A Filmmaker's Review: "Creature from the Black Lagoon" (1954)

One thing I love about watching this movie is that every time you watch it, you notice something different in the way the monster is presented to us. Especially after Guillermo Del Toro's "The Shape of Water" went on to win big at The Academy Awards over fifty years' later - we have come to recognise that life has apparently been rather unfair to the creature as we treat him different based mostly on his difference in appearance and behaviours. A feature of humanity which is probably better lost and stamped out.

So, what is this film about and why did I only decide to review it now after a possible five times of watching it? The film is about a creature in a black lagoon that some people studying fossils go to. They are aware of the creature and actively try to catch him, but realising his strength, most of them try to avoid him whilst one states that they must capture him in order to bring him back as a prize. As the creature picks each of them off one-by-one, it is not clear what he wants until the very end - something he eventually tries to get and almost does.

Why did I wait so long before writing a review? Well, initially I did not want to get over-excited when I saw it for the first time. This was shortly before "The Shape of Water" was released, maybe about a year and a half. But, when "The Shape of Water" came out, I started to look closer at the film, having different ideas about monstrosity etc. That's really why I waited, I wanted to clear my head about the film.

The themes are pretty strict in this film with one of the first and foremost theme being the fact that there is a fine line between knowledge and too much knowledge. Especially regarding the man who chooses to search actively for the creature as a 'prize' - he is actively putting himself and the others in danger whilst they are actually trying to also escape the grasp of the creature, fearing he will come back and kill some more.

Another theme filmed pretty well is the theme of the unknown. Most of this is done through filming the depths of the water and the way in which the creature keeps hiding amongst the seaweed. Another way in which this is done is by the people on the boat recognising when the creature has been near and when, even when they don't actually encounter him.

One last theme I wanted to cover was the way in which the creature appears to the people on the boat. It is not overtly monstrous but looks like something that would live in the ocean. As something that is clearly a part of a different land and a different way of life, both sides are threatened considerably by the other. Both sides therefore attack the other, wanting to take something from them. Both sides clearly have prizes that they want to return with. The choice between which one is right and which one is wrong is entirely up to the way in which the filmmaker presents these two sides.

In conclusion, the film is the perfect representation of the monster film that would really get the audience thinking about how and which side is more evil than the other if, when you really think about it, both of their intentions of really similar. Also, not only this but the way in which the plot unfolds is incredibly strategic and even though the ending is not explored in massive detail, due to the way the humans are presented as being these logical beings who are both intelligent and innocent, we already know how this is going to end. But the reality of it is that they invaded his land with one of them wanting to take him as a prize and he trying to take something of his own prize as well. The fact that he wanting to take something as a prize has reasons that are universally unknown means that not only do we already know what the ending is going to be, but we also understand the way in which one of the men wants to do the best research he feels he can - only stopping when lives are put in serious danger.