Those of you who have watched ‘The Shape of Water’ may be surprised that director Guillermo Del Toro based ‘the Asset’ on the original ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’. This 1954 movie is regarded as one of the best creature films ever as it stood above its 1950/60 rivals by displaying good acting from an experienced cast, a more than realistic costume and great underwater photography. It was designed to be watched in 3D which explains to those that watch it the many shots with explosions of bubbles, fast close-ups and a fascination with firing spear guns.
The premise of the story is that an expedition travels to the darkest Amazon after a strange web-like limb fossil is found. The group consists of biologists and geologists which is handy as during the early part of the film they are able to explain to the audience the newfangled theories of carbon dating and evolution. Actually, the crew remind me of Gilligans Island with a Captain, first mate, the rich businessman, lots of professors and of course the attractive female. However, in an early case of gender equality, Kay, is portrayed as an intelligent field expert and while she still has to go swimming in her bathing suit the male professors also strip off for their forays into the water.
Before the crew arrives at the fossil dig site we catch a glimpse of the creature as it makes its way onto land and kills the two natives who were left behind. Dealing fairly easily with the gruesome deaths the expedition decides to move to the Black Lagoon to see if they can find any more fossils. It is here that they come into contact with the primitive gillman and encroach on his territory. One by one the crew meet their grisly deaths but the rich guy refuses to leave until he has proof of the creature. Attempts are made to bring the monster into captivity with varying degrees of success and loss of more lives. When they finally agree to leave they find the lagoon has been blocked by the monster preventing them from leaving. It is clear that he is looking for a mate and finally is able to kidnap the girl and take her back to his cave. The remaining crew follow and are able to shoot it a number of times before allowing it to return to the water for it to die… or does it?
While many of the characters in the movie showed some sympathy for the plight of the monster the female lead did not feel inclined to have a romantic interlude with the creature as in The Shape of Water. The fact that he killed at least five of the crew meant that his demise was a victory for men over environmental good as all classic creature features should. To gain a sense of the horror that was the Creature from the Black Lagoon watch the original trailer below.
I give it 8 friends out of 10 for its quality and originality.