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Crispy
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Posted: January 28, 2009 at 12:00am
Why is it that after creating this great monster, Universal felt the need to ruin it?
After its escape from Ocean Harbor and the events that followed, the creature has relocated to the Everglades of southern Florida. With thoughts of fame and glory on his mind, Dr. William Barton (Jeff Morrow) leads a team of scientist (along with his unhappy wife, Marcia (Leigh Snowden)) into the swamps, hoping to capture the monster. After a short game of cat and mouse, the creature attacks the scientists. In self-defense, they drug the monster and set him ablaze with a gas lantern. Back on the ship, the monster is restrained and bandaged from head to flipper due to the severe burns. They're so severe, in fact, that his scales and gills have been completely burned away. Upon closer inspection, the team is shocked to find the monster had human-like skin under the scales, and a dormant set of lungs that are put to use with a quick tracheotomy.
There's a lot that could have been done with this whole 'more human than animal' twist, but fuck it, let's focus more on the Bartons' relationship. Yes, by the middle of the film, our titular creature is merely a subplot as we watch the old rich guy and the young trophy wife go through the trials and tribulations of a marriage not founded on love. The biggest source of tension was not whether or not the men could survive the creature's attacks, but rather a combination of the ship's guide (played by Gregg Palmer) constantly trying to seduce Marcia and William's increasing paranoia about his wife's alleged infidelities. It would've shaped a fine drama movie, but damn it, this is a monster movie.
Speaking of, our titular monster literally spends the entire second half of the movie wearing a jumpsuit and standing around in a goat pen doing absolutely nothing. Yes, he's actually wearing clothes now. The fire has changed his face, replacing it with something that looks like something from the alien movie being shot on the next set. An interesting choice considering the goal was to make him look more human. Plus, for whatever reason, he looks like he weighs a good fifty pounds heavier. I'm assuming that they felt the tall, sleek look was fine in the water, but on land they needed to make him more menacing somehow. So they turned him into Frankenstein's monster. Good thinking. At some point, they try to add some bit about how the creature isn't a violent being; he was just emulating the fear and violence that were directed at him. A bit of a stretch considering it was from the Amazon, where the Law of the Jungle is the only means of survival, but fair enough. Unfortunately, by the time they finally get around to that you just don't care anymore. You're just too disgusted by all the needless changes were made to the monster you've since come to know and love.
For the life of me I don't know why this incredibly major plot element was concocted just to piss it away. I could have handled the changes to the creature a lot better if they were actually explored properly; instead it just needlessly ruined the monster for me. There's literally no sequel potential; and even if the point was to bring finality to the series, there are so many better ways to do that. It wouldn't surprise me if elements from the sequels are incorporated into the upcoming Creature From the Black Lagoon remake, but with any luck at all, they just ignore anything out of The Creature Walks Among Us. 2/10.
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George Snow
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Posted: January 29, 2009 at 2:40pm
When I was a kid we had the 8mm condensed version. I probably still have it somewhere.
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