tomgillespie2002 Directed by John Sherwood, The Creature Walks Among Us is the third and final movie in one of Universal's most beloved monster franchises, that of the Gill-Man of the Black Lagoon. The original is a genre classic, a surprisingly creepy picture given its B-movie shackles that makes powerful use of its man-in-a-rubber-suit special effects. With audiences losing interest in creature features and denying Universal its bread and butter in the process, Creature from the Black Lagoon inspired a quickly-made sequel the following year, Revenge of the Creature, a routine monster movie that proved to be as uninspiring and unimaginative as its title, drawing from what made its predecessor so memorable without any of its skill of execution.This final bow wraps the trilogy up nicely, while facing the wrath of its fans by being rather hesitant to go underwater and taking the evolutionary curiosity in a different direction all together. After the events of Revenge, the creature is at large in Florida, believed to be hiding out in the wetlands of the Everglades. A new crack team of square-jawed scientists and one of their pretty wives head out on a boat in the hope of snaring the beast, although it quickly comes to light that each man may have their own intentions. The handsome Thomas Morgan (Rex Reason) hopes to gain medical insight through experimentation, but the unhinged William Barton (Jeff Morrow) plans to mess with its DNA and creature a whole new species. The presence of Barton's wife Marcia (Leigh Snowden) has testosterone running high, sending Barton slowly mad in the process, while sleazy jungle guide Jed Grant (Gregg Palmer) tries to catch her eye.After an incident leaves the Gill-Man badly burned, the crew tend to him and head for home. The burns peel back to reveal a smoother skin beneath, and the group are shocked to learn that the gill-breather also has lungs. The creature starts to, as the title suggests, walk among us, and is here more human than ever. With this idea, the film harks back to the original and turns its focus on man as the beast. He doesn't even need shackles to walk into his enclosure once he is brought ashore, and is eventually only thrown into a rage by evil acts committed by man. There's no claiming and kidnapping women to be his mate, and at one point he even prevents a rape. There is a startling amount of characterisation for a genre normally so reliant of archetypes, thanks to the script by Arthur A. Ross and strong performances from Morrow and Reason (who appeared together in sci-fi turkey and 'classic' This Island Earth. Given its obvious appeal, the Creature has remained surprisingly untouched by Hollywood's fondness for remakes, and judging from the reaction to Universal's introduction to their planned 'Dark Universe', The Mummy, let's keep it that way.

Nigel P The Creature from the Black Lagoon is often thought of as the last Universal classic monster. As far as this, the final of three films to star the titular 'gill man', the difference from the Lugosi/Karloff/Chaney monster mashes is marked. No familiar orchestral soundtracks cribbed from earlier horrors; a sun-kissed Honolulu main road (which opens this) is a million miles away from the faux 'European' locations on Universal's backlot that provided a staple part of earlier monster movies. Of course, in the late 1950's, times and styles have changed. Sleek haired, square jawed wholesome heroes are a kind of progression from familiar quick-talking reporters or clipped police officers. And what a dull bunch they initially appear to be. An early conversation where they speculate about man exploring outer space is an ideal time to go and put the kettle on. One cries out for a Lionel Atwill, or even a Skelton Knaggs to breathe some life into the proceedings.Typical audacity is displayed by the humans, who not only capture the creature from its natural habitat, but then subject it to an operation to give it a more human aspect. Perhaps it could become a jealous neurotic like Jeff Morrow (Dr William Barton), or his wife Leigh Snowden (Marcia Barton) who is trapped in an unhappy marriage? It is an interesting conundrum for the audience. These respectable progressive heroes are noticeably flawed for a change.The creature is used to excellent effect here. A Frankenstein-like pathos accompanies its attempts to come to terms with its enforced condition. The make-up, by Bud Westmore (who appears to be the only link between this and Universal's 'classic monster series), is also very impressive, ridding the creature of the wide-eyed cuteness he previously possessed, instead imbuing him with a naturalism that belies the man-in-costume realisation. It is played by a (bizarrely) uncredited Don Megowan, who – amongst many other things – went on to play Frankenstein's Monster in an abortive pilot for Hammer's TV show 'Tales of Frankenstein' two years later.

TheRedDeath30 Reading through the user reviews for this Universal sequel, I am legitimately surprised at how many raves I'm seeing and comments that it's the best of the series. To each their own, but I just cannot agree.The original CREATURE film is an absolute classic and one of the best horror films of the black-and-white era. This movie improves, slightly, from the subpar second movie REVENGE OF THE CREATURE, but still comes up sorely lacking.Once again, we begin with some scientists who just can't leave the poor Gill Man alone. I mentioned in my review of REVENGE how sympathetic I think this creature is and it continues here as the monster really just wants to be left alone, but man just refuses to let that happen. The first half of the movie takes place in the Everglades as the expedition attempts to track down the monster to capture it for study. There is nothing new to offer here. We meet a new group of scientists and a new leading lady, only this time around there isn't a likable character in the entire bunch. You spend most of the movie wishing the monster would kill these jerks and put us all out of our misery. We get the requisite underwater scenes and again there is nothing new offered, as most of the monster footage is recycled from the original movie.They track the monster up a stream at which point we do get one of the better scenes from the Creature trilogy, as he attacks the scientists on their boat. The tension is short-lived however, as the monster is shot twice and set ablaze, leading to his capture.At this point, the movie really grinds to a halt. Let's start with the cardinal sin committed here. This is the one of the greatest monster makeups ever created in horror history. Why, in the Black Lagoon, would you change that makeup? Why would take this magnificent monster and turn it into a fish-like wrestler? It's inexcusable to me. The movie explains these changes with some of the worst science you'll ever hear as the monster is capable of evolving instantly into something new? I might be willing to buy the lungs theory, but to have a second skin underneath the scales that's just waiting to come out? I know these 50s sci-fi movies require some suspension of belief, but they're really pushing it here.To further slow things down, most of the second half revolves around everyone on the boat trying to sleep with the only woman present and the jealousy it cases in her lunatic husband. None of it is interesting and it's made even worse by melodramatic overacting.We finally get to the lead doctor's home, where the creature is put into a pen with some goats (for no other explainable reason than they will be needed to further the plot in a minute). He kills a mountain lion threatening the goats and, for some reason, this is not seen as protective, but as proof that the creature will always be a violent menace. The climax comes when the lunatic, jealous doctor finally kills one of the men who have tried to nail his wife. For some reason, this enrages the creature (yes, suddenly the monster who has killed men for 3 movies is now upset at violence), who goes on a rampage, leading to a depressing ending.To me, what makes the original work so well is an exotic jungle setting, great underwater photography, a magnificent creature design and a female lead with a brain. All of these could have been explored in much more depth with the sequels, particularly where did this creature come from and are there others. Instead, by now, he's removed from the jungle, no longer underwater, the creature design is stripped down to generic proportions and our female lead is completely unlikable. It's a good thing Universal let it die with this one.

TheLittleSongbird Creature From the Black Lagoon is not without its flaws but it is very easy to see why it is deemed a classic monster movie, it is fun to watch with a sense of creepiness and is one of the better monster movies of the 50s. Its two sequels, Revenge of the Creature and The Creature Walks Among Us are not as good and do have areas where they are lacking a lot but both were a lot better than expected. Before, mind you this was just under 10 years ago, Revenge came across as slightly better. On re-watch however, The Creature Walks Among Us was the superior film. The script isn't the best asset in either three movies, in fact in all three it was one of the weak links, and in The Creature Walks Among Us it can come across as both corny and dreary. The pace can lumber at times as well and the special effects apart from Gill-Man are rather hokey. However, the acting is not bad though it's not what you call great, much improved from the acting in Revenge, Rex Reason clearly relishes his role and Jeff Morrow is likable enough. Leigh Snowden is also very pretty and not too vapid. The story is also more involving, it doesn't have a scene like that memorable and very creepy scene where Julie Adams is swimming alone and the creature is lurking underneath, but it also thankfully doesn't have that half-baked romance from Revenge. It is fun and suspenseful though, and the creature/Gill-Man is much better used than in Revenge, there he was used too much whereas here like in Creature From the Black Lagoon it is just right. The cinematography is crisp and has a good atmosphere, while the underwater sequences are beautifully shot and the way they're lit and constructed creates a sense of foreboding. Gill-Man/the monster still looks great, and he still has a personality. When he is menacing he is genuinely sinister, but there is also a sympathetic side that's quite affecting. There is less of the Beauty and the Beast/King Kong-like shadings than in the first two, but when it's there(it's most prevalent in the climax) it is movingly done, and the ending is agreed very poignant. The music score captures the mood of the movie wonderfully and adds to it as well. All in all, a good sequel, better than Revenge(though Revenge is not that bad a movie, it still has a fair amount of good things as well as a lot of flaws) but Creature From the Black Lagoon personally will always be the best of the three. 7/10 Bethany Cox