Creature 1080p Blu-ray Movie Download
Hebe Newnam
All aboard! The combined spirits of H.P. Lovecraft, early Sam Raimi and Mystery Science Theater 3000 inhabit this action-packed tale of nautical derring-do and monster mayhem - winner of the Audience Award for Best International Feature at the 2019 Fantasia Film Festival. On the shores of Lake Michigan, the eccentric Captain Seafield (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, who also writes and directs) enlists a colourful crew of misfits in a bid to slay the hellish sea monster that prowls the murky depths. But as Seafield's obsession with exacting revenge on the creature that killed his father threatens to consume him, can weapons expert Sean Shaughnessy (Erick West), sonar whiz Nedge Pepsi (Beulah Peters) and former N.A.V.Y. - Nautical Athletes and Adventure Yunit - officer Dick Flynn (Daniel Long) hold the show together? Shot in gloriously retro black and white on a shoestring budget, with most of the cast also performing multiple roles behind the camera, Lake Michigan Monster is an inventive, irreverent and riotously entertaining ode to the classic monster movies of yesteryear: an absurdist urban legend guaranteed to appeal to the big kid in all of us.
On the subject of the Yeti, while the costume itself is well-made and frightening on its own, I think the camerawork further enhances the creature. There are a few flashback scenes filmed in black-and-white that, given the white and neutral tone of the costume, make the Yeti look almost invisible as it sneaks on its next victim. However, the camera also felt like a helpful tool to emphasize the ferocious nature of the beast, especially with the way it would shake during the attack scenes.
Finding Titan: The Making of Creature (2022, 21 minutes) catches up with a number of cast members who share their memories of the production. Lyman Ward and Stan Iver appear via video conference while Diane Salinger, Marie Laurin and creature coordinator/miniature artist Doug Beswick all appear in person. A wide range of topics, including the casting process, filming in the extreme heat, the special effects and praise for director Malone are covered and everyone remembers the film fondly.
Loosely adapted from the short story by Fyodor Dostoevsky, the film concerns the 'gentle creature' of the title, played by Vasilina Makovtseva. A parcel sent to her imprisoned husband is returned undelivered, prompting her to travel from her rural home to the remote region in Siberia where he is being held in the hope of an explanation. But this seemingly simple task becomes an infinitely difficult challenge taking on Kafkaesque proportions.
The Creature From the Black Lagoon may seem more cliché today than it did in 1954; so many movies have borrowed from this source that it's hard not to snicker while watching it. But downshift your disbelief, turn up your camp receptors a few notches, and you'll thoroughly enjoy this film. Unlike most other 3-D pictures of its era, it is mercifully low on "throwing stuff at the audience" sequences, though seeing the film in stereo certainly adds to the not-inconsiderable beauty of the film's underwater sequences (and watch out for the plaster cast of the creature's claw!). Richard Carlson is a better-than-average hero, Julia Adams is a superior damsel in distress (in a damp swimming suit), Jack Arnold keeps the story moving nicely and lays on plenty of mysterious undercurrent, and Universal Pictures knew how to make a monster when they put their mind to it. If the Creature isn't as immediately memorable as Frankenstein's monster or the Wolf Man (who were both near the end of their run when this movie was made), he easily beats out the dozens of aquatic beasts that later slithered onto drive-in screens. In an imaginative suit designed by Bud Westmore, diver Ricou Browning made the Gill-Man a graceful force to be reckoned with in the water, and Ben Chapman was even more powerful (if less mysterious) when he played the Creature on land. The Creature From the Black Lagoon was one of the last worthwhile monster movies from Universal, the studio that most enthusiastically embraced the horror genre in the 1930s and '40s, and, even if one can tell at times that this is a past-prime horror flick, it has enough craft and high spirits to serve as a potent reminder of just how strong even their second-string stuff could be.
Fimple and Carson are a serviceable odd couple and do their best as the snoops looking for answers (and with the script) as the duo gets more and more dangerously close to their quarry. The quarry in this case is a fairly well-designed Bigfoot (more Skunk Ape in this part of the world) and when the creature is seen on camera, is convincing enough.
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