Someone or something is messily killing people near a lighthouse by the titular Californian point (although that is not where the film was shot) and the cranky lighthouse-keeper is clearly concealing a dark secret. Typical of the genre, the film attempts to build suspense by cranking up the sense of menace and offering teasing glimpses of the monster until the 'big reveal' leading up to the inevitable climatic showdown. There are a couple of 'shock shots' involving decapitated heads (the scene with the crab is pretty good) but for the most part, the film is just slow moving and dull. The monster suit, designed by Jack Kevan, who had worked on "The Creature from the Black Lagoon' (1954) and 'The Mole People' (1956), is neither convincingly amphibious-looking (unlike the iconic CBL 'gill man') nor particularly creepy. Inexplicably, victims are decapitated with almost surgical precision, which is unlikely given the monster's clumsy-looking clawed hands (recycled from mole-people suits) and there is detailed description about how they were systematically drained of blood, which makes no sense when the creature finally appears. Like many of its ilk, there is no consideration about how there can only be one survivor from prehistoric times (also typical, there is an associated 'legend' suggesting the beast has been around for a while). The script and acting are typical for a B-genre film although the 'big-word pseudo-science' used to explain what the townies are dealing with is slightly better than the usual nonsense (such as that in CBL and its sequels). For fans of 1950's quasi-science fiction 'boo movies' only.
