Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
Directed by Jack Arnold
When scientists exploring the Amazon River stumble on a “missing link” connecting humans and fish, they plan to capture it for later study. But the Creature has plans of his own, and has set his sights on the lead scientist's beautiful fiancée, Kay.
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What critics compared Creature from the Black Lagoon to
Some of the best monster movies, such as King Kong and Creature from the Black Lagoon , allow rivulets of romantic longing to run through their narratives.
Del Toro's Baltimore is also governed by an aquatic color theme, which establishes a link between the city and the brackish water world inhabited by the Amphibian Man (Doug Jones), a humanoid sea creature who suggests a sensitive and elegant relative of the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
There are splashes of the creature from Pan’s Labyrinth mixed with the Creature from the Black Lagoon in this character.
Del Toro has said that the film was inspired by seeing Creature From the Black Lagoon as a 6-year-old boy in Mexico.
Part Abe Sapien from Hellboy, part Creature from the Black Lagoon, and entirely lovable despite his monstrous features and demeanor.
The chase scenes are reminiscent of Duel; the bloody scene set in backwoods police station may remind you of Assault On Precinct 13; and the killer himself is a Frankenstein of everything from Leatherface to the creatures in Gargoyles (with a little Creature from the Black Lagoon thrown in).
Someone must have grabbed the costume out of wardrobe storage for the “Creature from the Black Lagoon” and given it a face-lift along with a set of wings to think that it would scare the audience.
James Whale's "Frankenstein" (1931) and "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935), and the follow-up, "Son of Frankenstein" (1939), were the primary targets, but "Dracula" (1931), "The Wolf Man" (1941) and "Creature from the Black Lagoon" (1954) also provide ample fodder.
Where Mitchell soared with It Follows — pulling influence from David Cronenberg’s works and John Carpenter’s films, slasher flicks from the 1980s that taught everyone sex is the quickest way to guarantee death in a horror situation and creature features like George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and the Creature from the Black Lagoon trilogy — he sputters with Under the Silver Lake.
Sam’s posters include Creature from the Black Lagoon, Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and The Wolf Man.
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They came up with a plan for a shared "Dark Universe" that would include a Bride of Frankenstein remake starring Angelina Jolie, an updated Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde featuring Russell Crowe, Javier Bardem as Frankenstein's monster, and remakes of The Wolf Man, Creature From the Black Lagoon and more.
Later that year we got Guillermo Del Toro’s love letter to Creature from the Black Lagoon in his Oscar-winning film, The Shape of Water .
Full disclosure: I’m an advanced Scuba diver and am drawn to anything photographed underwater, from the recent “Descent” to the Amazon-set “Creature from the Black Lagoon,” which pioneered underwater 3-D in Silver Springs, Florida.
Zombie seems to know his horror films -- particularly "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and the Universal classics of the 1940s and 1950s, such as "The Wolf Man" and "Creature From the Black Lagoon" -- but he certainly didn't have a clue how to make one.
(Their look is like a cute version of the beasts seen in “Creature from the Black Lagoon” or “The Shape of Water.”)
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In the hands of Jack Arnold, Universal's best genre film director at that time (he was responsible for Creature from the Black Lagoon , the studio's best monster movie since the 1930s, and he went uncredited for reshooting the best parts of This Island Earth ), the film has a merciless pace and excellent scenes of tension, carried on the back of some of the very best special and visual effects of the decade.
It's incredible that director Jack Arnold ("Creature from the Black Lagoon"/"Tarantula") takes the so-so novel by Richard Matheson and makes it into an absorbing and intelligent pulp gem, one of the best in its genre, with the help of co-writers Richard Alan Simmons and Mr. Matheson (his first script).