Robert Towne

A horror-comedy directed by Roger Corman, written by Charles B. Griffith. American agent XK150, using the alias Sparks Moran (Robert Towne, billed as Edward Wain), infiltrates a gang led by Renzo Capetto (Antony Carbone), who is transporting a Cuban general and a fortune in treasury gold out of Cuba. Capetto invents a sea monster to cover his murders, but a real creature from the haunted sea surfaces to complicate matters. Corman, exhausted by monster movie formulas, famously ended the film with the creature killing the entire cast and picking its teeth with their bones. Filmed in Puerto Rico in 1959, the film was released by The Filmgroup on a double bill with Devil's Partner. Robert Towne would go on to win an Academy Award for writing Chinatown (1974). The film is in the public domain.

Horror · Comedy

A 1960 American science fiction film produced and directed by Roger Corman. Shady businessman Harold Gern (Antony Carbone), his wife Evelyn (Betsy Jones-Moreland), and his lawyer Martin Joyce (Robert Towne, in his screenwriting debut, credited as Edward Wain) are scuba diving off Puerto Rico when a mysterious temporary absence of oxygen kills everyone on the island — and possibly the world. When they surface, they find themselves the sole survivors of an unexplained apocalypse. As the three adjust to their new existence, the tension of being the last people on Earth — with only one woman — drives the two men into a deadly rivalry. Shot in Puerto Rico on a low budget, the film features an early screenplay by Robert Towne, who later won an Oscar for Chinatown (1974).

Sci-Fi · Drama