Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Island Claws (1980)

Director: Herman Cardenas

Writers: Colby Cardenas, Herman Cardenas, Jack Cowden, Ricou Browning

Composer: Bill Justis

Starring: Robert Lansing, Steve Hanks, Nita Talbot, Jo McDonnell, Martina Deignan, Barry Nelson, Tony Rigo, Raymond Forchion, Dick Callinana, Dolores Sandoz

More info: IMDb

Plot: A biological experiment in Florida goes awry. The result: 8-foot long land crabs which roar loudly and kill everything in sight.



My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

This barely better than average horror film takes itself seriously.  It needed to.  The performances are very good for this sort of thing (it's nice seeing the first James Bond, Barry Nelson, again).  That alone surprised me.  The direction is good and the story, though by the numbers, is good enough.  There's really nothing bad about this picture.  One drawback is that you don't get any killer crab action until the end and it's one gigantic crab that's right there for the actors to work with and not some camera trick.  It's fake looking but it's better than some processed shot that's even phonier.  I was surprised to see that this is the sole credit for Hernan Cardenas.  It's a well-directed film and it's especially good for a first-timer.  Of interest is it's co-written by legendary Ricou Browning and the nice location shooting in Florida.

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