Crabs are one of nature's ugliest creatures, and they sure can have some big pincers, but I can't imagine being killed by one of them, or even a lot of them. Nevertheless, that's what "Island Claws" concerns. It's supposed to be about giant crabs, at least if you read the summary on the video box, but there's really only one big crab. The filmmakers have wisely kept the giant crab off screen until the anti-climactic climax, filling the rest of the movie with a few crab attacks of the normal size. We also get to see some ominously-swaying vegetation (crab grass?), which indicates that "something" is moving through it, just out of view. Eeeeeee!
Making this of particular interest to fans of bad monster movies, this one stars Robert Lansing, veteran of the better-known "giant monster" stinker "Empire of the Ants". Lansing also was something of a genre favorite...later he would also appear in Roger Corman's cockroach monster movie "The Nest". "Island Claws" was never released theatrically, which was probably a good thing for Mr. Lansing and his hapless cohorts who appeared in this film, but someone out there saw fit to release it on video. Its obscurity makes it a curious find, especially if you've burned out on trying to find all of these bad 70s/80s "nature-runs-amok" films.
Sadly, "Island Claws" doesn't have much action to recommend it. There's a lot of junk science scenes where we get the usual story of chemical pollution causing the aberrant crab mutations. There are only a few deaths to speak of, the most significant one being a pet dog who stumbles onto the beach for a death scene (quite impressive for the canine actor). The crab monster seizes a woman by the arm and drags her through the trees, but we never see it. One complete idiot who lives inside an old bus sets it on fire by knocking over an oil lamp after normal-sized crabs invade the bus; he conveniently forgets how to leave the bus and chooses instead to burn up inside. It is talky, unoriginal, and is a little overly ambitious in its bid to tell the tale of what could happen if a crab grew into a size that was roughly equal to a tractor trailer.
Well if you were making a movie and your giant monster was like this, you'd keep it off-screen, too. Much like "Jaws", it seems like these filmmakers built their monster and then realized it didn't work very well. Unfortunately, that's where the similarity to "Jaws" ends. In all fairness, the crab is physically convincing, but it doesn't exactly move. Otherwise, it's impressive the way the eyes and mouth are animated. They even have enough money to make it scurry side to side for a brief moment. Horrors!
Making this of particular interest to fans of bad monster movies, this one stars Robert Lansing, veteran of the better-known "giant monster" stinker "Empire of the Ants". Lansing also was something of a genre favorite...later he would also appear in Roger Corman's cockroach monster movie "The Nest". "Island Claws" was never released theatrically, which was probably a good thing for Mr. Lansing and his hapless cohorts who appeared in this film, but someone out there saw fit to release it on video. Its obscurity makes it a curious find, especially if you've burned out on trying to find all of these bad 70s/80s "nature-runs-amok" films.
Sadly, "Island Claws" doesn't have much action to recommend it. There's a lot of junk science scenes where we get the usual story of chemical pollution causing the aberrant crab mutations. There are only a few deaths to speak of, the most significant one being a pet dog who stumbles onto the beach for a death scene (quite impressive for the canine actor). The crab monster seizes a woman by the arm and drags her through the trees, but we never see it. One complete idiot who lives inside an old bus sets it on fire by knocking over an oil lamp after normal-sized crabs invade the bus; he conveniently forgets how to leave the bus and chooses instead to burn up inside. It is talky, unoriginal, and is a little overly ambitious in its bid to tell the tale of what could happen if a crab grew into a size that was roughly equal to a tractor trailer.
Well if you were making a movie and your giant monster was like this, you'd keep it off-screen, too. Much like "Jaws", it seems like these filmmakers built their monster and then realized it didn't work very well. Unfortunately, that's where the similarity to "Jaws" ends. In all fairness, the crab is physically convincing, but it doesn't exactly move. Otherwise, it's impressive the way the eyes and mouth are animated. They even have enough money to make it scurry side to side for a brief moment. Horrors!