Thanks to It Came From Hollywood for sending along these stills. I added two additional ones from MovieStillsDB to add some crab legs.
Them was the first movie to suggest the possibility that radiation could cause giant mutations…[Jack] Warner may have thought it was utter nonsense but audiences loved it, so much so that for the next six years Them set the pattern for dozens of science fiction films…Attack of the Crab Monsters was one of these films, and one of the few to radically vary the formula. (Roger Corman, The Best of the Cheap Acts, Mark Thomas McGee)
I saw Attack of the Crab Monsters when it became available for television in 1963, from Allied Artists through their Exploitables package of B movie sci fi and horror goodness. I was seven years old and watching on a cathode ray tube TV in my bedroom. That metal-encased TV probably bathed me in enough radiation to turn me into the Hulk, but no such luck. To make the flickering glow of this black and white Roger Corman classic even better, Zacherly was hosting the horror on WABC with his usual shenanigans as giant smart crabs, scissoring off and eating the heads of people to get smarter, and blasting their heat rays to whittle down the already sinking island, attempt to serve up the remaining frantic and terrified and dwindling survivors. The trumpet, strings, and brass score by Ronald Stein added to the terror and tension as the giant crabs figure out how to use dynamite too. So did the ominous stick run along a picket fence clicking sound made from their dainty crab feet.
The movie title was made first, the film followed second. But with such a catchy title (who doesn’t like giant crab legs?), Corman delivers the goods: giant crabs with human-like faces that gave me great nightmares at such a tender age. Of course, the budget allowed for one giant crab to be built. The fiberglass shell was man-handled the old fashioned way, and you do get a peek at Ed Nelson’s feet under the crab in one scene that got through the editing phase. Or maybe not: you know quick work and those tight budgets come first on B movies.
Charles B Griffith’s (It Conquered the World) script tuned-up the usual giant mutation gags by making the crabs more intelligent as they eat more people, specifically the brains. Pretty soon, ghostly voices of the dead are heard as the crabs shoot out their psychic vibes with the memories and voices of the headless. This makes for quite the problem: unlike in other mutation movies of the 1950s, the monsters here are as smart as the people. Griffith sold Corman on doing underwater scenes after he watched The Silent World (1956). Corman agreed, but the giant crab (which cost $400 to build) didn’t. It was nearly impossible to submerge. By the time they finally got what they needed, the arms had cracked off and the eyes followed them. Allied Artists released the movie on a double bill with Not of This Earth.
Pamela Duncan (who starred in another one of my cheap favorites, The Undead), did not have fond memories of the shoot, having experienced trouble with the scuba equipment and Corman’s direction to swim alongside sharks in a tank at Marineland. A double filled in for her. The bottom line here is that Attack of the Crab Monsters is a fast-paced low budget gem that stands out for its novel scripting of the monsters, the deteriorating situation they are in, and the the down and dirty production that keeps the weirdness and terror moving to a solid — not ideal, as you will find out — climax. It definitely pairs well with the weirder and slower-paced The Undead, so think about that for your next movie party night. Bring the crab cakes and tropical drinks too for a perfect evening.
Sources for this article include Roger Corman, The Best of the Cheap Acts by Mark Thomas McGee, and Keep Watching the Skies by Bill Warren, and my love for this movie.