Revenge of the Creature (1955)

For this year's Countdown to Halloween, it's all-Universal Monsters, all-the-time, from Dracula (1931) to The Creature Walks Among Us (1956).  Join me daily for a fresh perspective on movies you may not have watched in a long time, if ever.  Today, it's a little more than a regular sequel; it's Revenge of the Creature!

Unless there were two of them, the Gill-man survived being shot at the end of Creature from the Black Lagoon and returned for a sequel a year later in Revenge of the Creature (1955).  He probably wouldn't have returned if he'd been left alone; however, a new crew returns to the upper Amazon to finish what the previous one could not.  One of the men boasts, "If there really is a Gill-man, we'll catch him!"

It's the same captain on the boat, Lucas (Nestor Paiva), and he judiciously recaps the last movie for those who might be challenged by its complexity:  five men died on the previous expedition.  While the new crew discusses the Gill-man being "captured in time," having skipped an evolutionary step, Lucas adds, "Inside it is a demon dragging it through the centuries."

I didn't even mention this.  Recognize that guy?  It's Clint Eastwood in his first screen appearance!

It's a demon that they're able to put into a coma by placing explosives on the surface of the water; however, it's also a demon that they're able to revive after "walking" him through the water several times in a tank at the Ocean Harbor Oceanarium in Florida.  This science is explained by Helen Dobson (Lori Nelson) as she winks at the hunky "walker," Joe Hayes (John Bromfield), from a walkway above.

She's just a flirt, though, because by the end of the movie, she's met, gone on a date, and become engaged to Professor Clete Ferguson (John Agar).  I'm pretty sure I missed that last development, but a radio announcer tracking the escaped Gill-man's movements along the beach says it's Ferguson's fiancée that he's carrying with him.

Yes, of course the Gill-man escapes.  He even gets to flip over a car on his subsequent rampage.  In this new setting in and around Jacksonville, there's a lot more action in Revenge of the Creature than in the first movie.  In that sense, it's a tighter, faster-moving and more entertaining movie.  Besides, it's more fun to see crowds run from a monster than one person swim away from one.

As I watch all these classics chronologically, I notice little things that I think are milestones in the making of horror movies… more things they started getting away with.  Here, it's not only that the Gill-man commits the most unforgiveable cinematic crime of all: killing a dog, but it's also that we see the body of the dead dog lying in the bushes, I could swear with blood on its neck.

Jack Arnold directs again and I'll be darned if he doesn't attempt a jump scare or two.  First, a young couple making out in their car is startled when a policeman approaches the window.  Second, a hand reaches out to touch Helen on the shoulder, but it's not the Gill-man, it's just good ol' Clete.  This may be just another Universal Monsters sequel, but it's also an early experiment with tropes of the horror genre that remain with us today.

Tomorrow:  This Island Earth!