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:

Referenced in Watching the Detectives (2007)

Soundtrack:

The Creature from the Haunted Sea

Misfiring would be comic creature feature

Roger Corman is a major figure in the world of low budget pictures and he brought pace ,energy and wit to a wide variety of cinematic genres .I will maintain to my dying day the The St Valentine's Day Massacre is the best post World War 2 gangster picture bar none and his Poe adaptations are stylish ,elegant and finely wrought . However it is idle to pretend that his career does not have its share of dross and this tedious nonsense is a severe test to viewer patience. Its plot revolves around a scare story invented by a gang of U S adventurers who try to scare off treasure hunters with tales of a monster guarding the treasure .Guess what -turns out there is a monster after all and he wreaks havoc on the gang .

The tone is intended to be humourous -the gang leader is played as a Bogart parody ,there is a bungling and inept US spy ,a gangsters moll and -most teeth clenchingly irritating of all - a crew member who communictes mostly in bird and animal noises .Add some dated Latino stereotypes and a laughable inept monster and even at artound 70 minutes this an ordeal.

To work a comedy horror needs to be funny and horrific -this is neither,