by Ronald Paul Milione (Author)
Revenge of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Behind the Scenes
Introduction
Revenge of the Creature (Universal 1955)
The success of Universal's Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) inevitably led to a sequel, and Revenge of the Creature duly followed just five months later.
Again, directed by Jack Arnold, Revenge of the Creature takes the plot to the Marineland of Florida oceanarium. Captured in his native habitat, the hapless gill man is transported to the south Florida oceanarium as a visitor attraction.
Predictably, our fishy friend falls for young ichthyology student Helen Dobson (Lori Nelson), who in turn has her eye on admirer Professor Clete Ferguson (John Agar). Of course, it all goes gills-up as the creature escapes, terrorizing the neighborhood as he tracks Helen down to a motel and steals her back. Riddled with bullets by local police, he heads seaward in a bid for freedom.
As with the first film, sympathies are most decidedly with the creature; man is the enemy who exploits nature for profit, so it's a pity that he wins out in the end really. Arnold directs Martin Berkeley's screenplay, with guts and liveliness, allowing the creature to deliciously run amok. Now remembered along with King Kong and Godzilla as one of the most horrific monsters of the silver screen, Browning had the underwater role of the amphibious monster in the Universal Studios black-and-white horror flick, originally shot in 3-D. Browning then continued filling that role in two sequels, "Revenge of the Creature" and "The Creature Walks Among Us."
Number of Pages: 340
Dimensions: 0.71 x 11 x 8.5 IN
Publication Date: July 25, 2023
