Revenge of the Creature

[Earth 2 Chris]

Cindy surprised me by finding the new (as in last year) release of the Creature from the Black Lagoon Legacy Collection at Wal-Mart last night. I'd be half-heartedly looking for this since it came out, as the Creech was one of two Legacy sets I never got in their first release, and it ended up getting pricey on Amazon and ebay. I have multiple copies of the first film on DVD and Blu-Ray, but I'd never seen Revenge of the Creature ...until last night.

I knew of the basic plot: Creech (or Gill Man as they constantly call him in the film) gets captured, and put on display at a Sea World-like park in Florida. He breaks loose and calamity ensues. But me and my son Andrew were both presently surprised by the quality of the film. It's definitely a worthy sequel to the original. The Creature seems even more violent and blood-thirsty in this one, and it was kind of shocking to see him killing folks left and right. But you can't help but feel sorry for the poor guy...he didn't ask to be taken out of his home to be gawked and probed at!

Still not sure why the changed the mask on the costume, as it does look slightly goofy compared to the original, but the gills and mouth work nicely, and the Creature is still the best completely alien, full-body design Hollywood ever came up with, IMHO.

Plus, Clint Eastwood! A VERY young Clint in his first role. I knew he was in this, but kind of forgot, so it was a nice treat to see him, kinda outta nowhere.

We're planning on watching the third film tonight, but I'm hesitant. I've heard mixed things about this one.

Chris

[Hedji]

Love this one. There are rumors of a 3D Blu Ray coming, but it could be anaglyph instead of polarized, which would be stupid.

I also enjoyed the 1st remake (Jaws 3-D), but haven't seen the second remake yet (Jurassic World)

[hedrap]

Hedji's exactly right. Universal had a choice of going through with a Creature reboot or a Jaws sequel, so the world got Jaws 3D.

The Creature reboot scripts are insane. Carpenter's is really good and gets better by today's standards. But before him, there was a heavy ET influence, and after him, it became a Will Smith comedy.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Watched The Creature Walks Among Us, and it was far more compelling than I thought it would be. I always looked at the redesign/mutation as a *******ization of a great design, but it works really well within the story. Well, this wide frame makes no sense, but other than that, it works. The story was surprisingly adult, with a mentally abusive husband losing it and resorting to murder, which enrages the Creature into action.

Overall I'd say all three films were far more intelligent than the fun but practically brain-dead Universal Horror output after The Wolf Man. These weren't aimed squarely at kids like those later Monster Rally films.

Chris

[palitoy]

I was lucky enough to see those films in order as a kid, even saw Revenge in 3-D once.

Starlog published that Jaws 3D story in the 80s, it really ticked me off at the time.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I just heard there is a German Blu-Ray of Revenge coming out, and it's supposed to come with a 3D version with the old red and blue glasses, no 3D TV required.

Why can't Universal just put this stuff out and make it easy to get? Why sit on money?

Chris

[Hedji]

Honestly, the red and blue is so inferior, I wish they'd do it in real 3D Blu Ray, like they did with Creature. It is so much more effective.

[thunderbolt]

He'll be exacting revenge on .... John Agar, Lori Nelson..

[Earth 2 Chris]

^"This guy's bad. This is his first and last movie". HA!

Chris