After man split the atom and the effects of radiation began to show, horror movies have explored the idea of monstrous mutations that could result from the fallout from atomic bombs. Starting in the 1950s and continuing through the 1970s, ecological themes specifically around radiation remained a main stay of the horror genre. We will look at two movies with very similar plots but made decades apart from each other. First is 1957’s Attack of the Crab Monsters and then 1971’s Octaman.
Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)
A scientific expedition to study the effects of radiation on the geology and biology of a remote island in the Pacific Ocean disappears without a trace and believes that all hands were lost during a storm. Months later a new expedition is sent to continue their work and to investigate what happened to the original group. The new expedition is led by Dr. Karl Weigand (Leslie Bradley) and includes geologist James Carson (Richard H. Cutting) and biologists Jules Deveroux (Mel Welles), Martha Hunter (Pamela Duncan) and Dale Drewer (Richard Garland); and technician Hank Chapman (Russell Johnson yes the professor from Gilligan’s Island) Almost immediately people begin to die mysteriously, and their communications equipment is destroyed. On the first night, Martha and Dale both hear McLane, one of the original scientists that disappeared call out to them. They attempt to find him but can’t. Earthquakes are also plaguing the expedition which is causing the island’s land mass to shrink and strange sink holes to appear. It is soon learned that giant intelligent telepathic crabs are at the heart of their problems and the monsters have become practically invulnerable to modern weapons due to their unique cell structure. One by one the scientists are killed as the attempt to find a way to destroy the creatures and get off the island.
Attack of the Crab Monsters was directed and produced by the prolific Roger Corman who specializes in this type of corny yet somewhat fun movie. The film’s production value is, of course, low and although the giant crabs aren’t bad, they are a bit clunky when they move around. But this was way before computer animated images flooded the movie screens, so the fact that the monsters were practical props is impressive. The acting is what you would expect from a film like this with some over-the-top performances. The real surprise came in the form of the Crabs’ telepathic abilities which was a novel approach but took away some of the horror and creepiness that the creatures could have had, were they to have remained silent. I love 1950s horror, and this was a fun film for me.
Octaman (1971)
Dr. Rick Torres (Kerwin Mathews) leads an expedition with his fiancé Susan (Pier Angeli), to research the effects of radiation that has traveled throughout the water systems of the world. The team finds large amounts of radiation in the water supply feeding the village, but when they find a mutated creature who seems to be a hybrid, half man, half octopus, they think they have made the discovery of the century. Rick and Susan leave to bring the specimen back to the university funding their expedition, only to be met with doubt that this mutation is in any way linked to the radiation in the water system. With their funding cut off, Rick goes to private doner, Johnny Caruso (Jerome Guardino) and his animal handler Steve Dodd (Robert Warner) who want to capture the “Octaman” as a circus attraction. When the four return to the original encampment, they find that one of their people has been killed and the camp has been destroyed. Davido (David Essex), a young Indian man from the nearby village retells of the legend surrounding the creature they are searching for. The scientists find another small mutant Octapus and bring it back to camp, but they are once again attacked by Octaman and the group continues their efforts to capture the creature, which they eventually do, but then it escapes. The creature eventually ends up trapping the group in a cave, but they eventually escape leading to an ultimate showdown between man and monster.
Octaman was a joint Mexican-American film written and directed by Harry Essex, the father of David Essex who plays Davido. In 2018, the film was shown theatrically as part of the RiffTrax Live series where humorous commentary is placed over the film. For a film that had a lot of very talented people working on it, it was really, really bad. The costume design of the creature was created by Rick Baker who would later be an Academy Award winner for his creature effects…well I guess you must start somewhere. Pier Angeli is an award-winning Italian actress who also won a Golden Globe in the United States. Kerwin Mathews is better known for having played Sinbad in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. And yet, with all this talent, the film meandered and wandered with very little plot and dialogue that felt forced and disingenuous. The production value was very low, the lighting was so dark that you couldn’t actually see anything that was happening and the sound quality so bad that you couldn’t understand half the dialogue. I love low budget horror films, but I have to be able to see and hear them in order for me to love them. So, unless you are going to see this as part of the Rifftrax series, I would give this film a pass.
Two movies with very similar themes handled completely differently decades apart from each other. One fun and enjoyable due to the corny nature and fun creatures. The other technological mess that is barely watchable. I often think that with all the remakes being made of movies that don’t need to be remade, I think it would better suit Hollywood to find some really bad movies and make them great! Both movies would be good contenders for that. How awesome would Octaman be now with current CGI technology.