skinner-c Uniquely unlike the first two Creature films, this one is set apart in its own gloom. While it seemed to have been the lowest graded version of the three, I find it in some ways the best. As the second and final "remake," it had to branch out somewhat, and I believe it did so with merit and credibility.Shadowed with the gloomy backdrop of Dr. Barton's troubled marriage, his paranoia about his wife's flirtation with the deck-hand while our scary title character stalks around unhappily as the post-op air-breathing humanoid, this final effort includes a psychological / philosophical leaning that sets it apartBeyond this, the plastic surgery component of the screenplay further differentiates it, as it morphs into a more modern-day Frankenstein take. Noteworthy as an ending is the death of Barton at the hands of his morphed creature, followed by "Blackie's" own suicide.Perhaps lost now without much notice, the film is still a gem. When you have forgotten hundreds of movies you saw after 1956, while remembering ones like this, perhaps that says something.

Ian (Flash Review)Once again the creature is captured by a scientist with intentions of trying some groundbreaking experiments on it. Part of the plot addresses the morality of doing genetic experiments on creatures and animals. During the capture, the creature gets 3rd degree burns in a spectacular scene even though the question remains as to why the creature dumps gasoline on itself but who cares; funny! While trying to save its life from the burns, it gills fall off and it is now able to breath air and begins to mutate. One can only imagine where the story goes from there but it remains 50's monster movie funny in a good way. One of the most amusing parts was how they introduce the female lead by cutting to her wildly shooting a shot gun off a boat in preparation to capturing the creature. Odd and bold for the 50's and better than most of today's sequel attempts.

TheRedDeath30 Reading through the user reviews for this Universal sequel, I am legitimately surprised at how many raves I'm seeing and comments that it's the best of the series. To each their own, but I just cannot agree.The original CREATURE film is an absolute classic and one of the best horror films of the black-and-white era. This movie improves, slightly, from the subpar second movie REVENGE OF THE CREATURE, but still comes up sorely lacking.Once again, we begin with some scientists who just can't leave the poor Gill Man alone. I mentioned in my review of REVENGE how sympathetic I think this creature is and it continues here as the monster really just wants to be left alone, but man just refuses to let that happen. The first half of the movie takes place in the Everglades as the expedition attempts to track down the monster to capture it for study. There is nothing new to offer here. We meet a new group of scientists and a new leading lady, only this time around there isn't a likable character in the entire bunch. You spend most of the movie wishing the monster would kill these jerks and put us all out of our misery. We get the requisite underwater scenes and again there is nothing new offered, as most of the monster footage is recycled from the original movie.They track the monster up a stream at which point we do get one of the better scenes from the Creature trilogy, as he attacks the scientists on their boat. The tension is short-lived however, as the monster is shot twice and set ablaze, leading to his capture.At this point, the movie really grinds to a halt. Let's start with the cardinal sin committed here. This is the one of the greatest monster makeups ever created in horror history. Why, in the Black Lagoon, would you change that makeup? Why would take this magnificent monster and turn it into a fish-like wrestler? It's inexcusable to me. The movie explains these changes with some of the worst science you'll ever hear as the monster is capable of evolving instantly into something new? I might be willing to buy the lungs theory, but to have a second skin underneath the scales that's just waiting to come out? I know these 50s sci-fi movies require some suspension of belief, but they're really pushing it here.To further slow things down, most of the second half revolves around everyone on the boat trying to sleep with the only woman present and the jealousy it cases in her lunatic husband. None of it is interesting and it's made even worse by melodramatic overacting.We finally get to the lead doctor's home, where the creature is put into a pen with some goats (for no other explainable reason than they will be needed to further the plot in a minute). He kills a mountain lion threatening the goats and, for some reason, this is not seen as protective, but as proof that the creature will always be a violent menace. The climax comes when the lunatic, jealous doctor finally kills one of the men who have tried to nail his wife. For some reason, this enrages the creature (yes, suddenly the monster who has killed men for 3 movies is now upset at violence), who goes on a rampage, leading to a depressing ending.To me, what makes the original work so well is an exotic jungle setting, great underwater photography, a magnificent creature design and a female lead with a brain. All of these could have been explored in much more depth with the sequels, particularly where did this creature come from and are there others. Instead, by now, he's removed from the jungle, no longer underwater, the creature design is stripped down to generic proportions and our female lead is completely unlikable. It's a good thing Universal let it die with this one.

poe426 While it gets off to an incredibly slow start (nothing happens for a good 45 minutes), THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US is actually one of the better monster movies of the 1950s. Rex Reason, one of the half-dozen scientists looking to capture and surgically ALTER The Gill Man (making him an air-breather, for no better reason than that they CAN), muses: "... we all stand between the jungle and the stars at a crossroads. We better discover what brings out the best in humankind and what brings out the worst, because it's the stars or the jungle." Considering what happens to the docile Creature (he almost drowns when the surgical change has been effected, and is blamed for a murder he didn't commit), Dr. Johnson, another of the scientists, concludes (rightly), "We're not so far from the jungle, after all." The Creature makeup in this entry is interesting and the second half of the film can hold its own against ANY of its contemporaries (and, indeed, many movies in this genre). Even the ambiguous ending, with the Creature walking toward the ocean (where we know he will drown, because he can no longer breathe water) is outstanding (and reminds me of the end of I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE). If not for the first 45 minutes or so, I'd rate this one a ten.