The Giant Claw (1957) Review

Monster Appearance: The Giant Claw

1957’s The Giant Claw has earned legendary notoriety within the kaiju community. If you’ve spent any time in monster movie circles, you already know this film is often treated as a meme and for good reason. Why? A truly bizarre, hideous-looking puppet that feels wildly out of place, even by 1950s standards. While the creature design is usually the first thing people mention, it turns out the puppet is only the beginning of this movie’s problems.

There’s no getting around it the Giant Claw itself is rough. The puppet clashes heavily with the film’s otherwise grounded military footage and special effects, making it feel like it wandered in from an entirely different production. That said, watching it today, the creature isn’t quite as unwatchable as its reputation suggests. It’s strange, awkward, and undeniably goofy, but in a way that slowly becomes almost endearing.

Where The Giant Claw really falls apart is its plot and character writing. The movie frequently invents random science concepts only to immediately contradict or invalidate them moments later. There’s no internal logic holding the story together, which makes following the narrative more frustrating than entertaining.

Even more jarring are the character reactions or lack thereof. Characters regularly witness death and destruction with almost no emotional response, giving the impression that everyone involved is oddly detached from the chaos around them. Combined with some casual sexism that hasn’t aged well, these elements make the human side of the story the hardest part to sit through.

Despite all of its flaws, The Giant Claw is still a fascinating watch for fans of classic sci-fi and kaiju cinema. It’s a true B-level sci-fi film, and while it may fail as a serious monster movie, it succeeds as an unintentional comedy and a historical curiosity within the genre.

Best of all, there’s no barrier to checking it out for yourself The Giant Claw is currently available to stream for free on Tubi and YouTube.

Watch our full video review below for all the plot details and let us know what you think. Is The Giant Claw so bad it’s good, or just plain bad?