Creature from the Haunted Sea

Gangster, Renzo Capetto (Antony Carbone) makes a shady deal in Cuba, resulting in his acquiring a fortune in gold. Capetto, his thugs, his girlfriend (Betsy Jones-Moreland), and a few Cuban soldiers, set out for Puerto Rico in a boat.

Along for the ride is the bumbling, Sparks Moran, alias: Agent XK150 (Robert Towne), trying to get the goods on the whole mob. When Capetto's men set out to knock off the extra passengers, a hideous sea monster watches! Looking like a cross between a compost heap and a goggle-eyed Christmas tree, it pursues the group relentlessly! Then, it attacks! As their numbers diminish, they must battle for survival against the humongous, killer salad.

CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA is the kindred spirit of BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE. The two share very similar plots, with SEA being set -mostly- on water instead of snowy hills. While both are pretty good, this movie uses more humor to great effect. Beautifully absurd, this is more fun than a barrel full of sea biscuits! Producer / Director Roger Corman shows once again, his acumen for filming these crackpot quickies...

Hardly a good film - but an enormously likeable one - this is the third of a trio of zany comedy-thrillers dashed off by Roger Corman's Filmgroup, made on a whim because he already had a cast and crew with him in Cuba (in the days when all those vintage cars in Havana were still new).

Featuring probably the daftest looking monster since 'The Giant Claw' (intentionally this time), future Oscar-winner Robert Towne in his second and final appearance as Edward Wain (who this time also narrates the film), foxy Betsy Jones-Moreland as a shady lady "perfectly adjusted to my life of crime" and a very noisy jazz score by Fred Katz; according to Corman financially the film "had a mild success...It should have been a big success or a big failure".

Usually I'm pretty charitable to this kind of low-budget flick, since these people work just as hard (and in most cases, much harder) than their big-studio counterparts to make movies and to me the difference between oh, say, this and "Scream" usually has more to do with money than talent.

This one is different. No attention to plot, etc, no attempt to create suspense, etc. The whole freebooters preying on the Cuban revolution thing is a underexplored angle for a better movie. This one, however, sucks. Even an infomerical would be a better choice. Avoid.

This low-budgeted picture is a monster-movie concerning about a Government Agent ( Robert Towne ) chasing a gangster named Renzo Capeto ( Anthony Carbone ), a mobster likeness to Bogart who along with his fiancée ( Betsy Jones Moreland ) and underlings are aboard ship with a group of exiled Cubans . Renzo schemes a plot to invent a mythical sea monster to eliminate the Cubans and steal the national treasure .

The film is a horror comedy blending parody , humor and suspense . The comedy is absurd and cheesy but gets some fine moments here and there. The movie has storyline gaps and is an embarrassing mess badly developed .However , it gets some amusing gag as the animal imitator hoodlum and the phone cabin on the island . Incredible cheap special effects with ridiculous rubber monster is a man suited attacking the ship crew though also there are good underwater scenes. The main actors ( Towne,Carbone,Moreland ), technicians ( cameraman ,Jack Marquette ) and writer ( Charles B.Griffith ) will repeat with Corman in subsequent films as ¨ A bucket of Blood ¨ and ¨ Last woman on earth ¨. Robert Towne is a prestigious director ( Tequila sunrise and Without limits ) and writer ( Mission impossible, the firm, Two jakes, Days and thunder ) , . The pic belongs to monster movie sub-genre which Corman directed during the 50-60s as ¨ Attack the crab monsters ¨, ¨ It conquered the world ( an Alien from Venus ), ¨ Beast with a million eyes ¨( other Alien ), ¨ Wasp man ¨, ¨ Viking women and great serpent ¨ or even a carnivorous plant as ¨ Little shop horrors ¨ though Corman also produced as ¨ Night of the blood beast ¨ and ¨ Attack of the giant leeches ¨( Bernard Kowalski ) . Rating : Below average , it's a real turkey .

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,