Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961)

Director: Roger Corman

Starring: Antony Carbone, Betsy Jones-Moreland, Robert Towne, Beach Dickerson, Robert Bean, Esther Sandoval, Sonia Noemi Gonzalez, Edmundo Rivera Alvarez, Terry Nevin, Elisio Lopez, Tanner Hunt, Blanquita Romero, Armando Rowra

More info: IMDb

Tagline: What was the unspeakable secret of the sea?

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.

My rating: 4/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Roger Corman is a piece of work. He had recently made two incredibly funny and inventive films, THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS and A BUCKET OF BLOOD.  Then there's this picture.  It's only sometimes funny but it tries.  The creature is hilariously bad looking.  That's probably the best part but you don't get much creature action.  The music is credited to Fred Katz but there's at least one cue (the one during the main titles) which is the same as the main titles for LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. The problem with this 74 minute film (they shot some more footage to add another ten plus minutes when he sold the TV rights) is that there are lots of dull bits and padding.  They try but it's not enough.  I was just reminded of the two pictures Corman did the year before that were wildly funnier and more entertaining.  It was funny, though, seeing the great screenwriter, Robert "CHINATOWN (1974)" Towne, as one of the more amusing characters, Sparks Moran.  The kid with the animal voices got the most laughs out of me.