Series: Creature from the Black Lagoon

This review is almost unnecessary.  Anyone who liked the first two films of the Creature trilogy will probably watch this move at some point just to see it, despite what is said about it.  Anyone who did not like the second or, somehow, the first installment will likely never consider watching this one, which I unfortunately cannot recommend viewing.  The problem with Revenge of the Creature, the first sequel to Creature from the Black Lagoon, was that it didn’t do anything new, even though it was pretty fun.  The problem with this one is that it tries too hard.  This film overtly extracts a symbolism from the creature and spends an hour and eighteen minutes plastering it to the screen, pleading, “Understand me!”  This is unfortunate because the story itself is actually pretty interesting, and the(read more...)

Undoubtedly, this movie will go unseen by many people because it is the sequel to a great piece of horror cinema — a formula that usually results in mediocrity. Creature from the Black Lagoon is a classic, the best swamp monster movie to date, so how can you expect its sequel to be anywhere near as good? Well, realistically, you can’t. Revenge of the Creature works with an interesting premise, established in the original, but instead of studying that premise further, the film merely looks back at it.(read more...)

1954 was a great year for monster movies. The giant bug film was introduced with Them! and the Land of the Rising Sun gave the world an international icon with the film Gojira (aka Godzilla, King of the Monsters). In 1954, Universal studios brought the movie going public Creature from the Black Lagoon. This film was a sensation and put the Gillman alongside Count Dracula, the Frankenstein monster, and the Mummy in the pantheon of classic Universal Monsters. The Creature is the greatest monster of a decade filled with monsters. He outshines his irradiated and overgrown brethren because there was the slightest bit of humanity in him.(read more...)