Almost a year ago I reviewed Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) after watching it for the first time. I found that the film, while certainly competent and entertaining, was average when compared to other famous creature features like Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), and The Invisible Man (1933). Its sequel, Revenge of the Creature, saw the return of Gill-Man and director Jack Arnold. Having somehow survived the end of the first film, Gill-Man is captured and transported from his home in the Amazon to the Ocean Harbor Oceanarium in Florida. Once stateside, Gill-Man is studied by animal psychologist Professor Clete Ferguson and ichthyology student Helen Dobson. Of course Clete and Helen fall in love and of course at some point she is threatened by Gill-Man. But when those two aren't hogging the screen, the scenes with Gill-Man are surprisingly engaging. I particularly liked an early scene at the Ocean Harbor Oceanarium where Gill-Man is revived in a large pool surrounded by tourists. The sheer hubris on display by the humans is stunning. If the scenes with just Clete and Helen were edited out Revenge of the Creature could have been a fascinating tale of the futility of man's attempt to control and profit from nature à la King Kong (1933). Another great sequence involves the scientists attempts to teach Gill-Man human words via cruel negative reinforcement. But the film spends too much time on the ancillary human characters. At least in Creature from the Black Lagoon scenes without Gill-Man were aided by the mysterious and other-worldly atmosphere of the Amazon jungle. The sunny beaches of Florida are simply not as compelling as the rainforest. But still, it is fascinating to watch how Revenge of the Creature manages to make the humans seem like the villains and not the prehistoric monster.
6/10
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