"Man, these folk coming up and interrupting my fun time with myself!"
Next up for the spooky month is a look at one of the final
Universal Studio Monster: The Creature from the Black Lagoon or “The Gill-Man.”
The Creature (“Gill-Man” sounds lame) came about in the 1950’s when horror was
trying to branch out from the supernatural. Now, you had mad scientists doing
bad science, nuclear tests gone wrong, beasts from eons ago inflicting havoc,
aliens coming from the sky, and all sorts of mad hysteria. Universal Studios
wanted to get in on that action, so the Creature was born. The Creature movies
were the last few movies that Universal Studios did in this branch of horror.
It’s a monster whose influences can be felt today. Just look at Abe Sapien from
Hellboy and the beast from The Shape of Water for examples.
The Creature was featured in three movies: Creature from the
Black Lagoon (1954), Revenge of the Creature (1955), and The Creature Walks
Among Us (1956). Now, I saw the 1954 film a long time ago. It was one of the
only Universal Monster movies they had at Movie Gallery. When my sister got the
collection, I watched it as well the second movie. I didn’t even get around to
watch the last movie until a couple of days ago when I marathoned them all. So,
how did Universal’s last Monster fare out in his movies?