Review #1,222: 'The Creature Walks Among Us' (1956)

Directed by John Sherwood, The Creature Walks Among Us is the third and final movie in one of Universal's most beloved monster franchises, that of the Gill-Man of the Black Lagoon. The original is a genre classic, a surprisingly creepy picture given its B-movie shackles that makes powerful use of its man-in-a-rubber-suit special effects. With audiences losing interest in creature features and denying Universal its bread and butter in the process, Creature from the Black Lagoon inspired a quickly-made sequel the following year, Revenge of the Creature, a routine monster movie that proved to be as uninspiring and unimaginative as its title, drawing from what made its predecessor so memorable without any of its skill of execution.

This final bow wraps the trilogy up nicely, while facing the wrath of its fans by being rather hesitant to go underwater and taking the evolutionary curiosity in a different direction all together. After the events of Revenge, the creature is at large in Florida, believed to be hiding out in the wetlands of the Everglades. A new crack team of square-jawed scientists and one of their pretty wives head out on a boat in the hope of snaring the beast, although it quickly comes to light that each man may have their own intentions. The handsome Thomas Morgan (Rex Reason) hopes to gain medical insight through experimentation, but the unhinged William Barton (Jeff Morrow) plans to mess with its DNA and creature a whole new species. The presence of Barton's wife Marcia (Leigh Snowden) has testosterone running high, sending Barton slowly mad in the process, while sleazy jungle guide Jed Grant (Gregg Palmer) tries to catch her eye.

After an incident leaves the Gill-Man badly burned, the crew tend to him and head for home. The burns peel back to reveal a smoother skin beneath, and the group are shocked to learn that the gill-breather also has lungs. The creature starts to, as the title suggests, walk among us, and is here more human than ever. With this idea, the film harks back to the original and turns its focus on man as the beast. He doesn't even need shackles to walk into his enclosure once he is brought ashore, and is eventually only thrown into a rage by evil acts committed by man. There's no claiming and kidnapping women to be his mate, and at one point he even prevents a rape. There is a startling amount of characterisation for a genre normally so reliant of archetypes, thanks to the script by Arthur A. Ross and strong performances from Morrow and Reason (who appeared together in sci-fi turkey and 'classic' This Island Earth. Given its obvious appeal, the Creature has remained surprisingly untouched by Hollywood's fondness for remakes, and judging from the reaction to Universal's introduction to their planned 'Dark Universe', The Mummy, let's keep it that way.


Directed by: John Sherwood
Starring: Jeff Morrow, Rex Reason, Leigh Snowden, Gregg Palmer
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie