Pierce Berolzheimer (director)
(studio)
18 (certificate)
80 (length)
26 August 2021 (released)
27 August 2021
It’ll be obvious from the very start of Crabs what the tone will be, the direction, the character types and the plot. It’s a homage to monster movies while in keeping with the churn of cheapo horror that is a staple of the Horror Channel that being the endless shark variations and dodgy CGI.
An explosion at a restricted plant kicks off proceedings soon after which we are watching a couple making noisy love on the beach, stared at by a crab that creeps out the woman. Macho that he is he insists that the woman has her photo taken with it only for it to attack them. It’s a derivative introduction which means the viewer can settle down to enjoy this creature feature nonsense.
High school buddies Maddy (Allie Jennings) and Phil (Dylan Riley Snyder) are not quite there when it comes to the prom date which is approaching. Phil is much more preoccupied with sabotaging sale of the property he shares with his brother Hunter (Bryce Durfee) and awaiting a gadget that will help him out of his wheelchair and walk. It also has other properties that come into play much later in the film.
Meanwhile a half-eaten whale has been washed up on the beach suggesting that there’s big nasty out there. Baffled police follow this up while the crabs are making their way into the town.
Crabs is just good fun, rolling in its archness as writer/director Pierce Berolzheimer pulls on his influences from the cheesy American and Japanese monster movies of the 50’s, with a dose of gremlins too. The characters are paper thin filled out by enthusiastic actors who are very up much up for the whole thing.
The effects are a mish mash of ropey practical and CGI. I’d tentatively suggest these were deliberately so but there’s no doubt that Crabs didn’t have much of a budget.
