It’s hard to believe that the Creature from the Black Lagoon is such a great classic of its genre, except maybe for the title which so perfectly states sci-fi schlock-horror, or perhaps because it was so much better than its two sequels. The monster is hopelessly and obviously a man in a rubber suit and it’s extraordinary that it scared anyone. There is one moment of majesty, when the monster swims face-up under the water, in sync with the girl it admires swimming on the surface, but mostly it is dross. Richard Carlson tries hard and Julia Adams was too good for this, but you just can’t get past the stupidity of the characters, nor the piss weak ending in which its all solved simply by swimming down and shooting it with a spear-gun. A Murray Cod would have been just as threatening.