Review of Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) by Ben L — 22 Oct 2014

An Atomic Age Creature feature that smartly forgoes a radioactive beastie for a straight up monster thriller, this Black Lagoon birthed a very worthy final act for Universal Horror. After all, Godzilla already cornered the market on A-Bomb reptiles. Just to prove that the Atomic market was already cornered, Them! featured gi-normous nuclear ants and Tarantula featured...well, you guessed it. Here, instead, filmgoers get thrown back into a well-proven genre, albeit with a highly effective monster and well wrought script. Allusions to the word 'throw back' are not at all mistaken. At this cultural juncture, the mid-'50s, the original Universal horror flicks enjoyed a hugely successful theatrical re-release and television premiere. The Creature from the Black Lagoon may have been Johnny-Come-Lately, but the quality speaks of Johnny-on-the-Spot.

In this unrated classic Universal horror flick, a strange prehistoric beast lurks in the depths of the Amazonian jungle where a group of scientists try to capture it and bring it back to civilization for study.

Cutting his teeth t great effect here, director Jack Arnold would go on to helm The Incredible Shrinking Man and the aforementioned Tarantula. He never achieved the same Wow factor as with Creature, however. Harry Essex and Arthur Ross provided a decent script. Granted, The Creature fell into that classic Beauty and the Beast formula made infamous by King Kong. The scares truly chill and thrill, however, heightened by the then-pioneering 3D "gimmick." The true measure remains Black Lagoon's extant ability to frighten audiences without the technology. Thankfully, however, the Blu-Ray edition smartly restores the third dimension.

Bottom line: Jurassic Lark.