#Creature From The Black Lagoon Movie Review

[hannahwatcheshorror]

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954)

This is a classic creature feature and a joy to watch. There were only a few questionable moments that gave me a laugh of which I'm sure they didn't intend, but overall the film was gripping and, truth be told, scary! If you are someone who wrestles with thalassophobia, be warned, just because this film is from 1970 doesn't mean there aren’t amazing underwater footage and stunts!

⭐⭐⭐.5

The film starts with almost no full shots of The Creature, just his arm and creepy claws. It is this amazing lead up to meeting him that really keeps you on your (webbed) toes. The musical score accompanying our Mr. Man (Mr. Gilman) is brassy and sharp. (I had to laugh at the ruined sting when Kay is called away before his trademarked outstretched Creach Claw™ could snag her.)

The underwater shots of The Creature swimming parallel Kay (without her knowing, of course) are chilling and might I say gross. I might have uttered an, "ew" at the idea of a sentient being only a few feet below in the murkiness mirroring my movements and watching me. All adoration for Creach goes out the porthole at that point. He dared not touch Kay though, he even ducked down to hide in the flora when she dived deeper into the lagoon. Not even a brush of his claws as she pulled herself out of the water. I had chills.

Then there were a lot of young men in short shorts getting murdered by the green goobly before he got drugged and captured. (I laughed as Captain Lucas held a knife to a grown man in hot shorts.) The shots, almost stills, of Creach in his makeshift bamboo cage (that there was no way he could have busted out of) looking up from below, something about the way his face was being refracted in the water was just so goofy and I was just about losing my mind when the guard and Kay turn away from him to have a quick chat. While he just floats there, wall eyed… I got the feeling he was supposed to look menacing but he just looked silly until he finally broke out.

There was a very long scene involving trees and a rope and a wench and at one point the final survivors just kind of forgot that The Creature was still around and didn't notice him splashing up behind them to grab Kay. Classic final survivors forgetting about the titular movie monster because they are so busy trying to wrap up the film in the last five minutes!

When the fellas get Kay back with her… Boyfriend? Husband? Fiancé? Her man, he says for everyone to stop shooting, so... It ends with human kindness! But Creach is floating towards the bottom of the legume and the film ends like he dies which sucks cause he was just a little guy (who brutally murdered 5 men).

[ogradyfilm]

Recently Viewed: Creature from the Black Lagoon

Creature from the Black Lagoon belongs to the horror genre; that much is obvious. Not from the perspective of the human “protagonists,” though; their journey is more akin to an old school pulp serial, with a group of improbably attractive, aggressively Caucasian scientists venturing to an “exotic” locale (heavily armed, naturally) in search of fortune and glory. The true terror is experienced by the eponymous monster: from its point-of-view, a bunch of violent outsiders invade its territory and attack it without provocation, intent on exploiting its very existence for monetary gain.

Now tell me: who is supposed to be the “hero” in this scenario?

[And yes, this premise does sound surprisingly critical of capitalism, colonialism, and chauvinism by the standards of America circa 1954—which is probably why its deeper implications are relegated to mere subtext.]

The movie is, of course, justifiably celebrated for its technological innovations: beyond its original 3D format (which hasn’t been terribly well preserved on home video), the ambitious underwater cinematography is still absolutely spectacular, while the delightfully tactile “rubber suit” effects utilized to bring the Gill-man to life remain impressive even in a modern context. What really appealed to me, however, was director Jack Arnold’s effortless command of the fundamentals of visual storytelling. I would describe his style as blunt, yet purposeful, conveying the film’s central themes elegantly and economically. Consider, for example, the following shot:

Despite the relative simplicity of its blocking and composition, the image is dense with narrative significance. To the far left, Mark Williams—the financier of the expedition to the titular Black Lagoon—complains about the steep cost of the excursion, outright admitting that he’s banking on discovering a flashy, marketable novelty in order to recoup the expenses. On the opposite side of the screen, marine biologist David Reed argues that such a mercenary attitude is antithetical to the spirit of serious research; the pursuit of knowledge, he insists, requires a leap of faith—for the sake of progress, one must be willing to accept the inherent risk of failure. And situated at the literal center of the debate is love interest Kay, valiantly (albeit futilely) attempting to mediate between the two irreconcilable extremes.

In short, Creature from the Black Lagoon manages to distill its entire overarching conflict to a single frame. And that is the epitome of immaculate craftsmanship.

[spookytuesdaypod]

spooky tuesday is a (now not so new!) podcast where we’re breaking down all of our favorite slashers, thrillers, monster movies and black comedies on the new scariest day of the week.

it's a b-cember to remember here at spooky tuesday! to finish the year in festive fashion, we decided to do one last lil theme month and dedicate december to b horror movies, so of course we had to start with a classic. creature from the black lagoon (1954) may have marked the end of the monster movie era, but it laid the ground work for a whole bunch of famous scary movies that followed. guillermo del toro's the shape of water is an obvious one — but steven spielberg was taking notes for jaws, too. on our latest episode, we're talking film history, four foot dicks, and lighting things on fire.

give spooky tuesday a listen on apple podcasts, spotify, iheart radio, or stitcher

[jingle-bones]

Supernatural fantasy romance from Hollywood’s golden age. Read my review of Beyond Tomorrow (1940) here:

[scary-movies-on-netflix]

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954)

I noticed that my reviews for anything before…um…2000 are a bit slim, so I’m going to review some “classic” horror movies.�� Do they hold up?  In many ways, no.  In some ways, maybe?

Basically, some geologist somewhere along the Amazon discovers a weird petrified hand poking out of a rock formation.  He heads upriver for some extra scientists, and when he returns he finds that his men at the camp have been killed!  Nonplussed, the scientists continue with the excavation, but they do not find any more of the skeleton.  They decide to head to a nearby lagoon.  Whilst they swim and explore, we see the monster!  We also hear crashing drums and horns, because they just can’t let it be without always playing riotous music when it appears!  Miss Scientist, who always looks like a Hollywood starlet, goes for a swim, and the monster stares at her and creepily touches her legs.

Anywho, the monster gets caught in their fishing net, and they find one of its claws when it tears itself free.  They swim around some more and see the monster!  They shoot it with a spear.  Various hijinks occur.  Some of the boat crew are killed by the monster when it throttles them, or slashes their throats.  We can’t quite see.  The protagonists do manage to capture the monster at one point, but it escapes and mauls a scientist.  The scientists attempt to leave the lagoon, but the monster has blocked the way with a branch! Another scientist dies, but they manage to dislodge the branch, but then the monster captures Miss Scientist.  They chase the monster to a cave and pump it full of lead.  It swims away for a bit before dying.  The end.

What impressed me most about this was the guy who had to swim underwater in the monster outfit.  He had to swim without oxygen and perform maneuvers and stuff!  Also, one of the designers of the monster outfit was a Disney animator named Milicent Patrick, but the make-up artist stole the credit for 50 years!  So, yes we have a dude in a rubber outfit terrorizing people.  At least, the people aren’t mindless; they try to escape and devise a clever plan to escape.  The monster…turns out to be sympathetic.  It’s wandering away, after being shot a bunch of times, and the scientist says, “No, no more.  Let him go.”  Too bad, however, about that whole damsel in distress part.  “Final Girl” hadn’t been invented yet.

[raggedgoodlooks]

Horror Month 2024 Day 21: Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

On one hand, you have the question about who is really the monster: the creature that resorts to responding to the nearby humans the only way it knows how, through violence; or the humans that are intruding on its habitat, including a “scientist” who wants to kill it and take it back home as a trophy? On the other hand, you have multiple indigenous people who are killed off first because they’re…

[scarevalue]

Creature from the Black Lagoon was released 70 years ago today.

[visplay]

Chris: A classic universal horror film, but it still looks faded and is ripe for a remake as Peter Jackson planned, saw this on Svengoolie who kept it fun, Watch: When Free.

Richie: This movie has always been dull and murky, it can only benefit from a remake, Watch: When Free.

[zombielasagna]

The Gill-man under water in Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) 🌊🖤

I just watched Creature from the Black Lagoon for the first time. I was rooting for the Creature the entire time! 💚

I've wanted to watch this movie since I was in middle school, and it totally exceeded my expectations. I 10/10 recommend this movie to anyone else who likes old-school, black-and-white horror movies. 💯

[angelandmadman]

Anyone else remember Headinjurytheater by Jared von Hindman?

He did some cool little doodles and reviews of bad movies.

And also a fun review of Phantom of the Opera movies! (1925, 1943, 1962, 1989, 2004, also Phantom of the Paradise, Rat Phantom and more!) Sadly the 1990 adaption is missing.

"This article was inspired by the discovery of a boxed set of the "unsung monsters" of the old Universal days, containing The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, and, yes, The Phantom of the Opera.  None of these monsters have an incredible amount of films featuring them, so I rolled the dice and decided to give one of them the tribute they deserve, despite not being vampires or throwing children in a lake while singing "Putting on the Ritz."  The Phantom of the Opera won out, not because I was shocked to find so FEW films about him, but because the films that I did find are...bizarre and coming from all over the place."

The website doesn't exist anymore, but thanks to the internet archive we can still read it.

[thealmightyemprex]

So Turns out Jaws is really good guys

SO I am revisting Spielbergs early diecting work ,at least his theatrically released work ,already reviewed Duel (TV Movie but it got a theatrical release ) and Sugarland Express,and now we are getting to the big one:Jaws

In this 1975 film ,a shark is going around eating people near Amity Island ,and it is up to Police Chief ,Martin Brody (Roy Scheider ) ,Oceanographer ,Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfus ) and professional Shark killer Quint (Robert Shaw ) to hunt down and slay the beast

Sooooooo....I saw the firs half hour of this film at about 8 or 9 and it scared me .Now while other movies that scared me I ended up loving,there are a select few ,where my brain interperted it as"I dont like this"(Namely this and Spirited AWay ).NOw I have revisited the film a few times since I was a teen,but while I could tell it was good ,I couldnt love it ......Now on my third full watch I can say....This is a darn good movie that I do like

Its a very important film in American cinema as it takes elements from films before it like 20000 Leagues Under the Sea,Seven Samurai,Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Birds,and combines them into a mixture.....That has ended up being the blue print for nearly 50 years of big blockbuster features

If I were to say what genre the film belonged to it is somewher between an action thriller ....And a monster horror film .In truth the film is very scary ,with some great jump scares (Including one of the scariest in cinema I feel ) ,a brilliant use of suspense(HElped by Johhn Williams amazing score ) and a premise that is inherently horrifying as unlike many other movie monsters,Sharks are real terrifying apex predators (THough in reality ,Shark attcks are less common then you think ) and despite seeing the film before..........I still was spooked watching

One thing I love about the film is how distinct the first half and second half is .The first hour we have a bunch of characters ,the shark basically going into human territory ,and the towns people reaction to the events......Which leads to a very isolated second hour,with only three characters stuck at sea with this beast ,and basically our heroes are in the sharks territory

I like the various characters who makeup the town .Of the supporting cast the two most important are Lorrianne Gary as Ellen Brody and Muarry Hamilton as the Mayor. Lorriane Gary does an excellent job but of the supporting characters the most memorable is Muarry Hammilton as the Mayor.The Mayor isnt a villain (Unlike copy cat characters,he does have humanity ) but his shortsighted pursuit of profit and keeping a sense of normalcy make him a strikingly realistic and honestly sadly relevent antagonist.Hamilton does a great job and I find it amusing this character has become kind of a shorthand for stubborn politicians who ignore something dangerous

I adore all threeof our main characters ,Roy Scheider makes for a good every man hero ,Richard Dreyfus is fun as the brainy guy ,and Robert Shaw makes for a perfect wild card .ACting wise Robert Shaw might be my favorite part of the film ,but that might be cause he is the most entertaining ,with his sea shanty singing ,his great intro and having a monologue that is so damn good I was so damn invested in it .What I really love is how the three play off each other ,both when they are at eachothers throats but also when they are bonding .My favorite scene in the whole film is when theyve had a couple of drinks....And they just start singing this song together ,its just a nice moment I like

But this is a monster movie,I gotta talk aboout the monster Nicknamed Bruce (AFter Spielbergs lawyer ) the shark was mechanical .....and infamous forthe fact it malfunctionesd....A lot.This led to Spielberg using the shark as little as possible,and you mostly see it near the end .I think this was a blessing in disguise cause when you actually see the thing it makes iit even scarier.I also think Bruce looks really good ,like I know the prop was a pain,but it actually looks ver convincing to me .It also is just an effective villain in that it plays ona very primal fear,the beast that is just out to get ya

OVerall its a pretty damn good movie

@ariel-seagull-wings @angelixgutz @amalthea9 @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @goodanswerfoxmonster @princesssarisa @filmcityworld1

[hannahwatcheshorror]

ALIEN (1979)

This is a classic movie, creature feature and a staple in the horror genre. The references alone from this film in other media, not even horror media, make this film a must watch for all those brave enough to step aboard the Nostromo with that big ugly son-of-a-gun. But seriously, if you can hold tight past the jump scares, this movie isn’t too scary, just a dark, sci-fi thriller! This is the beginning of the “Alien” universe which is very exciting because we see so much lore in this film alone we know there can only be more to come!

(TW Strobing Lights)

⭐⭐⭐.5

I want to fault these people for being so stupid but the fact of the matter is that a bunch of horror movies just hadn’t come out yet to train these astronauts to astro-not go in there! I’m pretty sure “Alien” was one of the first examples of how extra caution can save your life. Ripley and Parker were just about the only useful ones and poor Parker got got trying to protect that dumb girl who just stood there when the alien came up to her. 

While I am glad Ripley went back for Jones the cat (and I don’t have to mark this movie as a pet killer) it was really bad timing for the humans in that situation that Ripley was having an ASPCA moment. Also, I have no idea why she tried to un-detonate the mothership and then was mad about it, and I don’t know why it never occurred to her to check the escape pod for the alien. When the alien reached its slimy hand out at her I had Creach Claw™ flashbacks from “Creature from the Black Lagoon.” I have no idea why the alien was sort of docile at this point nor why Ripley refused to look at it but things worked out because Ripley is very lucky (and the script said things worked out).

Overall this was a crazy film about people on a big ship in space running around with an acidic blooded hunter who just about quadrupled in size in mere minutes and started killing everyone (but the cat and the woman with curly hair). Do I understand why the android was sweating milk? No, I don’t. But that is okay. (Ripley’s) Believe it or not, that is okay.

[bellafarallones]

I made another list of prompts for Halloween this year! The full list of prompts is also below the cut, feel free to use these for whatever strikes your fancy!

Halloween night is the only time ghosts can walk the earth, and this ghost has some unfinished business they’d really like to get done 

The creature from the black lagoon 

A siren who just successfully lured a sailor into jumping ship

A vampire who works the night shift at a gas station

A person indebted to a pumpkin demon

A person possessed

A person who did a favor for the devil and received a valuable gift in exchange

A person who would be delighted to find themself experiencing so many romcom tropes, except that the other person is a cryptid

A pond with a creature living in it that really shouldn’t be there

A movie star dressing up as one of their most famous roles for halloween

An actor most well-known for really intense horror movies fake-dating someone to cultivate a more family-friendly image

Someone who works on horror movies and always throws a legendary Halloween party

A chef sending threatening letters to anyone who writes a bad review of their restaurant

A fortune teller at the last night of the circus before it shuts down for the winter

Two haunted house actors on a slow night

I think you’re sleepwalking, but I’m not sure

Making spooky food for a Halloween party

We’re going to a horror movie on opening night

We’re next-door neighbors who don’t know each other very well but your light-up Halloween decorations are literally keeping me up at night 

Someone who regularly goes for walks in the cemetery because it’s the only place they can get any damn peace and quiet

A quaint bed and breakfast in the woods 

Local harvest festival

A church at the end of a dirt road in the middle of nowhere

A car that just broke down in front of a spooky mansion in the woods

A 24-hour arcade

A small local rock concert

My friend/relative is too sick to go trick-or-treating, so I’m taking their kid myself 

Someone looking out at the water from shore who sees a periscope 

A lookout for a boat (or a plane!) who definitely sees a ghostly shape emerging from the fog, even though all the sonar says nothing is there 

Someone walking alone down a dark street and feeling someone watching them

Someone caving who just heard a noise they didn’t expect to 

[anniewilkes22]

I posted 594 times in 2022

That's 594 more posts than 2021!

6 posts created (1%)

588 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@s-o-u-t-h-o-f-h-e-a-v-e-n-69

@thepumpkin-queenn

@wilwheaton

@bl00dykissesx

@halloweenlandmotherfucker

I tagged 275 of my posts in 2022

#halloween - 116 posts

#gifs - 58 posts

#horror - 54 posts

#horror films - 42 posts

#vintage halloween - 28 posts

#creepy - 18 posts

#film gifs - 17 posts

#horror movies - 16 posts

#wl - 13 posts

#animated films - 9 posts

Longest Tag: 30 characters

#creature from the black lagoon

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Halloween

0 notes - Posted November 15, 2022

#4

Louis Armstrong led a Halloween-themed

band in the 1936 film Pennies from Heaven.

0 notes - Posted November 4, 2022

#3

0 notes - Posted August 9, 2022

#2

0 notes - Posted August 9, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Vintage Halloween decoration “melted popcorn plastic”

1 note - Posted October 30, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[moviereviews101web]

The Mole People (1956) Movie Review

The Mole People – ABC Film Challenge – Horror – M – The Mole People – Movie Review Director: Virgil W Vogel Writer: László Görög (Screenplay) Cast John Agar (Sands of Iwo Jima) Cynthia Patrick Hugh Beaumont (Leave It to Beaver) Alan Napier (Batman: The Movie) Nestor Paiva (Creature from the Black Lagoon) Plot: A party of archaeologists discovers the remnants of a mutant…

[comicbookclub]

Universal Monsters: Frankenstein #1 Advance Review: Breathes New Life Into An Old Tale

Read our advance review of Universal Monsters: Frankenstein #1 from Image Comics and Skybound, written and drawn by Michael Walsh.

Skybound‘s Universal Monsters comics have been an interesting mix so far. Dracula retold the movie’s story. Creature from the Black Lagoon presented a sequel. But writer/artist Michael Walsh’s Frankenstein, which releases this week, is the boldest take so far. And it breathes new life into a story that’s been told a million times, in a million different ways. The conceit of the book is that…