Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16981 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-11-01
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 79 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Jack Arnold's horror classic The Creature from the Black Lagoon spawned not one but two iconic images: the web-footed humanoid gill-man with a hankering for women and the leggy, luscious Julia Adams, the object of his desire, swimming the lagoon in a luminous white bathing suit. Not since King Kong has the "beauty and the beast" theme been portrayed in such sexually charged (though chaste) terms. Arnold turns an effectively B-movie plot--a small expedition up a remote Amazon river captures a prehistoric amphibian man, who escapes to wreak havoc on the team and kidnap his bathing beauty--into a moody, stylish, low-budget feature. The jungle exteriors turn from exotic to treacherous when the creature blocks their passage and strands them in the wilds. Much of the film is shot underwater, where the murky dark is animated by shimmering shards of sunlight, creating images both lovely and alien (the studio-built sets of the creature's underground lair are far less naturalistic, but serve their purpose). As with most of Arnold's '50s genre films, he's saddled with a less than magnetic leading man (in this case the colorless but stalwart Richard Carlson) and a conventional script, but he overcomes such limitations by creating a vivid and sympathetic monster (helped immeasurably by a marvelous suit of scales and fins) and establishing a mood thick with atmosphere. The film was originally shot in 3-D. --Sean Axmaker

Special Features
English
Region 2

Synopsis
A research team digging in the Amazon comes across the fossilised hand of a human fish creature. That night, the creature emerges from the swamp to kill. So begins one of the more recognizable classics of the science fiction and horror genres. Shot originally in 3-D, this has been a late-night TV hit for decades. The hand makes its way back to the oceanographic institute and soon conscientious scientist David Reed (Richard Carlson), greedy scientist Mark (Richard Cunha) and the beautiful girl they fight over, Kay (Julia Adams) are heading up the Amazon to find more fossils. Instead, of course, they run into the real thing, and terror begins. While Mark and David fight over what to do next, the creature falls in love with Kay, and makes plans of his own. Island diver Ricou Browning plays the creature in the spectacular underwater scenes, the highlight being a beautifully creepy scene of Kay going for a swim, while the smitten creature swims along below her, transfixed. The pounding, horrific score is credited to conductor Joseph Gerhsenson but was actually written by a team of composers, including Henry Mancini.

Customer Reviews

Classic film in a great package
The Creature from the Black Lagoon is probably one of the most iconic monsters to have lurched from the Universal studios in the last 50 or so years. Recognisable by any film fan, this is a great disk. The film itself was originally a 1950's 3D shocker, concerning an ill fated trip to the titluar lagoon by a bunch of scientists chasing up a strange fossil of a fish/man hibrid. On arrival, finding that their camp is trashed they run into the creature who takes quite a fancy to Julia Adams.

Tame by todays effects standards, the film still commands attention and the special effects and underwater photography were groundbreaking in it's day. The film itself is a good copy and the sound, including the famous theme tune played everytime (literally!) the creature appears, comes across well on the disk.

The disk also features a specially made feature about the making of the film with contributions from surviving cast and crew. There is also a feature length commentary which, while informative and with several dry annecdotes about various people involved in making it, is at times rushed. As the film is only about 80 minutes long however, it is understandable.

This is part of a series of disks released by Universal featuring all their classic beasties and is well worth the money.

Good "B" movie monster film.
This is typical of this type of film. The monster is done quite well. The location sequences are nice. The acting is "B" movie standard. What did strike me was how many times the female lead, Julie Adams manages to change her clothes. Her suitcase must have taken up all the room on the boat. If you like the genre this movie will not dissapoint you.

Comfort food for classic junkies.
If your'e not into classic horror then steer clear, but if you are, this is brilliant. Turn the lights off, the fire up and enjoy this movie. I find the sheer atmosphere of this film takes you back to a time when things were a lot simpler and monsters like the creature were truly frightening. Simply a classic.