- Title: Creature from the Black Lagoon
- IMDb: link
Of all the classic Universal monsters, the Gill-man, also known simply as the Creature, was always my favorite. The plot of Creature from the Black Lagoon is pretty boilerplate with a group of scientists heading up the Amazon River looking the remainder of a fossilized skeleton of a fish man. Little do they know one of these creatures still exists. The setup works so well it would be copied by any number of horror movies for decades to come.
The group includes the more reputable scientists (Antonio Moreno, Richard Carlson, and Julia Adams), the businessman (Richard Denning) out for fame and fortune, their riverboat captain (Nestor Paiva), and lesser-developed characters placed on-screen as victims for our monster. Tension arise on the boat concerning capturing or killing the creature, studying it or monetizing it, but in the end motivations go out the window with the group simply looking to survive and escape the Black Lagoon.
Although the film was originally shot for 3D, the film doesn’t have a number of shots that standout as attempting to take advantage of the technique. In fact, the look of the film (shot in black and white that beautifully captures the tone and atmosphere of the film both on the boat and underwater) holds up quite well in the restored versions. And the creature still looks as good today as he ever did. It’s been released on home video several times over the years on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K. It also spawned two lesser-known sequels.
