Another atomic mutation menaces in today’s venture into DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies. Produced and directed by Richard Corman, I enjoyed this one much more than his Day The World Ended. This one is so bad, you can’t help but to enjoy it. It also features Russell Johnson, recognisable to most as the Professor, from Gilligan’s Island.

This time around, as Hank, Johnson has to get himself off another island. He and a scientific crew, aided by some Navy personnel, are checking out a remote Pacific science outpost. It seemed the previous team assigned there vanished without a trace, the authorities are willing to chart it up to typhoon season, but an investigation has to be carried out nonetheless.

And despite being set in the nuclear era, no one knows what to expect, and they certainly aren’t ready for what they find. The island seems devoid of any insect or animal life, except for a proliferation of land crabs. But the trouble really gets underway when some of the expedition are awakened by a ghostly voice in the night, calling out their names, and claiming to be a member of the lost party.

Ghosts, right?

Nope, the answer is right there in the title, Crab Monster! It seems radiation has caused some of the land crabs to grow to a, well, monstrous, size and have an intellect now to match.

But wait, there’s more! They have somehow developed the ability to communicate, in English, by using vibrations in metal objects. Not only that, but that can imitate specific voices!

Sneaky buggers.

They also have the ability to set off small detonations that is slowly causing the island to crumble…

Now the Professor, I mean Hank and the lone woman on the expedition, Marty (Pamela Duncan) fight to survive and escape from the nightmare that threatens to plunge them into the sea and the waiting claws of the crab monsters!

Corman makes use of his locations, his tight budget, and his story (?) rendering a truly enjoyable horribly bad movie. And I’ll say this for him, as ridiculous as his giant crab monster appears (a practical effect), it still looks better than his mutant in Day The World Ended.

Running just over an hour, this one served as a fun little distraction that you can’t help but laugh and roll your eyes at. It’s just that stupendously, enjoyably bad. I am having so much fun with this chapter, I can’t wait to see what they deliver me next.

And pick up a copy of DK Books’ Monsters in the Movies for yourself and find something monstrous to watch tonight!