Synopsis
When scientists exploring the Amazon River stumble on a “missing link” connecting humans and fish, they plan to capture it for later study. But the Creature has plans of his own, and has set his sights on the lead scientist's beautiful fiancée, Kay.
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Cast
- Richard CarlsonDr. David Reed
- Julie AdamsKay Lawrence
- Richard DenningDr. Mark Williams
- Antonio MorenoDr. Carl Maia
- Nestor PaivaCaptain Lucas
- Whit BissellDr. Edwin Thompson
- Bernie GozierZee
- Henry A. EscalanteChico
- Ricou BrowningThe Gill Man In Water (uncredited)
- Ben ChapmanThe Gill Man On Land (uncredited)
Recommendations
- 88
LarsenOnFilm
In so many monster movies, the pieces show. This creature is seamless. - 80
Empire
A classic horror that warms the heart and wets the pants. - 75
Slant Magazine
A much more antic, exploitative experience than the Frankenstein/Wolfman/Mummy/Dracula pictures it stands alongside, Creature from the Black Lagoon perfectly typifies the transition from older, more European horror styles into bloodthirsty schlock and ever-cheaper thrills. - 75
TV Guide Magazine
Imbued with great atmosphere by director Jack Arnold, the film is genuinely frightening, but also elicits a certain amount of pathos for the creature, reminiscent of that that goes out to the unfortunate King Kong. - 75
Chicago Tribune
This Universal sci-fi saga has little of the style or atmosphere of the studio's '30s horror classics; its stars are amiable Richard Carlson and Julia Adams. But it does have a unique monster: the Amazonian gill man, a lovelorn amphibian who spots Adams underwater and doesn't stop swimming after her until the very last minute. [30 Oct 1998, p.I] - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
A good piece of science-fiction of the beauty and the beast school, the beast in this case being a monstrous combination of man and fish. It makes for solid horror-thrill entertainment. - 70
Time Out
The routine story - members of a scientific expedition exploring the Amazon discover and are menaced by an amphibious gill man - is mightily improved by Arnold's sure sense of atmospheric locations and by the often sympathetic portrait of the monster. - 63
Chicago Reader
Archetypal 50s science fiction—light on brains and heavy on sexual innuendo (1954). But director Jack Arnold has a flair for this sort of thing, and if there really is anything frightening about a man dressed up in a rubber suit with zippers where the gills ought to be, Arnold comes close to finding it.
