31 Days of Horror: Creature from the Black Lagoon
/"There are many strange legends in the Amazon. Even I, Lucas, have heard the legend of a man-fish."
Filmoology Rating: 3 out of 4
The Universal Monsters are easily some of the biggest icons of the horror genre. You can’t go into the Halloween section at your local Walmart without seeing the green Frankenstein monster or Dracula’s cape in which he would tell you how much he wants to suck your blood. The characters are basically tied to the Halloween season just as much as It’s a Wonderful Life is tied to Christmas. In the 1950s however Universal was seeing lower profits, so they decided to turn back to making the movies that worked so well for them twenty years earlier. Thus they returned with an original monster who rises from the deep in Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Deep in the Amazon an expedition team led by Dr. Carl Maia, played by Antonio Moreno, and Dr. David Reed, played by Richard Carlson, are looking for signs of creatures that lived during the Devonian period. The group wants to prove that evolution caused animals to go from the sea to the land; and they feel that finding such a creature at the fabled Black Lagoon will prove the theory. The team quickly discover that the Black Lagoon has remained hidden for good reason and that the creature that lives there doesn’t like to be disturbed.
The design of Gillman has to be the highlight of the film, the moment that you see his webbed clawed hand appear you are left with curiosity. What is this monster? What is it capable of doing? Is the monster really a threat or is it just protecting it’s home? Those are also the same thoughts that I first had when I watched the 1933 film King Kong, a film which is the spiritual father to Creature from the Black Lagoon. While Gillman is a terrifying creature, he is just wanting the love that every human being wants, just how Kong wanted the love of Fay Wray. Unrequited love is something that everyone has felt in some way and it’s always an interesting aspect to have in a monster movie instead of just having a monster mindlessly trying to kill everyone in it’s path. If I were to go to a haunted house and I were to run into a person dressed as Gillman I would honestly feel shock because the design of the character is so intense and interesting to look at. While the costume does look rather inexpensive at times, especially with the lack of facial movement, it is still fascinating to look at.
One of the most surprising aspects of the film was the underwater cinematography by William E. Snyder. Even most modern films hate shooting on the water because of how difficult it can be for both those on the production team and the actors themselves. It would seem that Steven Spielberg was inspired by some of the shots coming from Gillman’s point of view and used those for Jaws. Snyder has over fifty films that he worked on as a cinematographer, but Creature from the Black Lagoon is clearly the standout from his career and I wish that he could have gone on to try and do more interesting projects instead of the forgettable movies that he ended up doing.
While Creature from the Black Lagoon will not give you spine tingling chills, the film is still overall effective and features some great underwater cinematography especially for 1954. For those who are now cinephiles, this film will feel like homework. I urge those people to sit back and enjoy the ride with the last Universal Monster.
Rating: See It
-Jonny G