THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US (1956)

At the end of REVENGE OF THE CREATURE, the Creature from the Black Lagoon was heading into the dark waters of the ocean to die from gunshot wounds after his brief stay at a Florida oceanarium. Now, the somewhat highly strung Dr. Barton is heading into the Everglades to find the Creature. He is accompanied by his disgruntled wife Marcia—what other kind of wife is there in these monster movies?— the hunky guide Jed Grant (love triangle, anyone?), and the handsome assistant Tom Morgan (the smart beefcake). Barton's plan is to experiment with the Creature to bypass evolution and change him genetically into a whole new kind of being. Tom warns against this (tampering in God’s domain and all), but they find the creature and dose him with a sedative. While getting him on the boat, he is accidentally set on fire. With his gills injured beyond repair, Morgan operates on him to allow him to breathe air, and he begins mutating in other ways to become more human. The docile creature is put in a cage and surrounded by bad behavior on the part of the humans—the boorish hunk Jed who keeps trying to get his hands on Marcia, and, despite his seeming good intentions, the deteriorating mad scientist Barton. In fact, as other viewers have pointed out, as the monster becomes more human, Barton becomes more monstrous, until among the physical (and psychological) wreckage, the Creature is the most pitiable figure of all, facing a very sad end. Though not as compelling a movie as the first two Black Lagoon movies, this is perhaps the most interesting thematically, with the Creature truly adrift in the world not his own. Unfortunately, the story itself is a bit repetitious: Jed keeps hitting on Marcia, Barton keeps getting crazier, and Tom stands around observing and trying to keep things on an even keel. Rex Reason (Tom) looks good as the smart hunk but doesn't get to do much; Jeff Morrow (Barton) is crazy-eyed from the beginning; Gregg Palmer (Jed) is passable as the loutish hunk; Leigh Snowden seems pretty much interchangeable with the other Creature heroines (Julie Adams in the original, Lori Nelson in REVENGE). While there's not a lot here to recommend—though the Creature on fire scene is very cool—there's no reason not to watch it if you’ve seen the other two. Pictured are Jeff Morrow and Rex Reason. [Blu-ray]