Revenge of the Creature (1955)

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I actually like this second film a little better than the first 1954 film, 'Creature from the Black Lagoon'. To me, the characters are a little better developed and a bit more likable in 'Revenge'. (It' just a matter of personal preference).My heart went out to Gill-man in both films, but this second film I felt more pity for him. He just wanted to be left alone in the amazon but they captured him and brought him to an aquarium where he can became an attraction and to be studied. They are better equipped in this second film to "study" him but their form of "study" is too much for the poor creature and he escapes the aquarium.This film is a bit creepy, lots of underwater action where you fear for the lives of the humans yet pity the Gill-man at the same time. A good sequel.9/10

Revenge of the Creature (1955)*** (out of 4) Sequel to CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON has a new group of explorers heading to the Amazon to capture the Gill Man. They're able to do so and they take him back to a Sea World like center where they plan to put him on display. Once there a scientist (John Agar) and a grad student (Lori Nelson) try to determine how intelligent the creature is and sure enough he begins to have feelings for the woman and finally breaks free.REVENGE OF THE CREATURE is an exceptional sequence that actually manages to match the first film in terms of quality. I've never found the original to be among the studio's all-time greats like FRANKENSTEIN, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN or THE WOLF MAN but there's no doubt that it deserves its classic label and I'd say this film also deserves to be called a classic monster movie. The story obviously takes elements from the first film and mixes them with elements from KING KONG and for the most part the entire film is quite successful.I think one of the best things that they carry over from the original movie is the sympathy angle towards the Gill Man. Here this element is really laid on because the movie manages to make you feel really bad for the creature who is chained up as an attraction and he's unable to do anything or that get electrical shocks as the scientist tries to teach him the meaning of "stop." There's no question that the movie manages to work so well because of the Gill Man and the way director Jack Arnold makes you sympathize with him but there's also scenes showing how dangerous he is so you still wouldn't want to run into him no matter how bad you felt for him.The actors are also quite good here with Agar and Nelson filling their roles nicely and they manage to work extremely well together. Another major plus is the underwater photography, which is quite excellent and a major step up from the first film. I'd also argue that the kill scenes here are a lot more effective. There are some faults to be found and especially with some of the stuff that is copied from the original movie (like him falling for the woman) but overall REVENGE OF THE CREATURE is a success.

I am a giant Universal monster nerd (you should see my toy collection) and my favorite of the monsters has always been the Gill Man. Not necessarily my favorite of the movies, mind you, but there has always been something really special about this creature to me. Part of it is the impressive creature effects in the design of the monster. It still really holds up today, in my opinion, more so than any other Universal monster. In fact, I would argue that it still looks better than some creature designs I see in modern b-horror movies. I think the other part of the creature's appeal is his tragic nature. This is a monster that I have always felt more sympathy than fear. Let's face it, the poor thing was living content in its' own little private lagoon, when along comes some scientists to study it and try to capture it, eventually trying to kill it. Now it gets dragged away from its' home and put in a tiny little aquarium for all to see. It's no wonder the thing goes violent.As the creators have admitted to in the past, a large part of the inspiration of this series comes from KING KONG. You have the idea of an exotic monster from a foreign land falling in love with a beautiful woman that ultimately leads to its' demise. In the first movie, this idea plays out in theme. In the sequel here, we get the rest of the KING KONG plot as the monster is brought to the states to become an attraction.Sadly, this sequel is just nowhere near the quality of the original movie and mostly doesn't even make for a mediocre sequel. We begin with a repeat of things that happened in the first movie. Scientists go to the lagoon to capture the monster, only this time they are successful. We get one small "fright" scene, but there is very little tension or buildup to the moment of capture.Once brought to Ocean Harbor park, the movie drags on for a good hour. At this point, very little happens. We get a boring, clichéd 50s movie romance between our two scientists. We get the prerequisite sci-fi mumbo jumbo as our scientist perform experiments and discuss theories, part of which involves torturing our monster to get him to learn the word "stop" (a plot device that goes nowhere because the monster simply chooses to ignore anyways). The most exciting part of this segment of the movie may be the extended MarineLand commercials where we watch the park animals perform. Mercifully, the monster finally escapes which only goes further to ruining this movie. We've already seen too much of the monster, taking away some of the mystery. The creature moving on land makes it look awkward and further serves to take away any fear of the creature. Naturally, he's after the object of his affection, which leads to pretty much an exact repeat of the final moments in the original, only this time played out with police involved.I will give some credit for one moment. Two teens discover our leading lady lying onshore in need of rescue, but the monster is not far behind. He kills one of them by throwing him a good 15 feet against a tree. The body flies through the air (obviously on wires) and smashes into a tree. It's slightly laughable effects to a modern audience, but it just might be the most violent death I've seen in any Universal monster movie (and trust me, I've seen them all).There is still some fun here in the sense of a movie to be watched at Midnight on a Saturday with popcorn and beer, but the original is one of the best monster movies ever made and this sequel is just an obvious cash grab.

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