Universal Horror - Creature from the Black Lagoon

People have always been afraid of what they don't know. For example, fear of the dark is a major fear because of the unknown of what might be lurking in it. Fear of the water is an old phobia probably reached its pinnacle with another Universal movie from 1975 - Jaws. But in 1950's, monster movies about radiation and man's meddling in unnatural science was all the rage. Creature from the Black Lagoon presented an escape from man's flaws and showed a misunderstood creature and the story of trying to understand him. This series was the last of the classic Universal horror movies, and it also featured the shortest number of sequels for the classic horror movies.

"Creature from the Black Lagoon" (1954)

This movie is certainly a classic, with one of the most recognizable monster makeups ever made. The marketing alone for the Creature is off the charts, making this movie a cash cow for everyone involved. Also, the underwater shots are amazing! They give a surreal feel to the movie. The best scene to me is the one with Julie Adams swimming, and the Creature is swimming just below her - naturally, she has no idea. A great element of this movie is the introduction of the Creature: he is introduced slowly. First, you see his claws and hand. Then you see part of his body. Then you see all of him. You see what he's capable of before you see what he looks like. A trend ahead of its time.

The movie begins as a group of archeologists uncover a fossil of a hand in limestone on the edge of a tributary of the Amazon River. The main doctor leaves to get help in excavating the rest of the fossil. He returns with more doctors and the beautiful Kay, but they find the camp destroyed and the hired help killed. Assuming wild animals, the scientists go to work and discover the rest of the limestone had crumbled into the tributary and been washed into the Black Lagoon. They ship into the Black Lagoon, where they soon find out that not only is the fossil in the lagoon, but so is a very alive one. The Creature takes out some of the men, one at a time. The scientists want proof the Creature is alive, but when the stakes become too high, they decide it's safer to escape with their lives. The problem arises when they try to leave and the Creature has blocked the exit into the tributary. They eventually free themselves, but the Creature steals Kay. The men rescue her and shoot the monster several times. The Creature falls to the bottom of the lagoon, apparently dead, and the scientists leave.

The Creature was known as Gill Man because of his gills on the side of his head, part of the reason he is so recognizable. Two men played as the Gill Man: one for the underwater sequences, and one for the land sequences. Both men are not the same height, but you wouldn't know it by watching the movie. Creature from the Black Lagoon was shown in 3D when it came out, but that required two reels running at the same time, which they usually weren't. Most of the theater employees didn't know or care, so if the 3D wasn't running in sync, then the image would be all screwed up. One of the reasons 3D fell out of favor in the 1950's.

"Revenge of the Creature" (1955)

The inevitable sequel came out just the following year. This one took a dramatic turn than many of the Universal horror sequels. The typical sequel would've had another group of scientists come, get attacked and one by one die, and then barely make it out alive after maybe killing the Creature. But this one took a radical departure from the normal and instead took a modern approach.

The captain of the boat that survived the first movie takes a new group of scientists into the Black Lagoon, but this time their goal is to capture the Creature, which they do. They bring him back to Florida to be studied. Clete and Helen study the Creature, who is put on display in a large tank and chained to the floor for the safety of the researchers. They begin putting the Creature through tests that border on torture. The Creature begins to obviously take a liking to Helen and struggles to escape. When he finally does, he wreaks havoc and escapes into the ocean. A search ensues but turns up nothing. With the coast on high alert, Clete and Helen try to live their lives like normal. The Creature finally shows up at a party and abducts Helen. Clete and the police go on high alert and pursue the Creature until they find him on a beach and shoot him repeatedly. Once again, he appears to die, falling to the bottom of the water.

This movie made an extraordinary switch in horror movies: sympathy for the Creature. One feels sorry for the Creature in this movie because of the cruel experiments he is subjected to, but at the same time, they are appalled at his abduction of Helen. One unusual element is that since the creature comes from deep in the Amazon, he is a fresh water creature, but they put him in a salt water tank with sharks and barracuda. Also, the Creature kills a college student by throwing him into a tree, but the strings clearly show. But one fascinating bit is an uncredited appearance by Clint Eastwood as a science tech early in the movie. The makeup itself had changed a little for Gill Man; weaker than the first, in my opinion.

"The Creature Walks Among Us" (1956)

The last of the Gill Man movies came out the very next year, and ended what could easily be called a trilogy. Each movie picks up where the previous one left off. Many have their feelings about these movies: some say the first is the best, others say the second is a great sequel, but not many will give high praise to the final in the Creature chronicles. It is actually, in my opinion, very highly underrated. It isn't all about scare or about violence, it's more about philosophy and man vs. nature vs. science, and it's more about questioning the nature of the Creature.

This movie is about a group of scientists once again trying to find the Creature in the everglades of Florida. They finally do, but the Creature is burned very badly in the process. The scientists take him in and bandage him, trying to heal his wounds. In the process, they find that he has lungs, and the allow them to breathe since his gills have been burned off. Most of his scale structure had been burned as well, and what is left is much more human than before. They clothe him and take care of him. He lashes out one night and escapes into the water, but with his new lungs, he begins to drown. He is rescued by the scientists and transported to a private residence where he is placed in a large cage with some sheep. He is surprisingly non-violent, and discussions arise on whether he is only violent to protect himself or because he sees it. One day a mountain lion enters the cage to get the sheep, but the Creature kills it. Debate begins one whether he killed it because he wanted to kill, or because it was self-defense. One of the scientists is obsessed with his wife, thinking she's always cheating on him. He accidentally murders a man he thinks is having an affair with his wife, and he tries to conceal the murder by placing the body in the cage with the Creature. The Creature, who saw the whole thing, breaks out of his cage, and goes on a rampage through the house looking for the man who tried to frame him. When he comes to the scientist who'd helped him earlier and the wife, the Creature leaves them alone and instead pursues the one that framed him. After killing him, the Creature leaves the estate, only killing one more man who tried to attack him. He reaches the sea, and begins walking toward it. You the audience knows that he will drown when he gets too it, because he no longer has gills.

There is much more subtext in this movie than any of the other Universal horror movies, and as such, a great way to end out the classic horror movies. There is real philosophical depth to this movie, which makes it just a good movie. Once again, we are sympathetic toward the Creature, which makes for a great story. Are the people the villains? Is the Creature? Is there a villain? Problems with this movie include seeing the strings that hold up the furniture and people the Creature throws, but with the climax, one doesn't always notice them. One interesting note was that this was the only one of the three Creature movies not shown in 3D. Overall, this was a great way to finish out not only the Creature movies, but the whole classic Universal horror genre.