Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us
The Gill-Man returns. Again and again.
The Creature from the Black Lagoon has the best signature theme in of all 50’s sci-fi monster movies. You just can’t mistake that trumpet bleat for anything else. Automatic +1 for that.
These are two proto-typical 50’s sci-fi monster movie sequels; exactly what you’d expect after The End…..? In Revenge, they go back to recapture the monster, and they do, and put him on display at the Miami Seaquarium. (I think this movie was remade later as Jaws III in 3-D, it has the same story.) The Creature resents what’s happened, gets angry, and escapes. The End….? Omnipresent John Agar plays the lead scientist, and Clint Eastwood plays a doofus lab tech in a very early role.
The Creature Walks Among Us is the better of the two, because there’s at least an interesting story. Yet again, some scientists capture the Gill-Man, only this time he get burned instead of shot. The fire burns off his scales, and it turns out he has human-like skin underneath. The fire also damages his gills, and turns him into an air breather. The Creature resents what’s happened, gets angry, and escapes. The End….? But this time, now that he’s an air breather, he has nowhere to go. He can’t go back to the sea, or he’d drown. What to do? I fully expect that in the next movie, he’ll turn out to be Tarzan of the Fish. Rex Reason, the man with the best name Evar, plays one of the scientists.
One of the things that really surprised me while watching these two is how far our (or at least my) sensibilities have changed since these were made. At the beginning of Walks, the obligatory dame shoots off a rifle. The rest of the crew runs to see what’s happening, and she said “shooting sharks. I got two of em!” I have to say, I was appalled. Then there was the scene of the near rape of the captain’s wife (interupted by the Creature), portrayed as if any good looking woman should expect that to happen. Again, I was appalled. But I guess it’s okay if it’s in black and white. I did find my reaction surprising, though.
Ratings:
Revenge: C; would watch again
Walks: B; would watch again
