It probably speaks volumes that I forgot the name of this movie more than a few times before I could ever get to writing the review, and I watched it last night.
In a small island town on the coastal waterways of Florida, life is simple. There are the local fisherman, the crabbers, and their families. Alongside them is a small group of scientists that study the local population of crab. That’s about it. The people there go about their days never worrying about much. They fish too much, drink too much, but everyone knows everyone, and they all just … exist. That is until some strange things start happening around the island.
The island and its people rely heavily on their fishing and crabbing. However, they start to notice that the crabs are acting strangely. They are going further inland than they ever have, and they are now becoming increasingly aggressive. One night the local musician’s home (bus) burns down, but oddly, it is turned over as well. That same night a boat full of Haitians washes ashore. Everyone in town suspects that these same people are the ones that have perpetrated such a horrible act. Then things start to get even stranger as people go missing, animals are mauled, and strange noises can be heard in the night.
Island Claws was made in the early 80s but reminds me more of the horror movies of the 50s. The Creeping Terror, Them, Beginning of the End, and Tarantula all spring to mind once they actually made the reveal of the giant crab. I will give them credit for making a giant physical crab as a prop. There was no camera tricks or post editing to make this work. It was a huge 10ft crab prop. Aside from that… there really isn’t much to be seen here. Almost literally. The bulk of the film is shot at night (most-likely to hide the cheese of the huge crab) and is a lot of woods or interiors of houses/shops. The giant crab was pretty comical because of its size, however, the sheer number of regular sized crabs was unnerving. It was like watching hundreds of spiders crawl across the floor toward a victim. That was way more effective in creeping me out than anything.
When I sat down to watch this movie I knew I wasn’t going to be seeing an Oscar-worthy performance in any way. In that regard, Island Claws really did what I was expecting, just fill time. By the time the giant crab had been killed, all I could think of was just how much crab meat it would make, and the volume of melted butter and Old Bay you would need to really enjoy it. In a time when movies like Friday the 13th, The Shining and even The Fog were coming out, this thing never stood a chance. Had it come out 30 years prior, maybe … maybe.
I can’t even find an actual official trailer for it.
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