Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

azathothpwiggins After a team of scientists, investigating the effects of atomic bombs, disappears from a remote island outpost, a second team of scientists replaces them. Tragedy strikes almost immediately, and hideous death occurs. Undeterred, the research goes on. Oh no! A series of explosions rocks the island! Soon, the scientists and their Navy escorts begin to wonder just what force they're up against. They have no idea that doom by humongous, clicking claws awaits! ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS is Roger Corman's best rubber monster movie. The behemoth crustaceans are effectively menacing, in spite of being made entirely of cheeeze! The cast is adequate, including Russell Johnson (IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, THIS ISLAND EARTH) and the lovely Pamela Duncan. Absolutely absurd in every way, yet loads of fun to watch!...

Phil Hubbs Yes you read it correctly, we are really plumbing the B-movie depths here with this little beauty. Attack of the crab monsters huh, just when you thought they had used every known bug and fishy-type thing possible, they throw this at you, what's next...lobsters, ahem! Yes its yet another 1957 flick, the year of the giant creature feature, and yet again the movies poster is completely bullshit, at no point does a female get grabbed by a giant crab like that. You notice every one of these giant creature B-movies has an almost identical poster layout.Believe it or not this movie is actually a Roger Corman offering. Maybe not so surprising seeing as this Hollywood legend has seemingly been around forever, making movies in all genres and having worked with everyone. In all honesty I was a bit surprised as I didn't realise Corman went back this far into the 50's giant bug phenomenon.Plot wise its a bit different than the usual fair, not as straight forward as you might expect. OK...first off the basic premise is what you would expect, a team of scientists are sent to a remote Pacific island to look for the last team that went missing. At the same time they are also following on with the research into the effect of radiation in the area after nuclear bomb testing (of course). Naturally some giant mutated crabs ate the last team (shocking), and are a result of the bomb testing (you don't say). The interesting and bizarre twist comes in the fact that these crabs absorb the minds of their victims and are able to telepathically communicate with other living humans. When this happens the telepathic messages from the crabs are in the voices of the dead victims that have been eaten. So not only is this a giant creature feature, its also a weird kind of spiritual ghost story of sorts, well that's the way it comes across at times.Now its clear to see this movie was made on a small budget, the fact its a Corman movie means you can bet your bottom Dollar it was probably made for a pittance. What gives this notion away? well for a start there is nothing to look at, no fancy sets, no lovely locations, no swish props or costumes etc...nothing. It was clearly shot on the coast in America somewhere and inside a small hut for the most part, probably a basic set was used. The giant crabs in question also look pretty terrible it must be said. Yes they do have some decent scale to them, they are large mechanical puppets that do look like crabs and the actors are able to interact with them. The problem being they obviously don't move too well, they tend to just sit in one place and move the odd limb around in jerky motions. The other problem being they have two large humanoid eyes, why would you do this?? it looks ridiculous. This has happened in other giant bug movies before, giving the creature humanoid eyes which in turn gives the creature a face, emotions, something you don't wanna see on a large killing machine. What's more these eyes look dreadful! big pupils, big eyelids and they almost look like they have eyelashes, they make the creature look like a giant child's toy. Seriously what were they thinking?!Speaking of eyes, the lead female character (played by Pamela Duncan) sports some incredibly obvious and large fake eyebrows. Seriously these things look like they've been painted on with a thick brush and look totally out of proportion, its quite absurd really. As for the cast and their acting skills, well, there's not much to say really. We've seen this type of acting in all these big bug B-movies, its a very formulaic type of performance which doesn't really tend to change much. The characters are all the same too, the handsome lead, the older scientist, the attractive female and a few other blokes that are essentially monster fodder. The only difference here is the inclusion of a French character, it doesn't add anything really, other than a different accent to listen to.In general, I didn't like this movie, the plot is just weird with all the telepathic nonsense going on. Other plot explanations just don't make any sense either, like how on earth these crabs manage to create earthquakes on the island, and why, but mainly how. Apparently the crabs want to reach the mainland so they can eat more humans and absorb their minds, no clue why they would wanna do this, or how this benefits them, but there you go. It feels more like an alien invasion sci-fi flick with all this talk of absorbing human minds, mind you (no pun intended), the film is atmospheric at times I'll give it that. There were moments when it did feel a bit creepy, especially with the haunting telepathic messages and the clicking noise the crabs make. There was also the odd bit of gore too, a decapitation and the loss of a hand, don't get too over excited though.4/10

Leofwine_draca Here's another great title from Roger Corman, but it's a shame about the movie itself which has a lot of potential but doesn't really take that anywhere. The silly script and bizarre storyline seems to have been made up on the spot (knowing Corman's track record, maybe it was) and is a far cry from the acclaimed Poe adaptations he would be creating a few years later. Instead what we have is a campy, no-budget B-movie in which giant, poorly-designed crabs go around and kill a few people with their rubber claws. Oh, and they're indestructible and can communicate telepathically with people, okay? Still, it's not the worst film ever made and will pass the time moderately well for bad movie lovers, and the best thing is that it's admirably short.The strange storyline and ridiculous plot elements (the island on which our cast are stranded is shrinking all the while) make for one weird film which plays like a bad nightmare. To make matters even more bizarre, a scene halfway through the film which shows a man falling down a rope into a pit is actually tacked on to the beginning of the movie, so you start off in the thick of the action and wonder what the hell is going on! There is no explanation for this error and it just added to the experience for me.The cast will be an unfamiliar one to people who don't watch a lot of these type of films, although Mel Welles appears in a small supporting role as a scientist. Richard Garland is the boringly straight hero while Pamela Duncan makes for a voluptuous heroine who looks great in a swimsuit. The movie is surprisingly gory in places for the time in which it was made, with the standout being the discovery of a headless corpse. However, the crabs fail to be the least bit threatening - or even plausible - with one risible moment showing a crab apparently "snoring". That's a new one on me! It's a shame that the budget and technical proficiency behind this film was so low, as the spirit was indeed willing as you might say. This is a film which will only appeal to those devoted to Corman's career or crappy B-movies of the '50s in general.

gavin6942 People are trapped on a shrinking island by intelligent, brain-eating giant crabs...The film was written by Charles B. Griffith and produced and directed by Roger Corman. Not unlike other Corman productions, he gave Griffith the title before any writing even started. Like other films of the 1950s, the problem is traced to radiation, this time from the Bikini Atoll nuclear tests. But then we stray a bit -- there are not just mutated giant crabs, but ones who have gained intelligence by absorbing the minds of their victims.Interestingly, because the film is set on an island, one of the stars is Russell Johnson, best known for his role as the Professor on "Gilligan's Island". He had already made his mark in science fiction thanks to "It Came from Outer Space" (1953) and "This Island Earth" (1955).The film also stars Mel Welles before he became "known" (and I use that loosely) for his role in Corman and Griffith's "Little Shop of Horrors" and the much later Corman-financed cult classic "Chopping Mall". (He also wrote, directed and produced the 1971 Italian film "Lady Frankenstein".)This was Corman's most profitable film to date, and it is easy to see why. With a small cast and crew, but a unique plot and an inventive villain, this film is all about ideas and not about budget. For a perfect example of how Roger Corman became the king of low budget film, you need not look any further than this one.