VHS : Creature From the Black Lagoon

Rating: - Still scary.... after all these years
No other attempt has been made to date to rework/redo this story. I believe with today's special effects, it could be even scarier than this one... but... this one still chills! For what Hollywood had to work with, I think they did a memorable and timeless job of founding a new creature to haunt your nightmares!
This movie really scared me as a child watching Chiller Theater. Every time it was on I watched, only to be scared again! I hadn't seen it in over 20 years then just recently I purchased the Universal collection and watched it again.
As an adult, and having seen the progress with special effects, I wasn't as scared, except the scene where the creature is swimming below the token female in the lagoon. Really creepy, never mind the rubber suit.
All in all... still a good little chiller and worth owning in the new collection with the other creature movies.

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Rating: - Still Mesmerizing To This Day
The Plot: Strange fossils have been discovered in the Amazon, which appear to be those of an unknown human/amphibian species. A small group of scientists undergo an expedition into the murky jungles and swamps to see if they can find anything else to benefit their research. What they find, however, is much more terrifying than fossils. It's the real thing! The living, breathing legend: the creature from the black lagoon!

Out of all of Universal's classic monsters from the pre-60's era, The Creature just might be the best. Unlike The Wolfman, Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, or The Mummy, The Creature isn't very passable as human-like. It lurks in the depths of it's lagoon, only to emerge on land when needed. It's body has two arms and two legs, yet is far from a modern-day man. It is supposed to be the missing link between man and fish (for those who believe in such an evolutionary process). And when these humans encounter it, horror is the only thing it brings out of the water with it! With unknown beings invading it's world, The Creature must protect itself and it's land. But this time, there's a weakness: the beautiful woman of the expedition crew. Mesmerized by her grace, The Creature is eventually taken advantage of when the humans are determined to kill it (after losing about half of their men). Indeed, it seems to die at the end, but a sequel (Revenge Of The Creature) assures us that there's very little you can do to keep this thing down! And why not keep the legend going? The monster itself would be just as effective if used in a modern-day movie. The costume is a perfect fit, and the actor portraying the gillman is superbly cast (technically, there are two actors: one for the underwater scenes, and one for the land scenes, but you get the idea). No monster fan can truly say he's seen the best in black'n'white cinema until he experiences the timeless creep-out fun in The Creature Of The Black Lagoon.

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Rating: - SCIENTISTS BATTLE GILLMAN!
Scientist are exploring the Amazon after coming across a mysterious fossil. Meanwhile in a part of the Amazon called "the Black Lagoon" an angry Gillman has discovered two of the men and kills them both. The scientists start to worry when thwey find this out. However when the Gillman is finally sighted by are hero Dave(Richard Carlson) and his nasty boss, the other scientists don`t believe them. However as the Gillman begins killing more and more scientists, the survivors finally believe it. However in the meantime the Gillman kidnaps Kay(Julie Adams) and the survivors must rescue her and escape the Black Lagoon...

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Rating: - Great!
This a great 50's movie! The actor who plays the creature plays it very well. The creature costume is amazing and probably still holds up today. The acting is 4-1/2 stars out of 5. The underwater scenery is beautiful. This movie is considered one of the best monster movies of all time and most likely is. Highly recommended.

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Rating: - It's a tough one
To give a rating based purely on the strength (or weakness) of this hokey movie alone would only get perhaps 2 stars.

OK, I understand it is a rubber suit and I can smile at that. However some things, such as the creature having opposible thumbs (to facilitate strangling people), a few Hollywood conventions such as the slow-turn-of-the-head-over-the-shoulder-then-shocked-look-and-subsequent-scream-before-being-killed-offscreen, some continuity errors - the winch boom is broken in one scene then intact later, and the suspect geological dig (nearly intact forearm still in one piece), the fact that although the creature swims very quickly underwater he doesn't catch the bathing beauty, etc. If you can let these types of things go by, then the movie will be even better for you. However, it was rather inventive for its time - extensive underwater photography, in "3-D" no less - with generally good acting and production values, and if you can excuse the corniness and blatant "non-science", then it certainly rates higher.

Somewhat disconcerting scenes have the beauty (apparently a non-smoker in real life) take a puff from a cigarette, then casually toss it into the lagoon, and then the scientists pollute the lagoon with poison to hopefully force the creature to the surface - but end up with lots of floating dead-looking fish.

The movie (and its sequel) was actually inspired by the King Kong movie, and therefore is another in the beast-loves-beauty and monster movies which includes The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Mummy, The Wolfman, and Frankenstein, etc. Not sure why any member of his species would find any human attractive in a romantic way, but there it is.

The DVD extras are very nice including an interesting commentary, a short documentary, and some text-based cast/crew/production notes.