Monsters. They’re one of the greatest threats of our childhood. They hide in every dark corner of our rooms, watch us through dark windows, and follow us home at night. But they’re also so fascinating because they live in our own imaginations.
Many famous monsters stem from famous stories. Others come from urban legends. One such legend is one from the Amazon which inspired Hollywood filmmakers in the 50’s to create one of the tentpoles of the Universal Monster movies: the Gill-man from the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Half man, half fish, the Gill-man represents the unseen creatures that live in the unknown corners of the world. He also represents humans’ love of science and how that love can cause them to, either unintentionally or intentionally, exploit the natural world which can cause it to retaliate with a vengeance.
Below are seven of my favorite things about the Gill-man and the stories that have been told about him over the years. Feel free to leave your favorite things about Gill-man in the comments!
It’s a fleshed out version of King Kong
It’s easy to see that the Creature From The Black Lagoon is an aquatic version of King Kong. The Gill-man is the sole member of his species, and as a result, he reigns supreme in this faraway jungle land. When outsiders trample on his territory, he exacts revenge, but he also becomes enamored with the female member of he group.
There’s nothing wrong with repeating a good story. But the Creature trilogy takes it a step further. Whereas the first Kong movie sets only its third act in civilization, watching Kong break his captivity and go on a rampage throughout New York City, Revenge of the Creature creates a whole movie based on this third act.
A foreign creature wreaking havoc on its own turf is a fun concept. But then bring them onto our turf and see what kind of damage it could do. Spreading out the imprisonment as a sideshow act at a water park makes it more satisfying when he escapes and provides more opportunity for further violent interactions.
The humans
The three Creature movies all center around scientific exploration. These aren’t stuffy, two-dimensional victims. Each team is full of distinct personalities with a sense of humor, individual goals, and various reactions to their encounters with Gill-man.
There’s always a token woman for Gill-man to pursue, of course, but she’s not just a pretty girlfriend along for the ride. She does have a love interest, but she’s also an educated crew member who is genuinely engaged in the expedition. She’s likable, good-natured, and enthusiastic. She also isn’t afraid to dive into the water, either as part of the job or for recreation. Unfortunately, all it takes is a glimpse before Gill-man is on the prowl for her.
The male hero is then forced to step it up and find a way to defeat this superior being. He’s out to save the girl, not to show off. After all, he’s here for the science too, and he’s driven by his own affections. The girl is not a prize to be won. She’s a person who he cares about. And the monster can’t have her.
The other men on the crew tend to be helpless victims. They don’t stand a chance against the Gill-man’s superior strength and knowledge of the lay of the land. Their deaths are extreme, over the top, and gruesome, particularly for the 50s.
His violent tendencies
The creature, while understandably put out by the trespassing onto his territory, is a very violent and angry creature. He initially comes off as sneaky and curious, but once he gets fired up, he’s unrelenting, going on rampages and taking out anyone and anything in his path.
What’s interesting is that in his third movie, we’re introduced to an abusive male human character who belittles and assaults his wife. This makes him the perfect foe for the Gill-man, no more evolved despite his human status. Meanwhile, the Gill-man is surgically altered to become more human, stripping him of his violence, at least for a time, bringing up the question of what makes us human and worthy of respect.
The animal side always wins out. In the end, the Gill-man is just a fish that can walk upright. He’s territorial, he’s physically superior, and he is determined to get his way.
His strength
The Gill-man has a brute strength which categorizes him of the physically strongest of the Universal Monsters. You can see this from the way it takes several men to restrain him and many attempts to slow him down. And at the end of every movie, he walks or swims away, showing how hard it is to kill him, at least in his original trilogy.
Super strength is not an uncommon attribute in a sci-fi character. So, him being able to lift a full-grown man and slam him into a tree for fight off four men who attempt to hold him down with a net may not seem impressive next to a superhero or one of today’s CGI beasts, but come across a creature like him in the wild, and you’ll be hoping that you can at least outrun him.
The practical effects in Gill-man’s original trilogy help to remind us of what real strength looks like. He doesn’t have to throw a building into outer space in order to come off as strong. The strength he does show is proof enough of his physical superiority over the average men on the boats that dare trespass through his turf.
His run in the 80s
I was first introduced to the Gill’man in the 1980s in the film, The Monster Squad. As part of a team of classic Universal Monsters that a group of kids have to fight off in their small town, the Gill-man is a bit of a background player. His brute strength is highlighted when he throws a wooden box containing the Frankenstein monster out of the lake. Later, he scarfs up poor little Eugene’s Twinkie. But his greatest moment comes at the end when he jump scares the audience by popping out of a manhole and throws a few cops around like ragdolls.
While most of the monsters are killed by the cool kid, Rudy, the Gill-man is taken out by our bullied hero, Horace, aka “Fat Kid.”
After he blows the Gill-man away with a shotgun bullet to the chest, our unlikely hero is finally acknowledged warmly by the two boys at school who are seen picking on him at the beginning of the film. A mix of clever editing, a heroic delivery of a line, and a flawless handling of his weapon make it not only a funny moment but a heroic one as, after being referred to as “Fat Kid” by his bullies, though respectfully, he insists, “My name…is Horace.”
The woman behind the costume
Probably the most talked about feature of the film is the creature’s costume itself. It’s an elaborate creation for a 50s horror film, and its design holds up to this day, highlighting the half-man, half-amphibian qualities that make up this aquatic monster.
In recent years, it’s been brought to light that the creature was designed by an artist who went by the name Millicent Patrick. Not only that, but Patrick took her designs on the road in promotion of the film, and her ability to sell herself and her work contributed greatly to the film’s popularity.
However, fellow makeup artist Bud Westmore fired Patrick and took credit for the creature. She never worked in Hollywood again.
Recently, though, Patrick’s crucial involvement as the creator of the Gill-man was highlighted in the biography, The Lady From The Black Lagoon by Mallory O’Meara. Patrick’s life beyond her contribution to the horror genre is equally interesting and highlights a full, well-lived life even without mentioning her involvement with the Gill-man. But it was well past time to give credit where credit is due, and this book brings her back to the forefront as a talented artist.
Buy a copy of The Lady from the Black Lagoon here, and help support local bookstores. This is an affiliate link, and I will earn a commission on any sales.
The message
While they’re ultimately fun horror movies, the Creature movies do carry the message warning not to mess with mother nature. We can bring in all of the most sophisticated tools and ideas of our day, but if we bite at nature, it will bite back. This comes up again years later in Jurassic Park, a book and film series that proves you can warn people of the dangers of the natural world until you’re blue and the face, but greed and curiosity will always win out.
Whether it’s just invading his turf, taking him out of his own turf in order to study him, or trying to make him one of us, the human efforts fail, and the Gill-man swims away, if not triumphant, then never beaten. We shouldn’t mistake sophistication for superiority, and the Gill-man constantly reminds us of that.
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