ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jennifer Upton is an American (non-werewolf) writer/editor in London. She currently works as a freelance ghostwriter of personal memoirs and writes for several blogs on topics as diverse as film history, punk rock, women’s issues, and international politics. For links to her work, please visit https://www.jennuptonwriter.com or send her a Tweet @Jennxldn

Island Claws was made in the post-Jaws era – a time when killer animal movies were all the rage – but features a storyline, characters, and giant creature right out of ‘50s sci-fi films like Tarantula or The Deadly Mantis. 

The movie opens with lots of lingering shots of hundreds of crabs wading in the ocean against a backdrop of sunshine and easy listening jazz. Right away, I was hooked. 

The island’s residents are absolutely the kind of people I’d like to drink with. We have the Irish Moody (Robert Lansing doing a decent accent), the young, handsome Pete (Steve Hanks), and a bunch of fishermen who basically hang out at Moody’s bar run by the lovely Rosie (Nita Talbot), 

Jan Raines (Jo McDonnel) is a young, plucky photojournalist, sent to the National Marine Biology Institute conducting experiments on crabs using growth hormones to help solve world hunger.  There she meets Pete and the two begin dating. 

Because Jan’s father Frank (Dick Callinan) is the owner of the adjacent nuclear power station that has recently experienced a significant spill, Moody is skeptical of Jan. Moody had a long-time friendship with Jan’s father as well, but Moody is not telling Pete that Frank was the one who killed Jan’s parents by drinking and driving. 

While all this is happening, people are now being attacked and killed by (normal-sized) crabs everywhere and Pete discovers a giant shell, foreshadowing what’s to come. One guy dies in a fire in his makeshift school bus home. Many residents attribute this to a boatload of Haitian immigrants who entered the country illegally. They take up pitchforks, but Moody calms them down. Then, the big crab shows up and all hell breaks loose. 

Robert Lansing really brings it home in this movie. Especially in the scene where he finds his beloved old dog at death’s door after having been attacked (offscreen) by the crabs. 

I love that an older actor like Lansing gets to ride the monster’s giant claw in this film like a horse. John Agar should have done that in Tarantula, but I don’t think that movie had the budget that this one did. 

Made on the old Salty the Seal sets in Key Biscayne, the giant crab, built by Glen Robinson, cost a million bucks to create. It really does look good for its time, although it didn’t function as expected, necessitating a lot of dark medium shots and close-ups. The eye movements are especially cool. 

First-time Director Hernan Cardenas, who never made another movie, does a pretty good job overall. It’s a bit of a slow burn, with a pace like a Made-for-TV-Movie of the same era but it doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. The Scorpion Releasing Blu-ray print is beautiful, but if you can’t track that down, you can watch an old grainy VHS rip on YouTube. 

And here’s that jazzy soundtrack I referred to in the opening paragraph for your listening pleasure: