Creature From The Haunted Sea (1961)

A mobster hits on a plan while smuggling a deposed general and a fortune in gold out of Cuba on his yacht: He and his crew will scare the general and kill his guards by faking the attacks of a sea monster and thus keep the gold for themselves. Unfortunately, a sea monster actually is attacking them, leading to all sorts of complications. Eventually the yacht sinks, and the survivors find love on a tropical island–and death when they dive to recover the sunken loot. Roger Corman shot this fun quickie in Puerto Rico, where he also filmed THE LAST WOMAN ON EARTH with the same cast, which is deadpan perfect: Paul Carbone is the mobster, Renzo, "the most trustworthy man ever to be deported from Sicily." Future CHINATOWN-scribe Robert Towne (billed as Edward Wain) plays Agent XK150. Betsy Jones-Moreland is Renzo’s leggy pistol-packing moll; she also sings the haunting theme song. Beach Dickerson plays one of Renzo’s happy thugs, as well as the monster. The script by Charles Griffith taps the same vein of innovative wit that made his LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS and BUCKET OF BLOOD such satisfying cult hits.

1961, B&W, 75 minutes