Review of Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) by Jason B — 10 Oct 2008

In the 1950's there was a huge surge of genre pictures. Alien invasions, giant mutations, and of course monsters. None more famous than the Gill-man from The Creature from the Black Lagoon. An amazing fossil discovery prompts several scientists to travel up the Amazon river to find the source of the fossil on to discover a living specimen, the Gill-man, who terrorizes the explorers and finds itself infatuated with Kay.

Creature is no more creative than any of the other monster films of the 50's but being a Universal picture the upscale production shows. Sure it is just another guy in a rubber suit but it is the most iconic of the rubber suits and the detail is still pretty good by today's standards.

The musical score on the Universal films was always quite impressive and Creature is no different with a big fat BUT! Every time the creature shows up being from just a hand in a shot to a full on attack the same 6 jarring notes play over and over. It is like getting a tooth canal every single time those notes play. Gah!

Once again Universal tries to have their monster fall in love with the only female around for miles. Apparently Gill-girls are scarce in the amazon. One can speculate that the Gill-man becomes entranced with her strange water ballet and confuses her for one of his own. Mating ritual perhaps? Who knows for certain. A Gill-man has needs after all.

Creature is a fun adventure flick and it is a great trip to films of the past. It was one of the better of the 50's schlock and sparked many imitators, but there is only one Creature From the Black Lagoon!