Creature from the Black Lagoon
1954
**½
Director: Jack Arnold
Cast: Richard Carlson, Julie Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno, Nestor Paiva, Whit Bissell, Ben Chapman, Ricou Browning
A scientific expedition travels downriver in the Amazon. When their boat enters a black lagoon, they are attacked by an amphibious creature. This iconic monster movie may enjoy cult status but, in all honesty, it offers 80 minutes of boring and monotonous scares. The underwater shots are impressive, even if they were clearly not filmed in a river, but there is really no reason to spend so much time on these snail-paced and repetitive scenes. The creature is wonderfully designed, but sadly it has no personality whatsoever. The badly dated screenplay champions the people who invade the creature's habitat and try to kill it because it wants to protect its home.
