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Creature from the Black Lagoon

Creature from the Black Lagoon

List Price: $24.98
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The shak from Jaws did it better...
Review: None the less, Creature from the Black Lagoon is a watchable film. It is more science fiction then horror, and yes, the creature does look a bit fake. Although some people talk down about this movie, it did not stop many of the character actors here from getting roles in other movies afterward.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is the quintessential monster movie.
Review: As many times as this movie has been copied, filmmakers still can't seem to get it right. Considering that this film is considered a trend-setter, it's amazing how many rules this film BREAKS by today's standards. It breaks the notion that full shots of the creature and lots of blood and violence are needed to create a scare. In this film, all you need is a shot of the creature's hand and that piercing three-note musical motive played by brass instruments, and let the imagination fill in the blanks. It shatters the notion that monsters MUST be computer-generated--a guy in a suit CAN be scary. And it proves that black-and-white photography can be just as rich as color photography. The underwater sequences especially are both beautiful (almost surreal) and eerie at the same time.

And then there is the Gill Man himself. It's as if the writers took the best qualities of his predecessors and combined them into the last and best (IMHO) of the Universal monsters. Like The Mummy, he has lived long after he technically should have died; like Frankenstein's monster, he appears to be savage, yet shows intelligence and appreciates beauty; like Dracula, he is seductive. Just check out the scene where he swims with Julia Adams (unbeknownst to her, of course). I believe this is why he has achieved the status of a genuine icon, and deservedly so. Here's hoping he swims the waters for a long time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Where is the missing scene?
Review: This is, quite simply, a classic monster film. Even in a crummy movie, the Creature's design would be wonderful. Added to a heady mix like this, and it's easy to see why this film has pleased viewers for so many years. But I have one HUGE bone to pick with the release print. There has got to be a scene missing! When Richard Carlson goes swimming after the rotonone-drugged Creature, it's night. He surfaces in the Creature's cave (without an aqualung, so he couldn't have been underwater longer than four minutes)and then leaves the cave --- and it's broad daylight! Not only that, the people he left on the boat are now all on shore and obviously have been for some time (some are wearing diffeent clothes!) Some hamfisted editor bridged two disparate scenes here and made hash out of the continuity. Still, all minor quibbles aside,everything from this film from the actors to the score is highly enjoyable. The sequels aren't nearly as much fun (what sequels are ever any good, apart from THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN?), but the original Creature still packs a punch. Even King KOng himself might think of throwing Fay Wray over for Julia Adams!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Creature Lives Forever!
Review: This is the movie that gave us the phrase "man-in-a-rubber-suit" to describe the monster/alien/creature/whatever in the horror and science fiction films that followed it. And it actually was a suit made of foam rubber, then still a new product, that made the Creature so effectively scary. I saw this movie upon its initial release, in awesome 3-D, and it was a chilling thrill ride! I had never seen the 3-D process better presented and I had never seen anything like the Creature before! This classic is one of my top ten movies of all time in its genre.

Film historian Tom Weaver provides a fascinating commentary on the movie. He describes the origin of the ides for the creature, points out some of the gaffs in the movie (such as the telephone pole in the background of the lagoon, the creature's little pinky claw bending like the rubber it is, the distinct wet footprints of the creature on the deck of the Rita while it's been previously shown that the creature never took foot steps; he slid his big feet on the deck!) but none of these flaws, and many others, make the film any less fun!

There are cast and crew interviews with Julie Adams, Ricou Browning, Ben Chapman, and others, that are interesting and informative. The production notes and still photos, scene index, several different versions of the theatrical trailers, biographies, etc., are very well done. The menus are easy to read and use. All in all, this is an outstanding DVD, and every fan of the Creature and of the '50s horror/sci-fi genre will enjoy it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Love lost
Review: It is the bane of all great monsters to seek beautiful women in white bathing suits. Especially if you think you can retaliate those fools that try to capture you. Just be sure that they do not ask you to STICK around.

You can not go wrong with a Jack Arnold directed film. And Richard Carlson "It Came From Outer Space" (1953) ASIN: 6303046436, is a good good-guy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dragged Down Into the Water By a Demon
Review: No matter how many times you see this movie it always seems fresh and original. Probably because when it was released it was! The Creature is one of the top 10 Movie monsters of all time. The scientific approach of this movie is today, laughable, but in its day it was a bold move to make evolutionary biology integral to a film's plot. The early glimpses of the Creature allow for a buildup of suspense. Throughout the enitre film you feel that the Creature is the victim, even after its killed and mutilated. Equally important is Julia Adams whose white bathing suit must have been quite scandalous in 1954! And I wouldn't be giving her her due if I didn't say that in her day she was a knockout!

The exploratory scene invovling the Creature and Julia Adams where the Creature tries to figure out what Adams is by first swimming stroke for stroke underneath her and then touching her feet is CLASSIC!

The Creature is great, the violence done artfully, drawing on the imagination's idea of what happened, a quick glimpse of a clenched hand in rigor mortis, a fishing net torn to pieces as the ship is rocked back and forth from below...

A must have film for any Horror fan! "I'll get the aqualung"!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Classic moster movie
Review: This was really a good classic monster movie. I would actually give it 3.5 stars if I could, saving the better ratings for other classic horror pictures such as Frankenstein, Dracula and so fourth. But over all this picture was great. Cool "B" movie special effects. A definate must see.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Classic Creature
Review: They don't get any better than this: my favorite film "monster." The last word is quoted because like the other great "monsters" (The Phantom of the Opera, The Wolf Man, The Mummy, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Frankenstein monster), they are really sympathetic, misunderstood beings. In "Creature" and the 2 excellent sequels, we increasingly feel for the Creature, who longs to love, but only gets intruded upon, burned, harpooned, caged, probed, shocked, vivisected, shot at, all in the name of science. It's a trilogy that improves with age, with the beautifully designed 'Creature' costume a landmark. Julie Adams and Richard Carlson play sympathetic scientists (she asks "will he live?" after the Creature is drugged and banged on, he stops the men from continually shooting the Creature at climax), while Richard Denning is cast as a "big-game hunter" type who ultimately gets his. The famous underwater scene with the exquisite, dark-haired, beauteous Adams in a stunning one-piece white bathing suit swimming on top of the water while the Creature (Ricou Browning) below mirrors her movements below is poetry. On land the Creature is less graceful, masterful mimed by Ben Chapman. Picture quality is great, and the disc features great commentary by Tom Weaver, and a superb 40-minute documentary, featuring scholars, and Adams, Chapman, Browning, Lori Nelson ("Revenge of the Creature") discussing the films. A top-notch package.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Creature Review
Review: Being 30-something, Creature from the Black Lagoon is probably my favorite "Universal" monster movie. The creature can hold his own against any of the earlier Monster movies that Universal released. I am glad to see it on DVD. While the transfer is not perfect I don't think I have seen the movie look better. The supplements to the disc are excellent, I especially enjoyed the feature commentary and the making of feature. If you are a fan of the Creature from the Black Lagoon this is a must have disc. I highly recommend it.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The King of B-Movie Pictures.
Review: Team of scientists find a human/amphipian creature and try to capture it, in this 1951 B-movie classic from Jack Arnold. But the monster wants the young woman in the team (Julie Adams) for his mate, but her lover (Richard Carlson) has some things to say about that. The climatic battle between the hero and the monster is very B-movieish, showing that the movie has started to show it's age.


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