First published back in September of 1981, Guy N Smith released the fourth instalment into his popular crabs series entitled ‘Crabs On The Rampage’.
DLS Synopsis:
Great Britain is once again at the mercy of the giant crabs as they return to wreak more bloody havoc on the islands unprepared population. The monstrous crabs are as big as ever, but this time they have a deeper rage for humankind burning inside them. The crabs are dying from a cancer that is slowly eating away at them from the inside. The cancer was man’s doing; caused by an underwater nuclear explosion. Now the crabs have revenge in their sights and they're here for bloodshed.
Intent on causing as much death and suffering for humankind as possible, the crabs return to the shores of Great Britain, destroying bridges and buildings and anything else that lies in their wake. Nowhere appears safe, with the crustaceans finding their way to the very heart of London via the River Thames. Carnage ensues, as the crabs unleash a bloodthirsty onslaught upon mankind in every possible direction.
Cliff Davenport is once again called in to tackle the returning crab epidemic. With the death toll rising by the minute, there is little more anyone can do but simply try to defend themselves. It is soon discovered that the crabs are dying from this cancer that’s eating away at them, and with this news the defensive position held by man suddenly changes to one of offensive.
The crabs attempt a series of final rage filled assaults, once again on the picturesque location of Shell Island and subsequently on to Bournemouth beach. With the crabs now rampaging in heavily populated areas, it’s deemed too dangerous to use paraquat to kill them off. However, it’s only a matter of time before the crabs die from their cancer, but their final assaults on mankind are proving to be so devastating, that time may well be running out for those the vast population of the UK too...
DLS Review:
From the outset ‘Crabs On The Rampage’ unleashes a veritable tsunami of splatter filled violence. Smith clearly went all out to top the scales of gore-drenched crab action in this monumentally over-the-top instalment. For sheer brutality alone the storyline is non-stop entertainment from start to finish. Rage-fuelled crabs, absolutely hell bent on revenge before they expire from a very painful death, creates one hell of a deadly opponent.
The story is packed full of memorable moments of vividly gory splatter, such as when the crabs cause utter carnage within a congested motorway tunnel. The blood spill is in epic proportions, even when held up against the likes of ‘Killer Crabs’ (1978).
Smith does his usual trick of introducing a host of new characters, laying down an involved (and often quite elaborate) back-story for them, and then killing them off in a moment of manic carnage. Indeed, each one of the deaths is described in vividly visceral detail, with Smith really going to town on the graphic gore the novel wallows within.
The carnage just keeps on continuing, with more and more mayhem ripping across the length and breadth of the UK until the chaos escalates to a final crescendo. Here, the ending is somewhat inevitable and leaves us crab fans with a final heartfelt sigh as the novel finishes in a triumphantly brutal fashion.
The novel runs for a total of 157 pages.
© DLS Reviews
Other ‘Crabs’ instalments:
- ‘Night Of The Crabs’ (1976)
- ‘Killer Crabs’ (1978)
- ‘The Origin Of The Crabs’ (1979)
- ‘Crabs On The Rampage’ (1981)
- ‘Crabs’ Moon’ (1984)
- ‘Crabs: The Human Sacrifice’ (1988)
- ‘Crabs Fury’ (1998) [Graphic Novel]
- ‘Crabs’ Armada’ (1998) [Audiobook CD]
- ‘Crabs: Unleashed - The Collection’ (2009) [Chapbook]
- ‘Crabs: Unleashed’ (2009) [Chapbook]
- ‘Crustacean Vengeance’ (2009) [Chapbook]
- ‘The Decoy’ (2009) [Chapbook]
- ‘Crabs’ Armada’ (2009) [Chapbook]
- ‘Killer Crabs: The Return’ (2012)
- ‘Crabs Omnibus’ (2015)
- ‘The Charnel Caves’ (2019)
