’d need something pretty strong to make me forget that, I think.
#10 by supersonic on December 1, 2010 - 5:54 pm
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I remember an old Jacques Cousteau special about a place called Clipperton Island… the land crabs were pretty much top predator there, and any bird nesting on the island had to constantly fend crabs away from their eggs.
#11 by Richard on November 29, 2010 - 8:37 pm
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Confess… You reviewed the movie *after* finding the poem by Lawrence Raab…
#12 by lyzard on December 1, 2010 - 3:26 pm
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Nahh… I was aware of the film long before I was aware of the poem, and the whole “in order” thing took care of the rest. I was glad to have an excuse to use it, though.
#13 by Jen S on November 30, 2010 - 12:32 pm
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Do you think crabs have their own version of buttersauce when happening upon a hapless human? Horrors!
#14 by lyzard on December 1, 2010 - 3:29 pm
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I hope so – where would be the justice otherwise??
#15 by The Rev. on December 2, 2010 - 8:44 am
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That reminds me…do people put remoulade on crab? I’ve had it with shrimp and crawfish, but not crab. I suppose it might be good, but crab and drawn butter (with a splash of lemon, perhaps) is such a perfect pairing that I have never contemplated other condiments.
#16 by The Mud Puppy on December 2, 2010 - 9:11 am
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I always just eat crab legs, usually without any additional condiments from whatever they’re cooked with. I’m a man of simple tastes.
I also pretty much only eat crab legs, whether Snow or King. Crab cakes and softshell crab have never done much for me.
#17 by lyzard on December 2, 2010 - 4:10 pm
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Waste, waste waste…tsk! (You better believe they wouldn’t just eat your limbs…having pulled them loose…and dipped them in melted butter…MWOO-HA-HA!)
Remoulade is more often served with crab cakes than straight crab, I guess.
#18 by craig york on November 30, 2010 - 1:40 pm
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Attack may be the first horror/sf film I ever saw
in a theater, (circa 1963) and the image of the crab
emerging from the cave mouth haunted my dreams and
taunted my memory for years before I rediscovered it in the mid-nineties. The whole “where there is metal, there
I am” thing was indeed, wonderfully plausible nonsense.
#19 by Doug on December 1, 2010 - 6:24 am
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Wow… giant crab props that make the Macra look realistic. And I mean the original Macra from the 60s, not just the new CGI ones.
#20 by lyzard on December 1, 2010 - 3:28 pm
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They don’t look good in stills, but they’re actually quite effective within the film, believe it or not. (Except the eyelids, which seem to be made from shower caps with draw-strings in them.)
#21 by craig york on December 2, 2010 - 9:25 am
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Seems like a lot of the early Corman creatures were crippled in their creepiness by goo-goo-googly eyes.
Kind of a shame, as Lyz says, they are pretty effective
on the screen otherwise. I should add the theater I saw it in was on the tiny coral island of Kwajalein. I remember I’d already been told stories of the notorius
“Coconut crab” ( A large relative of the Hermit crab )
cracking the skulls of sailors sleeping on the beach, so
I was well primed to be scared by this monster classic.
#22 by El Santo on December 2, 2010 - 11:03 am
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And by “large,” Craig means “OH MY #*@&ING GOD THAT THING IS HUGE, AND IT JUST STARTED HEADING THIS WAY!” I’ve said this before elsewhere, but if I had a lot of land, and lived in a place where the climate was suitable for coconut crabs, I’d want to keep one or two of them as pets.
#23 by The Mud Puppy on December 2, 2010 - 11:13 am
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And by “pets”, you presumably mean guard dogs. Nobody would try to break into a house protected by crabs the size of a raccoon that are capable of cracking open coconuts, after all.
#24 by Blake on December 2, 2010 - 11:42 am
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I remember seeing a picture of one that was as big as a garbage can lid. *shutters* You could easily make a horror movie about them and they would in no way need to be mutant, radioactive, or genetically enhanced.
“Coconut Crabs on a Fishing Boat!”
#25 by The Mud Puppy on December 2, 2010 - 12:13 pm
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Well, there’s no movie yet, but there is this magazine cover, which was among several I couldn’t help mocking.
Interestingly, it proves that Peter Travers is not the only person who doesn’t understand what “cannibal” means.
#26 by lyzard on December 2, 2010 - 4:07 pm
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Let me guess without looking – “they eat people”?
#27 by craig york on December 2, 2010 - 4:04 pm
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Oh my, that was a trip down mamm-er memory
lane. I rememebr seeing those garish men’s magazines
on the racks all over the place when I was a kid. The
illo understates the size of the claws, but they are fairly vivid in color. Biggest I ever saw was about the size of
a football, shellaced onto a wooden plaque for the
tourists. It may be of passing interest, but there is
a series of ‘giant killer crab’ books, by a British author,
Guy Smith. They’re…B-novels, but fun. Weirdest
literary treatment of the subject though is a novel
co-authored by Piers Anthony &Clifford Pickover called Spiderlegs,…A Giant Spider crab ( With a human
‘pilot’ inside its carapace !) goes on a killing spree off
the New England coast.
#28 by The Mud Puppy on December 2, 2010 - 4:08 pm
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Correct you are.
#29 by lyzard on December 2, 2010 - 4:12 pm
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Oh, it’s all about the humans, isn’t it!? [eye-roll]
#30 by The Mud Puppy on December 2, 2010 - 4:16 pm
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Either that or the whle “a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy” has finally gone too far!
#31 by Cullen on December 2, 2010 - 6:16 pm
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Tell me about it. The mazes they keep putting me in are far too simple and the cheese isn’t even worth getting out of bed for.
#32 by The Rev. on December 2, 2010 - 6:05 pm
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That is true. A good point. I generally eat my crab cakes without condiments, though; if I put something on it, it usually means it’s not too good on its own.
Odd that you’d eat it on one preparation of crab and not another, but there you go.
You know, cats and dogs would eat people too, if hungry enough and given a chance. (Hell, they have.) I suppose they’re given a pass because they’re “cute” and “fluffy” and “don’t look like alien monsters.” Feh. FEH I SAY.
Have I told you lately that I ad–oh, wait, I have.
Never mind then. 😉
#33 by Read MacGuirtose on December 3, 2010 - 2:07 am
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Oddly enough, crab is about the only major seafood I don’t like. I like shrimp, lobster, most fish, squid, mussels, clams, scallops… don’t know that I’ve had that much experience with oysters, but from what little I have I remember finding them bland but palatable… but I really don’t like the flavor of crab.
(Actually, now that I think about it, I have liked the crab cakes I’ve had. Just not the crab legs. I guess I like crab okay enough when it’s combined with breading and spices, just not by itself.)
#34 by supersonic on December 3, 2010 - 1:27 pm
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Whereas I like crab, shrimp, scallops, etc… but was disappointed and turned off when I finally tried lobster.
#35 by lyzard on December 3, 2010 - 2:52 pm
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I am rather looking forward to the day that karma catches up with all of us – THE CRUSTACEAN APOCALYPSE!!!!
#36 by Read MacGuirtose on December 3, 2010 - 2:58 pm
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Eh, it’s not the crustaceans that bother me so much. It’s the cephalopods. I can deal with shrimp and lobsters, but I do feel some guilt about eating octopuses, given their intelligence. (I mean, I have eaten octopuses, but I feel kind of bad about it.)
#37 by supersonic on December 3, 2010 - 2:59 pm
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Uh-oh, Cliffie got one of us! Quarantine!!
#38 by El Santo on December 3, 2010 - 3:31 pm
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I personally eschew seafood of virtually all varieties. Taste is mostly smell, so I can’t imagine how something that smells that bad could taste like anything other than concentrated decay– and apart from a small handful of shrimp dishes, all of my experiments with seafood thus far have supported that supposition.
#39 by supersonic on December 3, 2010 - 3:33 pm
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You sound like you’re experiencing exactly what Richard Feynman did when he tried to eat seafood. He found that seafood suddenly tasted good if he got it really really fresh. This is very hard to do in the USA. So when you think it smells like decay, it actually is decayed.
#40 by The Rev. on December 6, 2010 - 10:12 am
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I got lucky, in that my first seafood experience was fish as fresh as possible: right out of the lake and into the pan. That set me for life. I have never been to Louisiana, but I remember my dad talking about the seafood there and how fresh it was, and being supremely jealous, and also looking forward to my eventual trip there. I did get a small taste of it when we visited Florida, and MAN that was good stuff.
That’s about the only complaint I had about growing up in the Midwest: ocean food could only be so fresh there. Of course, livestock meat was as fresh as could be, so it wasn’t a total loss.
#41 by Jen S on December 4, 2010 - 11:40 am
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El Santo, I’m with you–I actually can’t eat any seafood. The smell makes me ill. Perhaps the crustateans will make me their ruler! Fetch me my seashell bra!