Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961)

Director:

Roger Corman

Writer:

Charles B. Griffith (screenplay)

Release Date:

kesäkuu 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Horror

Tagline:

This Gangster's "Single Partner" Isn't Even Human!

Plot:

A crook decides to bump off members of his inept crew and blame their deaths on a legendary sea creature. What he doesn't know is that the creature is real.

Plot Keywords:

Sea Monster | Boat | Cuba | Gangster | Gangster's Moll

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Antony Carbone	...	Renzo Capetto
Betsy Jones-Moreland	...	Mary-Belle Monahan
Robert Towne	...	Sparks Moran / Agent XK150 / Narrator (as Edward Wain)
Beach Dickerson	...	Pete Peterson Jr. (Capeto's chief henchman) (as Beech Dickerson)
Robert Bean	...	Happy Jack Monahan (Mary-Belle's brother)
Esther Sandoval
Sonia Noemí González	...	Mango Perez (as Sonia Noemi Gonzalez)
Edmundo Rivera Álvarez	...	Gen. Tostada (as Edmund Rivera Alvarez)
Terry Nevin
Elisio López		(as Elsio Lopez)
Tanner Hunt
Blanquita Romero
Armando Rowra

Runtime:

63 min | USA:75 min (TV version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Puerto Rico

Company:

Roger Corman Productions

Trivia:

The scene of the Cuban military officers saluting as the little boat they are floating in sinks was not planned; it actually began sinking as they were completing the shot. Roger Corman told the actors to stand and salute as the boat sank and filmed every moment, later stating that it 'wasn't very deep' there. He also gave high praise for the Mexican actors that played the officers for taking direction so well.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the monster attacks the ship at the end of the movie, you can see human skin where the costume sleeves didn't reach the gloves.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Sparks Moran: [narrating] I had to go the Santo Domingo bar and I had to find Agent XK-120, whom I'd never met.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Horror Incorporated: Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961) (#2.4)" (2003)

Soundtrack:

The Creature from the Haunted Sea

Even for a Roger Corman film, this one is unusually cheap and shoddy...and about as funny as cancer

Roger Corman is famous for being a wizard with practically no budget. In the 50s and 60s, he made tons of cheesy but fun films with practically no cash. My favorites of these are BUCKET OF BLOOD and the original LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, though I also love his silly monster films such as WASP WOMEN. Later in the 60s, he began making larger budget films--often "inspired" by Poe stories (usually, however, the only similarity they bore were the titles) and these were very successful. CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA is NOT among these cheesy but fun films--it's just cheese.

When you watch CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA, you are amazed to see that it's a Corman film. That's because even for one of his low-budget films of the era, it's really, really cheaply made. You'd swear that the beginning of the film was made using an 8mm camera--it's THAT bad. In places there is also no dialog and there is a very cheesy voice-over--sort of like what you'd find in THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS or MESA OF LOST WOMEN (two films so cheaply made that even Ed Wood would have been embarrassed to be associated with them). In this intro, there are some gangsters and a hero who frankly look more like Borat lookalikes than thugs.

Apparently the plot involves a secret agent and a plot by ex-Cuban generals to steal some gold from the Castro regime. The generals need help from the mob and so this big scheme is completed very inexpensively--using a small fishing boat. Apparently, this mob was of the bargain basement variety. Additionally, these mobsters are very dishonest (who'd have thought that could happen?) and the leader (who is a Humphrey Bogart lookalike) decides to steal the treasure using a pretend sea monster. However, they never really get around to doing much with this and a real sea monster comes along and gums up the works---ending with most everyone killed. The audience was most likely left totally confused because so many disparate story elements are introduced and none of them ever really come to anything. It's like a mish-mash of story elements.

Although this is among the worst films I have seen in a long time, fortunately the film never really takes itself seriously--it knew it was bad and didn't try to be high art. It's meant to be a comedy but with such flat jokes as silly character names (such as 'Porcina' (Spanish for 'pig'), 'Colonel Cabeza Grande' ('Colonel Big Head') and 'Tostada' as well as a wine called 'Chateaubriand' (actually a type of steak)) as well as dopey dialog, none of it came off as very funny, but at least you could laugh along with them on occasion with their 8 year-old humor (provided you've had a lot to drink first and had a severe head injury). While this sort of humor was pretty dopey, some of the other funny bits were downright stupid (much stupider). Pete was a gangster who loved to make animal noises and sound effects. Every time he talked, they'd use obviously taped sound effects and insert them into the sentences. When he meets Porcina, who can also do this, together they might just be the stupidest and most annoying couple in film history.

As for the monster, it was cheesier than the one from THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH or any Ed Wood saga. So cheesy that for some odd reason they inserted it into the introduction of the TV show "Malcolm in the Middle". My wife described it as looking like a giant human stool with eyes and that is pretty accurate.

So, the film features wretched dialog that is meant to be funny (but so often isn't), silly character names, one of the dumbest monsters in film history, two people who punctuate every sentence with taped sound effects, an incoherent plot and some of the worst production values imaginable. Watch at your own risk.