Plot
A second expedition up the Amazon manages to capture the
Gill Man and transport him to an aquarium in Florida where he is to become the
star attraction. However he develops a fixation on one of the female scientists
and escapes from his confinement to pursue her.
Review
Success breeds sequels in the movie world and inevitably the
classic Creature from the Black Lagoon would get a follow-up only a year
after it's release.
Nothing was ever going to top
that so the rule of diminishing sequels comes into force. Rather than just rehashing the
story of the original, this first sequel at least manages to keep the material
slightly more interesting than a sequel has any right to do. Like so many sequels, the makers could easily have had another
scientific expedition go down the Amazon and encounter him in his domain for the entire film.
Although that's exactly what happens and the same story is rehashed, only it's kept to a minimum
at the beginning. After all, we've already
seen the Gill Man in his own environment, why not transport him to somewhere
alien?
The first fifteen minutes or so
are set in the lagoon as the scientists attempt to capture the Gill Man. It's
basically a shortened down version of the original in which there's some
underwater swimming (looking as fabulous as it did before hand) and attempts to
capture him alive. I mean we already know what the Gill Man looks like and we've
already seen enough of his domain so it's not like the slow burn approach is
needed. The inventive method of blowing up the lagoon with dynamite is crude but
it puts the Gill Man into a coma. When he awakens, he finds himself in the
aquarium in Florida. Seeing the distress he is clearly suffering from is a bit
heart-wrenching to be honest. More so than ever before, the film attempts to
make the creature sympathetic and boy does it work. The sequences in which the
scientists attempt to train the Gill Man underwater are cruel and you'll be
rooting for him to break free of his chains sooner rather than later. Getting
constantly jabbed with a cattle prod and forced to play fetch would make
anything snap and go crazy. Even more haunting are the images of it standing by
the underwater window and watching his "love" as she goes about her business.
The reasoning behind his rampage is clear for all to see. He isn't just a
mindless creature out to kill - he's scared, confused, distressed and when
animals are cornered, they fight back. The Gill Man is such an awesome movie
monster. He's got so much character, so much expression and so many different
mannerisms - it's a pity that the rest of the cast can't follow suit. There have
been a few tweaks to the costume this time around but the underwater swimming of Ricou Browning is still amazing.
Unfortunately the film suffers from the fact that the Gill Man just isn't as
intimidating or dangerous when he's out of his lagoon. Watching him stroll
around the aquarium savaging staff isn't as gripping as seeing him weave to and
fro underwater. He just becomes any other land-based monster here and there's
plenty of scenes of him sluggishly stagger as he tries to walk on land.
Besides the cool idea of having the Gill Man loose in public, the film does
little with it's fresh take on the story. Once they get him to Florida, he
pretty much does what he did in the original and that's go after the first
female he latches onto. We don't learn anything new about him - why he exists,
why he acts the way he does, etc. There's little scientific research on him. He
doesn't just run amok or try and head home. He turns into the stalker figure
again which is what he did before. The script wants to go off in a new direction
but then "safety first" comes into mind and this sequel simply rehashes a few
old ideas which were done better in the original. Clint Eastwood makes his film
debut here as a lab technician with a couple of poor lines attempting to be
funny. It's a million miles away from the roles he'd become infamous for later
in his career. Sadly, the film has become more well-known for that reason as
opposed to it being a half-decent sequel to an all-time classic. Eastwood aside,
I'm never a big fan of the casting of these old school shockers in general.
They're almost too prehistoric in their depictions of manly men and helpless
women. The cast isn't as strong here as it was in the original. John Agar and
Lori Nelson don't seem to have a spark between them which is a shame because a
lot more of the script is devoted to their romance than it should have right to.
Agar seems to have had a charisma by-pass and is way out of his depth. Nelson
has been cast for her charms but isn't a patch on Julie Adams.
Verdict
Revenge of the Creature isn't a bad sequel, just an
unmemorable one. It had a tough act to follow but my golden rule of sequels is
if you can't do it better or add to the original, why do it at all? This proves
my rule right. They should have left him alone down the Amazon.
