Horror abounds in Island Claws, a film about killer crabs that go on a rampage for seemingly no reason. To be truthful, there is no actual horror within, though people scream and are killed here and there. What there is, is unintentional comedy, at least one has to think it is unintentional. When one makes a picture about giant insects or animals, they had better be imposing and taken seriously; otherwise, how is the audience supposed to invest in the material?

The story finds a reporter, played by Jo McDonnell, doing a story on crab experiments, headed up by Dr. McNeal. All is fine, and the movie meanders for a bit until it is discovered that McDonnell’s character, Jan, whose father owns the town’s nuclear power plant, accidentally dumped radioactive water into the local waterways. The spillage irradiates the local crabs, with one growing to enormous proportions. People die from all sorts of crab-related incidents until the giant crab finally shows up in the last act to cause chaos and horror among the locals. At least it looks great; the practical effects are top-notch for the giant creature.

While one goes into this movie expecting the best that giant crabs have to offer, it is more than a little disappointing. The pace is lackadaisical at best, with the makers of this film taking their time getting to the good stuff, and only then does it comprise the last ten minutes of the film or thereabouts. There is a bit of romance going on, and a little characterization which is not a bad thing in and of itself, but a giant monster movie needs its giant monsters doing giant monster things, and there is very little of that. What the audience does get is regular-sized crabs moving about and going into trailers and such, frightening those who think crabs are scary. A lot of the hilarity that comes from this feature can be found in these moments, the funniest of which is when the guy in the motorhome dies. Sure, it can be disconcerting to walk into one’s house and find a bunch of crabs there, but upon seeing them, why not just turn around and walk out? Why hang out, waiting until they very slowly surround you, screaming as if the world is ending and thereby causing a fire of your own making? Ridiculous in the extreme, and there are a few instances of this, causing the audience to both laugh and groan as the cheese is on full display.

When the giant crab finally shows up towards the end of the picture, it is a thing of beauty. Now the killing can really begin in earnest, and yet, while that is what one would think and one would hope, it simply is not meant to be. All this giant crab does is wander around, cause some damage and die in the most banal of ways. Given what this movie was about, the giant crab should have done some rampaging at the very least. That said, it was still good to see, and the little boy or girl who loves monster movies would thrill at the sight of this monstrosity finally showing up.

Island Claws is far from the greatest of giant creature films, but it entertained, even through the dramatic parts, more so through the comedic parts and is worth checking out for anyone who wants to see a giant irradiated crab.

3 out of 5