There’s something about a good idea poorly executed that’s immensely entertaining. That painting of Jesus that the amatuer painter tried to restore. Tommy Wiseau’s cult hit The Room. The Mortal Combat movie. The list of wonderfully bad films is probably as long as the list of genuinely great ones.

Creature From the Black Lagoon isn’t quite on the same level as some of the more infamous examples of the So Bad It’s Good pantheon, but all the same there’s a certain campy charm to this feature that goes beyond the actual merits of the movie itself.

The dialogue often laughable, people who know nothing about science saying lines written by people who know even less. The action is corny, and the director clearly understood that the underwater photography was the strongest part of his movie, and overcompensated by putting as much of it in as he could. (Though despite the fact that there’s so much of it, the underwater footage is truly impressive. The fact that an actor wearing a full body suit can swim so gracefully that you can almost believe he’s actually a fish person, is nothing short of a miracle.)

Even the plot is a bit ridiculous: our fearless explorers come stomping into the creature’s home, dropping nets into the water, dumping rohypnol into the lagoon, and eventually hunting him down with a spear gun. And of course, the poor fish guy just wants to be left alone, so he takes action to send the interlopers packing. When you get right down to it, this is a home invasion story told from the point of view of the home invaders. We might be tempted to think of this film as a metaphor for the perils of white expansion, but that would likely be giving it too much credit.

As for our home invading heroes, they’re a group of typical fifties stereotypes, a couple of strong chinned, strong-willed men, fighting over what to do with the creature and competing for the affection of a beautiful woman who serves very little purpose in the story. However, in a slight step forward for female characters, she is allowed to be a scientist, and she wears pants which must have felt like a radical move at the time.

The only character who doesn’t feel like a stereotype is the creature himself whose only crimes are fighting back against the people screwing up his lagoon, and going for a swim with a pretty lady. Much like Frankenstein’s monster before him, the creature is misunderstood and persecuted without cause.

Ultimately, Creature From the Black Lagoon doesn’t hold up well on its own merits, but if you can tune in to its brand of campy silliness you might have fun with it anyway.





Albert lives in Florida where the humidity has driven him halfway to madness, and his children have finished the job. He is the author of The Mulch Pile and A Prairie Home Apocalypse or: What the Dog Saw .

To hear more of our thoughts on Creature From the Black Lagoon check out Episode 164 of the Human Echoes Podcast.