Revenge of the Creature

I have a special fondness for the Gillman series. I simply like-to-love all the films in the series. Actually, I think the Gillman series is underrated. The second film, Revenge of the Creature (1955), is kind of episodic to me. The first chapter deals with the capture of the Gillman in the tributary of the Amazon. Nestor Paiva returned briefly as Lucas, the always-grinning captain of Rita, taking hunters to the Black Lagoon to secure the Gillman for a Florida oceanarium. The Gillman gives them a hard time. Hunter Joe (John Bromfield), goes down in an underwater suit and is nearly drowned by the Gillman. Joe encounters a physical altercation with the Gillman over and over again. The final time would most definitely be his last. Using bombs to knock the Gillman unconscious, rendering it into a coma, the fishing party was able to return him to the oceanarium intact, eventually awakening him. In the second chapter, shackled to a chain in an aquarium, the Gillman continues to pull at it and the steel plate holding him prisoner in the aquarium. John Agar (prolific genre actor who was in every kind of movie imaginable; he would work for Jack Arnold again in Tarantula) is a professor in Florida to study the Gillman while his love interest is a scientist (whose field is ichthyology) played by the lovely Lori Nelson. Joe is responsible for bringing the Gillman to the location and is often partaking in studies involving him. Joe’s job places him in constant peril…tempting fate, Joe may eventually wind up in one close encounter too many. Eventually the Gillman takes a shine to Nelson and seeks to abduct her for his own mating purposes. With the capture and study of the Gillman as the first two chapters of this film, eventually the third chapter deals with the Gillman finally getting loose and moving free in parts of Florida as the authorities out to find it, before violent attacks on civilians result, pursue it. The film emphasizes the danger always threatening Agar and Nelson as the Gillman obsessively remains close by…it’s desire for Nelson drives it to make attempts to snatch her, eventually successfully doing so in a club. Soon Agar and Johnny Law make it their mission to search Jacksonville for the Gillman. Seeing the Gillman scattering frightened tourists in the Seaworld-like oceanarium, turning over a car, hurling some young man into a palm tree, lurking in the bushes outside a hotel, moving about parks, swimming in an aquarium, and playing peeping tom as it peers at Nelson while she undresses gives this particular Gillman movie quite a different feel from the exotic mystique of the Black Lagoon…the clashing of a creature from such a long time ago with the environment of modern 50s Florida  provides several memorable moments. Of course, there’s time for Agar and Nelson’s romance, but there’s also a lesson conveyed in the mistake of removing a creature from its natural habitat and then suffering the consequences for trying to imprison it in an aquarium to be a money-making attraction. The electric prod used on it for study by Agar, to keep it at bay and from aggressively swimming towards them, is an action that might be considered inexcusable today. When Lucas warns Americans against hunting for the Gillman, a knowing smile and giggle when they fail to listen, is foreshadowing that certainly eludes to what happens when it gains advantage over them for not leaving the creature alone where it belongs. You get a lot of Gillman in this second film, and the design of the suit is still an eyeful of cool. Its presence is still quite impressive on screen. There’s even a throwback to the first film in a scene where Agar and Nelson are swimming as the Gillman follows under them, clawing in attempts to clasp upon the ankle of this female it wishes to take as a mate. Agar has been in some unflattering sci-fi, but his Jack Arnold joints are good examples of how he was used. Lots of corny B-movies came after the Arnold flicks, however. He’s a likable lead with a presence that is pleasant, although the use of the prod, shocking the Gillman when he’s uncooperative and hostile doesn’t exactly endear him to audiences of today. I found the sexual interest of the Gillman for Nelson a fascinating follow-up to the first film in how Julie Adams was the object of the creature’s affections.The Gillman is bound and determined to hold onto its prize, although lugging around Nelson for such a long time (it seems she remains "passed out from faint" for a long time) exhausts it, leading it to stop and start so that it can keep cool in the water...its footprints in the sand also does the Gillman no favors. Because the Gillman so desired Nelson, this leads to its downfall...the allure of woman not only affects humans but the Gillman as well.