The Creature From the Black Lagoon kicked off one of the most successful trilogies in early horror movie history.

The poor Gill Man never had a chance.

In that way, the Gill Man was like the Mummy, forced to carry his series alone.

Its unclear if anyone ever took him up on that.

Still, by the early 50s Alland had become a producer at Universal.

He whipped up a quick treatment in which he essentially movedKingKongs storylineinto the waters of the Amazon.

Once there, by law, the creature runs amok before being killed.

But thats beside the point.

Audiences had never seen a full-body monster costume like that before.

Its pretty much exactly what youd expect an evolutionary missing link between man and fish would look like.

Even the gills moved when it breathed.

All the screenwriters had to do now was pick up theKongthread again, only more directly this time.

This they accomplish in the first 10 minutes.

Or at least shuffles amok before being presumably but not decisively killed.

But thats just me.

Jeff Morrow, Rex Reason and Leigh Snowden took over the three principle human roles.

Its also when things get deeply strange and tragic.

Despite all the standard crowd-pleasing horror trappings (the scaly claw reaching for the bare ankle, etc.

Okay, so youre the Gill Man, right?

Worse, onboard are a bunch of outsiders and stupid tourists.

And what do they do?

Of course, youre gonna get pissed, right?

A year later, youre pretty much healed up, swimming around your home again, and everythings cool.

Then out of nowhere, here come some more of those human sonsabitches.

This time, though, theres no pussyfooting around.

Worse, a bunch of stupid tourists gawk at you some more through a window all day long.

If that wasnt bad enough, some of them come into the tank to torture you.

I mean, what the hells that all about?

What did they expect you to do?

I mean, is that what they want you to do, too?

Fetch a goddamn ball and do some back flips?

Because if so, those bastards have another thing coming!

And again, what do these so called scientists do when you start acting naturally?

They try and kill you for not being like them!

What is it with these people?

This time when you wake up, you havent simply been abducted from your home again.

read more: The Legacy of Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Nay, these humans are just plain sadistic.

You wouldnt play ball that last time, so now theyre gonna fix you for good.

What were they thinking?

Suddenly youre slow and awkward and clumsy, and to their minds youre still ugly as sin.

But they sure are proud of themselves for having excised everything that made you what you were.

Maybe in those last few moments in the water again you might at least feel a momentary peace.

The overall arc of the franchise seems to arise directly from FreudsCivilization and Its Discontents.

Living in a state of nature is great and fun and easy, and, well, natural.

you’re free to do what you want when you want and never have to answer to anyone.

Problem is, its also messy and tough, and sometimes quite brutal.

Civilization is so much more convenient.

Its all so much easier than that hunting and gathering business.

No, that would be an admission of defeat.

And if all that doesnt work, then theyll just kill you so you cant bother them anymore.

The great Nigel Kneale had agreed to write the script.

Universal probably would have done better with the Landis reboot.