Cultural impact of Creature from the Black Lagoon

The extensive and persistent impact on media and popular culture of Creature from the Black Lagoon began even before it was seen in theaters. To publicize the release of the film in 1954, Ben Chapman, in costume, introduced the Creature to the public on live television in The Colgate Comedy Hour with Abbott and Costello.

Film influence

Many films featuring monsters put the Creature's likeness in the background as an homage. Its likeness was also used for the film The Monster Squad. However, due to licensing issues with Universal, the creature is referred to as "Gill-Man".

In the 1955 comedy The Seven Year Itch, Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell come out of a theater showing Creature from the Black Lagoon. Monroe expresses some sympathy for the Creature, saying that it was not really bad and "just wanted to be loved".

In the 1990 cult film Johnny In Monsterland, Johnny has a nightmare in a sequence where he "spawns" with a sea monster referred to as "the inverted mermaid". The "inverted mermaid" was a nude female wearing a Don Post Creature mask and hands.

Director William Winckler was inspired by the film when producing his 2005 black-and-white horror film Frankenstein vs. the Creature from Blood Cove. In the 90-minute retro monster movie, a bio-genetically engineered half-man, half-fish creature battles Frankenstein's monster on a beach and beneath the waves, with underwater photography reminiscent of the underwater shots in Creature from the Black Lagoon. A stuntman/diver wearing a full-body latex rubber costume was used to portray the Blood Cove creature on camera, not unlike Ben Chapman and Ricou Browning in costume in Creature from the Black Lagoon.

In The Nightmare Before Christmas, there is a character in Halloween Town who is clearly meant to be a version of the Gill-man. In one song, it ponders the contents of Jack's present: "Perhaps it's the head that I found in the lake".

The half-man, half-fish character known as The Missing Link (often referred to as "Link") in the film Monsters vs. Aliens is an homage to the Creature.

In Hotel Transylvania, there are multiple Gill-men in the crowd scenes with other famous monsters.

Television influence

In an episode of the classic TV series The Munsters, the Munster family receives a visit from "Uncle Gilbert" who proudly refers to himself as the "Creature from the Black Lagoon".

In the second-series episode of Blackadder, "Money", Edmund refers to Baldrick as "the Creature from the Black Latrine".

The TV series The A-Team had the team leader playing a monster called The Aquamaniac in several low-budget horror flicks. The Aquamaniac is an obvious homage to the Creature from the Black Lagoon, appearing near identical to the Creature.

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Go Fish" featured aquatic creatures very similar to the Gill-man.

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Animated Series parodied the film in "The Tomato from the Black Lagoon". In that episode, the gang looks for a missing-tomato-link in the San Zucchini Botanical Gardens, whilst they are stalked by an amphibious tomato that goes after Tara (who is also part tomato).

The creature has a brief cameo emerging from Lake Springfield on The Simpsons.

The Gill-man appeared in the Robot Chicken episode "Shoe", voiced by Seth Green. He tells a man that he prefers the lagoon to be called the "African-American Lagoon". It also appears in the Robot Chicken sketch "We Are a Humble Factory", now voiced by Breckin Meyer. Learning of the success of Count Chocula, FrankenBerry, and BooBerry, as well as Fruity Yummy Mummy and Fruit Brute, the creature decides to make his own cereal called "Creature with the Black Macaroons" because macaroon sounds like lagoon; however, the cereal wasn't successful and when all the cereals were dumped into his lagoon, he says "I should've gone with legumes", as legume also sounds like lagoon.

Musical references

Trinidadian calypso singer Lord Melody released a song called "Creature From The Black Lagoon" in 1957. In this song, he is compared to the creature by his son's friends, which his son protests. This song became one of his signature songs and also endured as a nickname for Melody for many years.

Dave Edmunds, with his band Rockpile, also performed a song called "Creature from the Black Lagoon". Edmunds' song, included in his 1979 album Repeat When Necessary, was written by Rockpile's lead guitarist Billy Bremner.

Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13, a band from North Carolina who were fronted by Murderdolls lead singer and solo artist Wednesday 13, also did a song about the creature, titling it "Creature from the Black Lagoon".

The heavy metal band Iced Earth also did a song about the creature called "Dragon's Child" on the Horror Show album.

WNC-based rock/blues band Pipapelli released Critter in 2012. The song "Black Lagoon", from that CD, is a ballad about life, love, and murder as seen through the creature's point of view. It is available at the link listed in the external links.

The Insane Clown Posse's song "The People" includes the line, "Chillin with the Creature from the Black Lagoon".

Other cultural influences

Creature from the Black Lagoon was made into a pinball game, designed by John Trudeau (aka "Dr. Flash") and released in 1992 by Midway under the Bally brand name. It has a retro 1950s drive-in theme. Completing side missions causes the screen to display "Universal Presents... Creature from the Black Lagoon", and then requires the player to chase after the monster, just like in the film. The game sold 7,841 units. Gill-man is also featured in the 1998 pinball game Monster Bash.

In the Stephen King novel It, the shape-shifting Pennywise the Clown pursues and kills a victim whilst in the form of the Gill-Man.

A series of children's books, written by Mike Thaler and Jared Lee, parody the film. Beginning with The Teacher from the Black Lagoon, it continued with The Principal from the Black Lagoon, The Gym Teacher from the Black Lagoon, and several others.

Abe Sapien of Hellboy fame was originally inspired by the film and its titular creature.

The Marvel Comics character Triton of the Inhumans is a green, water-breathing character resembling the Creature.

The DC Comics character Aquaman donned a suit of armor resembling the Creature in the 2005–2007 miniseries Justice.

Calvin (the Calvin and Hobbes protagonist) described his babysitter Rosalyn as the "creature from the black lagoon".

Though technically a merman, the character Rikuo in the Darkstalkers game series, and his race, bear a striking resemblance to the Gill-man. Perhaps more so than any other character in the game, he remains very true to the source character, as Rikuo is from an area in Brazil near the Amazon, and even the character's name is a reference to one of the actors who played the Creature.

The Monster High character, Lagoona Blue, is the daughter of the Gill-man.

The opening credits of the 2003 video game Tony Hawk's Underground feature a character known as T.H.U.D., which resembles and acts similar to the creature from the black lagoon. In the opening credits, the creature attacks Eric Sparrow (the game's main antagonist) and apparently kills him. It can also be unlocked as a playable character in free skate mode either by use of a cheat code or by completing the game's story mode on hard difficulty.

In October 2010, Funko released a 7-inch button-eyed cuddly version of the Creature.^[1]

The Mexican artist José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros created a gallery of images which mixed together various Disney characters and classic Hollywood creatures and villains from horror films. One of those images includes Gill-man and Disney's Ariel.^[2]

When paleontologist Jenny Clack of the University of Cambridge discovered a fossilized amphibian in what was once a fetid swamp, she named it Eucritta melanolimnetes, which is Greek for "the true creature from the black lagoon."^[3][4]

In the 2008 video game Fallout 3, the Mirelurk Kings bear a striking resemblance to the Creature.

References

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