| The Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) |
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| Director: | Jack Arnold |
| Writers: | Harry Essex, Arthur Ross, and Maurice Zimm |
| Starring: | Richard Carlson, Julie Adams, and Richard Denning |
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The Plot: While doing research in the Amazons, the famous Dr. Carl Maia (Antonio Moreno) finds a discovery that may very well change all of science as we know it. Within the rock formations built around these swamp waters, Maia and his crew find a fossilized arm unlike anything the world has ever seen. The arm features a very human-like hand that features webbing between its digits and seems to be part man and part sea creature. This creature, if it turns out to be true, would be the discovery of the century, and Maia quickly heads back to America in order to assemble the very best team that he can with the hopes of finding some other similar fossils. As he and his team of anthropologists and biologists arrive, they find themselves coming up empty handed. Although they continue their search, this group doesn’t realize that they are indeed being watched. Some creatures do not go extinct easily, and this sea creature is watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. |
| The Review |
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One thing about these classic horror films that always manages to impress me is the music. Granted, the soundtrack attempts to purposefully spook out the audience, but there’s a reason that these movies all have such similar sounds: it gets the job done. Musical director Joseph Gershenson was a master of his craft, and his work here is phenomenal. Although this might only come from me missing the days when horror movies featured fully orchestrated scores, I still believe that the music here truly stands out. It delivers a sense of class that simply can’t be found in modern cinema. That “sense of class” also extends to every other aspect of the movie, really. The cinematography is very well done, as one might expect from a movie studio such as Universal. Although most of the movie is shot during the broad daylight, the black and white photography at least gives the movie a bit of atmosphere. When the camera delves below the water, the dark becomes much more prominent and it allows the movie to feel a bit more dangerous.
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| The Conclusion |
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