Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water... a giant muppet lurks beneath the surface.
When a revolution breaks out on a caribbean island (presumably Cuba) a local mob boss and his cronies take it upon themselves to provide a safe escape to loyalists of the former regime, along with their stockpile of gold bars. Little do the exiled Cubans know, mob boss Renzo has an alternate plan, to whack the Cubans, take the gold for himself, and blame everything on a mythical sea monster. But little does Renzo know, one of his own crew is a U.S. agent and not only that, but a real sea creature is on the loose.
"I swear baby, my cigarettes never get this limp..."
Creature from the Haunted Sea is a low budget cheesy horror classic from director/producer Roger Corman. The acting is bad and pretty corny given it’s quirky cast of characters. You have Renzo the mob boss who is simply a poor man’s Humphrey Bogart. There’s Renzo’s brainless henchmen, one of whom seems to only communicate in the form of animal noises, the clueless secret agent XK150 played by Robert Towne who is also the narrator, and the sultry Betsy Jones-Moreland who plays the eye candy.
"Now listen up Junior, the trick to looking like a total douchebag is to pop your collar just like me."
After a few “accidental” mishaps on the sea voyage which involves one of the Cuban’s getting a plunger to the face, the crew begins to carry out their plot by heading to a small deserted island and intentionally capsizing the boat with plans to scuba dive for the gold when no is looking. Of course, this whole plan is absolutely ridiculous, needlessly complex and filled with plot holes. However, the writers had to get the cast in the water somehow so I suppose if you’re already making a low budget shlock fest, they might as well take some liberties with… pretty much everything.
The Creature finally got his big break when he was asked to pose in this year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition.
And this leads us to the sea creature itself which is really the only reason that anyone would bother to watch this movie. The sea monster probably ranks up there with the all time most fake looking monsters ever created. With it’s domed head, plastic seaweed wrapped suit, and googly eyes; the creature resembles that of a giant muppet more than anything.
The Creature wasn't usually the jealous type until Betsy started dating that popped collar jerk.
Overall, Creature from the Haunted Sea is a bit of a snoozer in the beginning despite it’s intent on being purposely corny and the actual creature having the “it’s so bad it’s good” quality. That being said, it is what it is; a low budget creature/gangster spoof with a lot goofy acting, dialogue and not so special effects. However, it is a movie that could be entertaining and lots of fun with a group of friends and a case of PBR.
On the horror classics movie pack rating scale I have to give this classic Roger Corman flick a C for it’s mild entertainment value. However, on the fake movie monster scale, this sea creature gets a solid A+.
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