REVENGE OF THE CREATURE is the follow-up to THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, one of the most iconic Universal horrors of all time. This one's a far lesser film, suffering from weak scripting which feels like the whole story is merely a lower-budgeted riff on KING KONG. Our favourite Gill Man is minding his own business in his lagoon when a bunch of scientists kidnap him and take him back to America. There he's probed and experimented upon until he finally busts loose and goes on a mini rampage. I found the Creature himself a sympathetic creation this time around, and his romance with the statuesque Lori Nelson good fun. The human characters are pretty bland, although it's fun to see Clint Eastwood in his film debut and the staging's slick and to the point.

For the life of me, I can't understand why this film has a rating of only 4.8 currently on IMDb. It's a very competent remake of an exceptional 1950s monster film, THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON--and there isn't much to complain about in this outing. So why the low score?! Perhaps it's because some people think the idea of a sea monster-type creature is pretty silly. Well, many other sea monster films were made in the 50s and 60s--and all but the Creature films had lousy costumes, lousy acting and were made on shoestring budgets (such as THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH). But this Universal outing has nice location shooting and nothing but good production values.

The film begins back in the same lagoon where the creature was left at the end of the last film. The same local captain has agreed to take some idiots from America to capture the creature. Now considering how scared this captain was and how he lost several crew members in the last film, it's amazing that he'd once again take such a risk--especially since all he does is complain about this! Quite surprisingly, the monster is actually captured relatively quickly and most of the film actually takes place in and around Marineland in Florida (near St. Augustine). Seeing this "thing" in a giant aquarium as gawking stand about is a bit surreal, but once he escapes (a must for the film),things heat up considerably.

Along for the ride are a behavioral scientist (John Agar) and the requisite "babe", the hot grad student and ichthyologist played by Lori Nelson. Both of them work with the creature trying to determine its intelligence and trainability--though the methods did seem a bit cruel. So, when the Creature breaks free, I found myself rooting for it--a real plus in a monster film when you have sympathy for the object of so much terror.

As for Agar, he has a terrible reputation as an actor, but he was quite competent here. I think Agar's reputation is caused by two reasons. First, being Shirley Temple's ex-husband, a lot of folks tended to denigrate his acting. Second, and this is Agar's doing, he seemed willing to act in ANY film provided the check cleared! For every exceptional film like this one or FORT APACHE or SANDS OF IWO JIMA, he starred in dogs like ZONTAR THING FROM VENUS or WOMEN OF THE PREHISTORIC PLANET. Oh, well,...I guess a guy's gotta eat!

There are a few things viewers might want to look out for. First, it's pretty obvious that there are two different people playing the Creature if you try to spot the differences. In the underwater scenes, the guy inside this complex suit is skinnier and on land he's chunkier--perhaps so he can carry about the "screaming hot babe" required by such films. Second, it's also pretty obvious that this was originally a 3-D film---as the monster and arms and all kinds of stuff come hurtling at the camera. While it isn't hokey, it is noticeable. Third, if you've ever been to this part of the country (I have several times),it's neat seeing some familiar locales--St. Augustine and nearby towns (like Jacksonville) made for some very nice location shoots.

Overall, a nice higher budget horror film that excels in practically every way. The only negatives are that it's a sequel (in other words, it loses a point for originality) and occasionally the characters do act a bit dumb--but this can be forgiven since it's still a vastly superior film to the sort of schlock horror that was so common in the 50s.

Creature from the Black Lagoon isn't a perfect film but it is a lot of fun and one of the better monster movies of the 50s. Revenge of the Creature misses the mark in comparison, but there are definitely worse sequels out there, it is better than its reputation and while The Creature Walks Among Us(the other sequel) needs to be re-watched I do remember Revenge being better than that. The story is not as good or as suspenseful this time round, it takes too long to set up, while the romance is very half-baked and the monster is used a little too much which dissipates the impact. The dialogue wasn't a strong point in the original, but it still wasn't anyway near as corny and awkward as the dialogue here. John Ager also gives a very wooden lead performance. It is however well photographed- as with the original the underwater sequences do look wonderful- and solidly directed with extravagant locations, and the monster still looks good(one of the better man-in-a-monster-suit monsters of any 50s monster movie) and manages to be menacing and sympathetic even in surroundings that are not quite as effective this time around. The score succeeds in exuding haunting atmosphere and jaunty energy, and there are some good set pieces with the monster, especially with the overturned car and aquarium. Also the shower motel sequence with it watching, not quite as scary as it lurking beneath the sea watching Julie Adams swimming on her own in the original, but it's the closest it gets to anything as effective as that. Like Creature from the Black Lagoon the characters are not particularly well-developed, the leads in fact are very underdeveloped, but they don't annoy either. Lori Nelson does acquit herself quite well, filling in big shoes and doing so quite admirably, while Clint Eastwood in his first screen role makes a brief but interesting appearance. Overall, has a lot wrong with it but not a bad sequel. 5.5/10 Bethany Cox