Comedy/Horror
1 hour and 3 minutes
Unrated
Written by: Charles B. Griffith
Directed by: Roger Corman
Produced by: Roger Corman
Cast:
Antony Carbone
Betsy Jones-Moreland
Edward Wain
This Gangster's "Silent Partner" Isn't Even Human!
There's a reason why today Roger Corman is the man behind some of the greatest creature-features that the SyFy Channel has churned out. This man is undeniably the king of the genre, a reputation only solidified by the numerous entries that he executed in the late-1950s and the 1960s.
Not to be ignored is Creature from the Haunted Sea. This pseudo-knockoff of 1954's Creature from the Black Lagoon is perhaps one of Corman's most recognizable films from his early filmography. Upon first glance, the film holds nothing special beyond being a low-budget, drive-in, B-movie, loaded with a ton of technical issues throughout its short duration. For one, the sound is muffled in most versions - and even with volume turned all the way up, it's difficult to understand many moments of dialogue. Also problematic is the occasional use of subtitles for Spanish characters. The subtitles are in white, which normally isn't a problem, but due to the film having been shot entirely in black & white, the subtitles are obscured from the brightly-lit daylight shots. Nevertheless, the unclear moments of dialogue and nearly invisible subtitles don't detract from the film's simplistic plot.
The film's dialogue can be argued as being good or bad, either way. While most of it is hokey and unrealistic - one could argue that that is the point of it all. Regardless, some pieces of dialogue are just too hokey to believe. My personal favorite being: "It was dusk. I could tell 'cause the sun was going down."Alas, with it being a Roger Corman movie, one gets the sense that the dialogue wasn't the most important thing on the director/producer's mind.
The character's are all typical B-movie archetypes. The Italian gangster, the heroic undercover government agent, the beautiful blonde only interested in the film's bad-boy, and the buffoonish henchmen. Due to the film's comedic qualities, these typical characters don't detract heavily from the viewing experience - and in a lot of cases (especially with the buffoonish henchmen) they add to the (sometimes unintentional) humor.
Finally, there is the creature itself. Knowing Corman's reputation, I'm sure that most of the money was spent on locations, equipment, food, vehicles, and technical aspects. Whatever was left was spent on the creation of the creature, and it certainly shows. Made out of what appears to be ripped up scraps of fabric, strung together with pieces of seaweed, with tennis balls for eyes, pipe cleaners for claws, leather gloves for skin, and (my personal favorite) blatant scuba flippers for feet. This amphibious creation is a laughable nightmare. Perhaps Corman realized this as well, for the monster is really only clearly visible during the last fifteen minutes or so of the film.
Creature from the Haunted Sea is not totally without merit. It's often discussed and brought up when Roger Corman's career as a filmmaker is the topic of discussion. So, why is this? As one of Corman's earlier films, it does showcase a lot of his talents as a filmmaker. A lot of shots are captured terrifically, especially the underwater sequences. The film works on a lot of levels as a slapstick comedy that spoofs the idea of the drive-in B-movie creature-feature. I'd be willing to bet that Corman understood that had the film been made as a straightforward horror film, it would've been laughable anyway. The film instead embraces its cheesiness, and the end product is a mostly enjoyable comedy - that provokes a few good, and genuine, laughs.
With several technical problems and a creature who looks like he was put together for a preschooler's arts & crafts project, Creature from the Haunted Sea is a film that manages to showcase its own awfulness and rise above triumphantly as a decently put together comedy.
5.5/10
