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 .

Gangster, Renzo Capetto (Antony Carbone) makes a shady deal in Cuba, resulting in his acquiring a fortune in gold. Capetto, his thugs, his girlfriend (Betsy Jones-Moreland), and a few Cuban soldiers, set out for Puerto Rico in a boat.

Along for the ride is the bumbling, Sparks Moran, alias: Agent XK150 (Robert Towne), trying to get the goods on the whole mob. When Capetto's men set out to knock off the extra passengers, a hideous sea monster watches! Looking like a cross between a compost heap and a goggle-eyed Christmas tree, it pursues the group relentlessly! Then, it attacks! As their numbers diminish, they must battle for survival against the humongous, killer salad.

CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA is the kindred spirit of BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE. The two share very similar plots, with SEA being set -mostly- on water instead of snowy hills. While both are pretty good, this movie uses more humor to great effect. Beautifully absurd, this is more fun than a barrel full of sea biscuits! Producer / Director Roger Corman shows once again, his acumen for filming these crackpot quickies...

**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!

This is pre-Airplane humor. Anyone who thinks this is a "monster movie" will be sadly disappointed. My first clue? The very first scene has a guy getting his shoes shined. And what is he wearing? White canvas sneakers. There are lots of quirky dialog that doesn't even need MST3000K to make jokes about. "Did you get that?" "Right. Where do I turn for the decoder pin?" "Left." "Left?" "Right." "Right". And the classic, "It was dusk. I could tell because the sun was going down."

Nothing in this movie was intended to be "horror". But if you listen closely and watch, you'll find plenty to laugh about. Kind of clever, actually.

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.