If you’ve seen THE GIANT CLAW (dir. Fred F. Sears, 1957), you can imagine my squeals of delight when asked by Arrow Films to co-create a new commentary with the sublime Cerise Howard for their new boxset, Cold War Creatures: Four Films From Sam Katzman.

Producer Sam Katzman was a genius when it came to churning out cheap exploitation flicks that returned on their minuscule budgets in spades. He brashly ventured into anything he thought could turn a buck, from 1950s TV serials to films on rock ‘n’ roll and juvenile delinquency.

THE GIANT CLAW sits within his work in the Atomic Age monster movie sub-genre and delivers generously with a ‘plucked turkey’ monster so ridiculous you can’t help but love it. The other films featured in the boxset are THE WEREWOLF, CREATURE WITH THE ATOMIC BRAIN and ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU.

I only hope that Cerise and I managed to do THE GIANT CLAW justice in acknowledging the spirit in which it was made i.e. with tongue-in-cheek fun (or should that be ‘tongue-in-beak’?).

And because I can’t get enough of THE GIANT CLAW, here’s my gift to you…