I tell ya, they don’t make films the way they used to! Now days, you think the bad guy’s dead at the end of the picture, and then there’s a sequel, and he’s alive again!

Remember the ending of Creature from the Black Lagoon in 1954? The creature died and that was the end of it! At least it was until 1955’s Revenge of the Creature.

But at least he died at the end of that! Until 1956’s The Creature Walks Among Us. But at least the creature doesn’t die at the end of that one!

And that set up the sequel! You know! The one that was never made.

End of a Trilogy

Universal Pictures released The Creature Walks Among Us on 26 April 1956.

It is arguably the best of the three although I really like all of them. They are all competently made, well-acted, and beautifully shot.

The Creature Walks Among Us is certainly better than the second film, which was really just a retelling of the first film in a different location. This one turns things around and shows that the real monsters are humans — at least some humans.

The first two films were directed by Jack Arnold. He directed a lot of great psychotronic films like It Came from Outer Space, Tarantula! and the Richard Matheson classic, The Incredible Shrinking Man. He went on to direct A-features like No Name on the Bullet and The Mouse That Roared before ending his career in television.

By the time of The Creature Walks Among Us, Arnold was too big for the B-features, so veteran assistant director John Sherwood was put in charge. Sherwood had been AD on No Name on the Bullet. After it, he directed The Monolith Monsters. And that was it. He worked on a couple more films as AD and then died at the age of 56 of pneumonia.

If you are any kind of fan at all, I highly recommend getting the Universal Studios’ Creature From the Black Lagoon: Complete Legacy Collection. It comes on 2 Blu-ray discs. There are commentary tracks for all the films, a 40-minute documentary, and some minor stuff. The first two films come in 3-D versions.

Other 26 April Anniversaries

Filmmakers:

• Tomoyuki Tanaka (1910-1997): Co-creator of Godzilla and the producer of the early films including the excellent Godzilla vs Hedorah.
• Jet Li (1963-): Actor in Romeo Must Die and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
• Kane (1967-): Wrestler and star of See No Evil.
• Brandon Slagle (1977-): Writer-director of films like Dead Sea and The Dawn.
• Jose Prendes (1979-): Writer-director of films like Blood Brothers and Evil Nun.
• Jordana Brewster (1980-): Actor in The Faculty and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.

Films:

• Mark of the Vampire (1935): Tod Browning’s fake vampire film with Lionel Barrymore and Bela Lugosi.
• The Snake Woman (1961): A woman born of a mother who is given snake venom behaves as a snake.
• Jason X (2002): Friday the 13th in space.
• Wicked Lake (2008): Four women are attacked by men but the women turn the tables at the stroke of midnight.
• Avenging Force: The Scarab (2010): Shockingly good micro-budget superhero film from Brett Kelly.
• The Late Night Double Feature (2014): 1950s parodies from Christopher R Mihm.
• I Trapped the Devil (2019): A man claims he has the devil imprisoned in his basement.

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The Creature Walks Among Us (1956) poster via Wikipedia under Fair use.