Creature from the Haunted Sea

This low-budgeted picture is a monster-movie concerning about a Government Agent ( Robert Towne ) chasing a gangster named Renzo Capeto ( Anthony Carbone ), a mobster likeness to Bogart who along with his fiancée ( Betsy Jones Moreland ) and underlings are aboard ship with a group of exiled Cubans . Renzo schemes a plot to invent a mythical sea monster to eliminate the Cubans and steal the national treasure .

The film is a horror comedy blending parody , humor and suspense . The comedy is absurd and cheesy but gets some fine moments here and there. The movie has storyline gaps and is an embarrassing mess badly developed .However , it gets some amusing gag as the animal imitator hoodlum and the phone cabin on the island . Incredible cheap special effects with ridiculous rubber monster is a man suited attacking the ship crew though also there are good underwater scenes. The main actors ( Towne,Carbone,Moreland ), technicians ( cameraman ,Jack Marquette ) and writer ( Charles B.Griffith ) will repeat with Corman in subsequent films as ¨ A bucket of Blood ¨ and ¨ Last woman on earth ¨. Robert Towne is a prestigious director ( Tequila sunrise and Without limits ) and writer ( Mission impossible, the firm, Two jakes, Days and thunder ) , . The pic belongs to monster movie sub-genre which Corman directed during the 50-60s as ¨ Attack the crab monsters ¨, ¨ It conquered the world ( an Alien from Venus ), ¨ Beast with a million eyes ¨( other Alien ), ¨ Wasp man ¨, ¨ Viking women and great serpent ¨ or even a carnivorous plant as ¨ Little shop horrors ¨ though Corman also produced as ¨ Night of the blood beast ¨ and ¨ Attack of the giant leeches ¨( Bernard Kowalski ) . Rating : Below average , it's a real turkey .

There seems to be a lot of confusion about this film, judging by the reviews and the low rating. As should be obvious to any halfwit, "Creature from the Haunted Sea" isn't meant to be taken seriously and it isn't trying to be gripping or suspenseful or scary. It is in fact a completely unhinged example of filmic surrealism and is closer to Alfred Jarry than to William Castle or any of Corman's other horror films. Personally I loved every character in this mess. I loved Carbone doing Bogie in The African Queen and the deckhand with his feral yelps and Mama (who looked like a cross between Della Reese and Juanita Hall) in her flowered tutu and the girl named Mango...it goes on and on. I liked especially the way the strange off-kilter and mostly bad acting kept undermining any sense of stability in the formation of the characters' personnae.

Too bad that the Latin stereotypes serve to date the film. But still, the Cuban military men are undeniably funny in the way that all bureaucrats, of whatever color or persuasion, are funny.

The sound quality is unfortunately very poor, and this film is in serious need of restoration. But for those who don't take these things seriously, you will encounter something remarkably original and yes, funny. Also check out "The Last Woman on Earth" which uses the same shooting locale and some of the same actors but overlays a basically simple post-apocalypse plot with ponderous existential musings.

Usually I'm pretty charitable to this kind of low-budget flick, since these people work just as hard (and in most cases, much harder) than their big-studio counterparts to make movies and to me the difference between oh, say, this and "Scream" usually has more to do with money than talent.

This one is different. No attention to plot, etc, no attempt to create suspense, etc. The whole freebooters preying on the Cuban revolution thing is a underexplored angle for a better movie. This one, however, sucks. Even an infomerical would be a better choice. Avoid.

**SPOILERS** One of Roger Corman's early work in the field of international and political intrigue. The movie takes place in early 1959 in Cuba that has just been overrun by Castro's revolutionary troops with the remnant's of the ousted Batista Regime running for their lives to avoid a Cuban revolutionary firing squad.

With the Castro forces bearing down on him loyalest Cuban General Tosdada attempts together with a squad of loyalist troops to leave the island with what's left of the Cuban Treasury that amounts to a foot-locker of gold bullion. With only Mafia boss Renzo Capetto being able to get Gen. Tosdada off the island with his yacht it soon becomes evident that Renzo is far more interested in the gold Tosada has with him then in the safety of him and his troops.

Together with his two henchmen Happy Jack Monahan and the somewhat mentally retarded Pete Peterson Renzo attempts to fool Tosdada into thinking that the waters off Cuba is the home of this horrible sea creature who's out to get him and his boys on board Renzo's yacht. There's also a side story in the film involving CIA undercover agent Agent XK150 code name Sparks Moran who infiltrated Renzo's gang in order to get enough evidence on him to have him put away for among other things tax evasion. Agent XK150 soon falls heads over heels in love with Renzo's girlfriend, and Happy Jack's sister, Mary-Belle Monahan who despite Agent XK150 swearing his eternal love for her can't stand the very sight of him!

The film really picks up when the sea creature makes his grand appearance with him offing the Cuban troops without Renzo & Co really knowing that he's doing it. The creature looking like he's outfitted with a bunch of garbage bags tied together with strings of seaweed and two eyes looking like fried eggs is about the best thing in the film. It, the sea creature, even rivals the beautiful Mango Happy Jack's island girlfriend who in fact ends up getting eaten by it in the films closing minutes.

**SPOILERS** The films ends with all the bad guys as well as Cubans getting offed by the sea creature with Agent XK150 making it to the safety on a deserted Caribbean island with his new love, with Mary-Belle ending up as the creatures lunch, Senorita Rodriguez to live happily ever after. This is a big jump for Agent XK150 in now living with the senorita rent free and with an unlimited supply of coconuts and banana, that's both healthy and nonfattening,for the rest of their lives. That's far better for Agent XK150 then the meager, even by 1960 standards, $41.00 a week that the US Government is paying him. As for the sea creature he's back home under the waves of the Caribbean Sea with the remains of the Cuban Treasury that he, only consisting on fish & seaweed, has no idea what to do with!

Hardly a good film - but an enormously likeable one - this is the third of a trio of zany comedy-thrillers dashed off by Roger Corman's Filmgroup, made on a whim because he already had a cast and crew with him in Cuba (in the days when all those vintage cars in Havana were still new).

Featuring probably the daftest looking monster since 'The Giant Claw' (intentionally this time), future Oscar-winner Robert Towne in his second and final appearance as Edward Wain (who this time also narrates the film), foxy Betsy Jones-Moreland as a shady lady "perfectly adjusted to my life of crime" and a very noisy jazz score by Fred Katz; according to Corman financially the film "had a mild success...It should have been a big success or a big failure".