Of all the classic Universal monsters — from the Mummy to Dracula to Frankenstein and the Wolf-Man — the most unique and affecting one is easily the Gill-man, better known as the eponymous, amphibious Creature from the Black Lagoon. In 1954, this brilliant, nuanced film did what the original King Kong did in 1933, elevate the genre of monster movies to a level of true art. The first Creature film is way better than it has any right to be, or to put it another way is uniquely excellent in contrast to less-than-great films of the same era like 1948’s Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. If you zoom in on only 1950s American monster movies, the first Creature flick is the only one that comes even remotely close to the artistry and thoughtfulness of the original 1954 Japanese Godzilla. And now this brilliant franchise is coming back.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, horror auteur James Wan (Saw) is “developing a new take on the classic Universal monster property and is in early talks to direct the feature project.” Wan’s last movie, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, was also water-themed, but THR suggests that he’s been itching to “get back to his horror roots in some way.” As of this writing, Wan is a producer on the new Creature, though it’s not clear if he will actually direct it.
However, we should hope that he does. While the original Creature from the Black Lagoon is smarty written, and excellently paced, one could argue that the overall visage of the Gill-man isn’t quite as convincing as it was 70 years ago. The classic film had two sequels — Revenge of the Creature (1955) and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956) — but neither contain the elegance and simplicity of the original. And, unlike other very familiar black-and-white monsters, The Creature from the Black Lagoon has never been outright remade or rebooted. Over the years there have been many attempts to reboot the Creature, from Guillermo del Toro (who ended up making his own spin on Creature with his Oscar-winning The Shape of Water), to John Landis, to a proposed version in Universals’ “Dark Universe.” But the James Wan version feels like the first project in years that might actually happen.
Focusing on an expedition to discover a strange evolutionary missing link between sea-dwelling creatures and humanoids who walk on land, the original film is structured like a familiar monster/slasher movie. The Gill-man (Ricou Browning underwater, Ben Chapman on land) starts picking off crewmembers one by one, but is particularly fascinated with Kay (Julia Adams). As the Creature grows more aggressive, the movie smartly divides the sympathies between the men and the beast. There’s a wonderful disagreement between level-headed David (Richard Carlson), and bloodthirsty Mark (Richard Denning) which basically boils down to Mark being a giant a**hole and David being cool. Kay is caught in the middle of all of this, but the ultimate victim, in the end, is the Gill-man.
Unlike King Kong, in which the theme of Beauty and the Beast is literally between Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) and a massive ape, Creature from the Black Lagoon uses this trope much more subtly and smartly. The Gill-man isn’t a mindless beast like Kong, nor he is he a chest-thumbing bro like the movie’s true villain, Mark. Instead, throughout the film, as the horror increases, the Creature almost acts like a metaphor for the conflict between the men, which results in a movie that lets nobody off the hook. The Creature from the Black Lagoon was one of the first major movies filmed in 3D, which aesthetically is interesting, but analogously is accidentally appropriate since the Gill-man has more dimension than many monsters of the same era.
If James Wan is able to retain even a fraction of the pathos and intelligence of the original film (directed by Jack Arnold) he could have a contemporary classic on his hands. The story of the creature is terrifying and exciting, but crucially, it also goes deep.
