The Creature Walks Among Us

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Trailer—The Creature Walks Among Us

The Creature Walks Among Us

Tame, tacky third entry in the popular "Creature" trilogy has the Gill-man getting captured by a team of doctors who perform plastic surgery on this monster from the depths in a misbegotten attempt to humanize him. One aspect of the "Creature" features that was always successful was the underwater photography (low-budget, black-and-white, but eerie and somehow shimmering), and the cinematography here by Maury Gertsman doesn't disappoint either. Unfortunately, the acting is stilted, the pacing and direction are low-energy, and the special effects are awfully cheesy, as if nobody involved had much interest in making this thing work. The silly, inept screenplay is the main culprit, with poor plotting and dreary dialogue. It's always nice to see the Gill-man in action, but this vehicle for him is rather low on thrills. *1/2 from ****

The Creature Walks Among Us is the second sequel to Creature From The Black Lagoon, although not as good as Revenge Of The Creature, it is quite a good movie. In this one, another group of scientists head out to capture the Gill Man, who is this time living in the Everglades. They successfully capture him and take him back to the lab where they do experiments on him, removing his gills in the process. The Gill Man is then locked in a cage but he dosen't like that, so he escapes once again and after killing more people and once again kidnapping the main female character, he escapes, heading towards the sea... The cast in this movie includes Jeff Morrow and Rex Reason, reunited from This Island Earth. Leigh Snowdon is the love interest and Morrow's wife. With Gregg Palmer. Although not quite as good as the first sequel, I rather enjoyed The Creature Walks Among Us. Not too bad. Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

"The Creature Walks Among Us" is actually better than the first sequel "Revenge Of The Creature". I really enjoyed the acting-it is almost as good as "The Creature From The Black Lagoon". Once again, the scenery is beautiful and the same terrific musical score is used. Now for the plot...A scientist is searching for the "Gill-Man" so it can be studied. However, it is clear this scientist(Jeff Morrow) isn't benevolent. The other scientists are and not only help in capturing the creature but also feel a sense of compassion toward it. It catches on fire and it's lungs develop so it can breathe air. At the end, the creature escapes and heads toward the ocean. There isn't as much action as in the original "Creature" film but the movie is just as entertaining. I recommend the 3 movies for anyone who is a fan of 1950s Sci-Fi/Horror movies. By the way, there is a DVD collection of the 3 films plus extras that are as much fun to watch as the films themselves.

Like a few other posters, I consider THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US the best in the Gill Man series. Granted that's not saying a whole lot because I never cared for the Creature films anyway. The concept of an amphibious monster lurking underwater was just way too limited and never really held my interest. Still, in CREATURE WALKS AMONG US he becomes a much more intriguing character due to the plight his human costars impose on him, and Don Megowen's (uncredited) performance as the Creature is very good. Like Christopher Lee in Hammer's THE MUMMY he manages to convey emotion without the benefit of dialog or even facial expressions. And his final rampage through the house is terrific for such a low budget film. There's a real sense of brute power as he smashes everything in his path in his attempt to reach his human tormentor. And like almost everyone else, I find the ending surprisingly poignant.

"The Creature Walks Among Us" may not be everyone's cup of tea, but as a monster movie fan, I enjoyed it. It continues is the same vein (and vein-tearing) of the previous two "Black Lagoon" films, but while the level of violence, mayhem, and male protagonists goes down, there's more contemplation, "philosophy," and questioning the nature of the creature. It maintains the aura of man vs. nature, but a bit more intellectual than the other two. A good way to end the series, methinks. The acting, of course, isn't exactly its strong point, but in that aspect, it differs little from its predecessors. I must say, the creature's makeover into a more-man-than-gill is done with astonishingly good special effects- considering the time in history and the resources at hand. Overall, if you liked "The Creature from the Black Lagoon," you're bound to like this deeper, more eerie sequel, which is a little less blatant and a little more figure-it-out-yourself.

MORD39 RATING: *** out of **** Why Oh Why do so many fans never let go of an original film and denounce any improvement that might be made? While the original film is a classic of the fifties, I think that was purely because it was the first (a distinct advantage most first films in a series have!) The second film was only "okay," and was a rehash of the first one. But why I like #3 so much is due to the daring change made to the Creature himself. He looks truly menacing and powerful when he becomes a land being, but more importantly he becomes much more human-like. We get to see how docile he truly is, and how it turns out to be that destructive animal known as Man who really makes him wild. When the Creature DOES get wild in this one, he's a REAL killing machine! The rampage he goes on in this movie still packs a jolt for me.