Given its title, one might expect 1961’s Creature from the Haunted Sea to rip off 1954’s classic Creature from the Black Lagoon. It actually makes its own name for itself and avoids those plagiarist tendencies, but this doesn’t mean it delivers an actual good movie.

In Cuba, CIA Agent “XK-150” (Robert Towne) follows the progress of the revolution and also tracks the movements of notorious mobster Renzo Capeto (Anthony Carbone). The gangster intends to use the unrest for his own ends.

This means Capeto manipulates government loyalists to escape on his boat – and bring the national treasury with him. So he can keep the money, Capeto intends to kill all aboard and blame a mythical sea monster – which ends up being not so mythical after all.

Sea comes from legendary “B-movie” filmmaker Roger Corman, and it includes another famed film talent, though not in his usual role. Towne later became an Oscar-winning screenwriter, with an acting career that didn’t last long.

Beyond this trivia note, does Sea offer anything of interest? No, though Sea does provide an experience that differs from what I expected.

I figured the film would offer a fairly standard monster movie, but instead, it mashes the horror and spy genres. In addition, it parodies both of those and never asks for us to take it seriously.

Which could work, if better executed. Unfortunately, the filmmakers believe they offer greater wit and cleverness than they do.

I can’t imagine how confused audiences must’ve been in 1961 given that ads sold Sea as the generic monster flick I alluded to earlier. The title beast barely plays a part in the end result, and the (intentionally?) terrible creature effects inspire less than zero terror.

Again, Sea comes with some potential as a spoof, but it seems far too scattered and witless to succeed. All involved appear to believe they give us suitably clever elements, but the final product just creates groans instead of laughs.

Like many Roger Corman flicks, Sea was shot quickly and cheaply. The Puerto Rican locations add some production value, but in general, the movie betrays its bargain basement roots – and that goes for the undertalented actors as well.

All camp up their parts, but they nonetheless seem like they come from a mix of different movies. The awkward stabs at comedy never connect and all the performances feel desperate, as though the actors understand the crumminess of the “script” and hope to redeem it via their shenanigans.

The sad part is that Sea could’ve worked as a more traditional monster movie. The plot concept feels sturdy enough, and that genre is easier to pull off than comedic parody.

Perhaps I should give Corman and company credit for their desire to do something outside of the norm. Unfortunately, Sea becomes too grating and witless for me to see it as anything other than a dud.

Creature from the Haunted Sea appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. At the film’s start, a disclaimer tells us that although Film Masters located a 35mm print of Sea, parts of it were so far gone that they needed to use a 16mm print for some sections.

Expectations of picture quality suitably lowered, I indeed found a visual mixed bag. Nonetheless, the film looked reasonably good most of the time.

Sharpness varied. The 35mm shots offered pretty solid delineation, but inevitably, the 16mm elements seemed mushier, though not horribly soft.

No issues with jaggies or moiré effects occurred, and edge haloes remained absent. Grain varied and I suspect the transfer used a fair amount of noise reduction to bring the 16mm shots into line with the 35mm material.

Print flaws stayed modest. Occasional instances of lines cropped up but the image lacked anything intrusive.

The black and white photography also depended on the source. 35mm shots felt well-rendered, with deep blacks and largely concise shadows – outside of the inevitable murkiness of “day for night” images.

16mm footage showed somewhat inky blacks and tended to feel too bright. All of this left us with an inconsistent image but one that seemed much more watchable than expected given the opening disclaimer.

I thought the movie’s DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack seemed dated but adequate. In terms of dialogue, the lines remained intelligible and offered reasonable clarity, without much edginess. Some dodgy looping occurred, and speech from the 16mm became a bit muted, but these issues didn’t seem truly problematic.

Neither music nor effects boasted much range or dimensionality, but both appeared clean and accurate enough, without distortion or problems. Some hiss crept in at times. This mix felt acceptable for its vintage and origins.

The disc includes both the film’s theatrical (1:00:04) and Television (1:14:53) versions. Note that the theatrical actually fills 1:00:26, but the opening disclaimer about the nature of the scan takes up 22 seconds.

In the case of sibling release Devil’s Partner, both its theatrical and TV editions were identical except for aspect ratio. However, obviously that doesn’t become the case here, as the television cut runs almost 15 minutes longer.

The added length comes from three shots filmed explicitly for the TV cut. Much of the extra material relates to XK150’s colleague Agent XK120, and we see a bit more of Mary-Belle as well.

Does any of this make the movie better? No. Sea already lacks content sufficient to flesh out its mere 60-minute theatrical time, so another 15 minutes created just to pad the length doesn’t help.

Alongside the theatrical film, we get an audio commentary from film historian Tom Weaver – partly. In addition, it comes with sound bites from filmmaker Roger Corman as well as his executive secretary Kinta Zertuche.

Weaver also intersperses “re-enacted” quotes from director of photography Jack Marquette, filmmaker Larry Blamire, and actors Betsy Jones-Moreland, Richard Devon, and Anthony Carbone. Weaver gets in his own remarks – and calls BS on memories that seem embellished – but the notes from these others dominate the track.

Much of the commentary looks at Corman’s “Puerto Rico Trilogy”, a run that includes Battle of Blood Island, Last Woman on Earth and Sea. Though this means we learn less about Sea in particular than I might expect, we get so many good stories and insights that I don’t mind.

In addition to two trailers, the disc concludes with a two-minute, 36-second Restoration Video. It shows before/after shots to demonstrate the work put into the film and becomes a decent illustration.

The package concludes with a booklet that presents art and essays from author Mark McGee (about Partner) and Tom Weaver (about Creature from the Haunted Sea). It finishes matters on a good note.

A spoof of both horror and spy flicks, Creature from the Haunted Sea comes with some wacky potential. However, the final result seems so dopey and disconnected that it flops. The Blu-ray comes with erratic but adequate picture and audio along with a few bonus materials. Sea occasionally threatens to turn clever but it never gets there.

Note that this Blu-ray for Creature from the Haunted Sea comes packaged with another 1961 release: Devil’s Partner. Though the set treats Sea as a “bonus”, I thought it deserved its own review.