Creature from the Black Lagoon
Anybody remember the guy above? Now, I never saw that movie. I’ve only seen the original Frankenstein, so I’m not even close to an expert on what I’m about to talk about. I think. Let’s just say I noticed something.
Whatever happened to the other classic monsters? The Mummy got a little revival as an action movie series, but look at the rest. Frankenstein’s Monster gets supporting cast most times and it’s rare that they get the name right. God only knows what happened to his Bride. The Creature from the Black Lagoon is a faded memory. Witches show up as magical sexiness due to Charmed. Where is the Invisible Man? It seems everything is vampire, werewolf, zombie, and the occasional ghost.
Again, I never got to see the originals, but I know of them. Maybe this is stemming from watching a lot of Supernatural where they take obscure demons and monsters. It really shows that there is a vast array of creatures out there. Yet, we keep cycling through the same ones. I’m not saying we should toss them aside. I love the popular ones as long as they’re done respectfully and well. Though, I don’t think zombies and ghosts have had to worry about much here. Vampires and werewolves have gotten bastardized, which could be a sign that the other monsters are lucky they aren’t popular.
This does bring up a question on if everything has the ability to be revisited. Can you do a Creature from the Black Lagoon today and have success? He was rather campy and people don’t worry about swamps as much as they used to. Guess you could move him into a resort and make him a species instead of a solitary. Still, would people ever be interested in something from way back? Makes me wonder why the big four I mentioned have survived for so long. They do appear to be more flexible in origin. Mummies tend to be stuck with Egypt and the Creature is water-based (Oooooh, connect him to the Marianas Trench or overfishing in his territory!). Could be they’re not sexy enough, which is odd for monsters.
So, what do people think of the lost classic monsters? Anybody ever see them and have fond memories? Does the Blob count?
Legends of Windemere 
If someone were to make another movie with one of the characters you named, and it did well financially, then you would see countless movies starring them for a decade. Until someone does that, they will remain on the classics list.
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Sad, but true.
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If they remade “Creature From The Black Lagoon” today they’d have to add some kind of pro-ecology message to it and you’d end up with a live action Fern Gully. The original is well worth tracking down, it’s a classic for a reason, slow by modern standards, but very atmospheric.
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I like Fern Gully, but I fully agree. They’d make it something about toxic dumping or climate change. Take some of the fun out of it.
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Thanks for this! Ah, the memories. I had all the models of the classic monsters, including the CFTBL. Boy, was it fun to put those together while imagining horrible scenarios or waiting for the late late show. (I also subscribed to “Famous Monsters of Filmland.” That’s right. I was a monster nerd.)
Oddly enough, a lot of those classic monsters were misunderstood in some way or other. It’s not that they were inherently evil.
Kinda makes you think, huh?
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I remember discussing that in a film class. There was a lot of misunderstanding or they were angered by something done to them. In some ways, the ‘heroes’ brought things on themselves.
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I saw all the movies mentioned. Yes the blob counts although even then it looked cheap. How about “War of the Worlds,” made in the fifties. Talk about mid-century classic, In today’s high def world even the remakes would never go. War of the Worlds was remade but cam out over done. Anyway good post. Thanks for the memories.
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I’ve only seen the Tom Cruise one and I felt I was missing something from the original. I think the greatest thing about War of the Worlds is what happened with the radio broadcast. That really shows the power of fiction and human imagination.
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agreed
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I love classic monsters. I have a whole collection of classics I watch every Halloween. Despite their campy feel, I think they’ll always be around. How many Frankenstein remakes have I sat through? And Dracula? Gosh, it’s been redone so many times. I love these movies! You know, there’s really nothing better than to sit through a dark and stormy night depicted in black and white! So atmospheric!
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Dracula gets the worst treatment. Poor guy gets so little respect. I’m saying this as I try to remember when the TV miniseries or movie is supposed to air this month. With my luck, I missed it.
The black and white definitely brings in a unique level of creepiness to these. I think with color, you can see so much and get distracted. In black and white, you can’t be sure if a shadow is a shadow or something coming.
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These creatures, including the Blob, do bring back fond memories. Watching them in light of today’s hi-tech special effects makes them look cheesy, which in many cases they were. Their budgets were small and the characters were exaggerated, but that is why I find them so fun to watch. I don’t know that you could redo some of these obscure creatures without adding excessive amounts of gore to attract the younger crowd. It seems as though today, much of what people look for in horror movies is lots and lots of blood and gory portrayals of death. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy these as well, but there are some characters that just wouldn’t make today. Some of them must be relegated to live forever in their “B” movie state. Great post Charles, thanks for the memories.
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Good point. Today it is a lot about gore, but people seem to prefer the scary. These movies were all about atmosphere and suspense, which is why I think they hold up to this day.
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I think I had watched The Blob a dozen times. I’m exagerrating , of course, lol. I loved the movie house scene.
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That scene is so iconic. 🙂
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You could totally rock a swamp monster in the 21st century. You just have to make him a teen swamp monster in love with a vampire who is in love with a werewolf and he better shparkle when he is in the shun.
Seriously, I have wondered this many times. I have been liking these books where the main character is based off of a historical monster, like Dracula or Frankie. But I see no reason why it could not just as easily be a hobgoblin or a will’o’the’whisp. I say if you write a good story around it–it can be anything.
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The shparkling is photosynthesis. 🙂
I didn’t even consider the folklore creatures, which would be great. There’s so much you can work with. Supernatural does it at times, but that’s TV and they went more demon/angel at some point. Still, it gives me a good ghost and monster hit when I need it.
I really want a hobgoblin story now.
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Me too..We should write one
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Can we have kobolds too?
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I have seen some of the originals, as well as some of the Abbot and Costello riffs on the classics (which are themselves fantastic), and while they’re slower and less ‘scary’ (no jump-scares, thank heavens), they’re incredible – story-wise, but also for what they accomplish (Wolfman: all that hair on his face was applied one ‘follicle/tiny grouping’ at a time to achieve the morphing effect). I might be biased though too, because I chose ‘cult classic’ as my Halloween theme this year. That guy up there has his own dip for the buffet!
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Halloween has some great party themes.
The jump-scare seems to be abused over the years. It’s been used to replace suspense. I wonder if people have become harder to scare or filmmakers are using it like a new toy. It becomes rather easy to see because of the music or the camera focusing on something.
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It may be so because the vampires and werewolves(when they are in human form) have identical features to any person. Thus, it becomes easy to bring them out as dark, mysterious, sensual and beautiful creatures. Vampires don’t have to be worked on much, in that regard because succubus and incubus are supposed to be alluring.
As for the mummies and water monsters, they can be just scary… mummy is all wrapped in toilet paper(a side remark) and the water demons are all wrinkly and shaggy due to overexposure to water.
I know I am being silly… but the zombies are also turned into romantic creatures. Therefore, I can be silly. Right!?
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I still have to see Warm Bodies. I heard good things about it.
The recent Mummy (to some extent) did a good job in respect to making the Mummy human. I liked how he eventually took on a non-decaying form.
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