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 Gill-Man to the public on live television in The Colgate Comedy Hour with Abbott and Costello.

Film influence
  • Many films featuring monsters put the Gill-Man's likeness in the background as an homage. Its likeness was also used for the film The Monster Squad.[1] However, due to licensing issues with Universal, the Creature is referred to as the 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 Gill-Man, saying that it was not really bad and that it "just wanted to be loved".[2]
  • The Gill-man reappears in Fred Dekker’s The Monster Squad, where it shows little interest in human females as opposed to its classic counterpart. Instead, it allies itself with Count Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the Mummy and the Wolfman in order to secure a magical amulet which will allow them to conquer the world. After snapping the necks of several policemen, the Gill-man is killed by Monster Squad member Horace, who shoots it with a shotgun. For its appearance in The Monster Squad, the Gill-man was redesigned by Stan Winston in order to merely suggest Milicent Patrick’s original design, due to licensing issues. The Gill-man was the first costume portrayal of Tom Woodruff, Jr. who would later work prominently in the Alien film series.[3]
  • 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.
  • The 2017 film The Shape of Water is a romantic fantasy between a mute woman and an amphibious creature (performed by Doug Jones) from South America. Director Guillermo del Toro was inspired to make the film from childhood memories of seeing the Julia Adams swimming scene in Creature from the Black Lagoon and hoping the creature would get with the girl.[4]

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".[5]
  • The TV series I'll Be Gone in the Dark repeatedly references the swimming scene from the film.[6]
  • Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Animated Series parodied the film in "The Tomato from the Black Lagoon". In this 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 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 appearing as generic monster who are also jealous of the threesome having their own cereal, the Gill-Man decides to make his own cereal called "Creature with the Black Macaroons" because "macaroon" sounds like "lagoon" and are said to turn milk black. However, the cereal was not successful. When all the cereal were dumped into his lagoon, he says "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 Gill-Man 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.

Other cultural influences
1962 magazine cover depicting the Gill-Man
  • Creature from the Black Lagoon was made into a pinball game, designed by John Trudreau (a.k.a. "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. The Gill-Man is also featured in the 1998 pinball game Monster Bash.
  • A monster resembling the Gill-man appears in the Jonny Quest episode "The Sea Haunt".
  • 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.[7]
  • The Gill-man's appearance was used for the Swamp Creature in Lego Monster Fighters. The character is also one of the Master Builders in The Lego Movie (2014), while both an evil version of the character appears among the inmates of the Phantom Zone in The Lego Batman Movie (2016).
  • A creature which closely resembles the Gill-man appears as one of the candidates fighting at Villain-Con to become Scarlet Overkill's new henchman in the 2015 animated movie Minions. The creature's name is Frankie Fishlips and is voiced by Andy Nyman.
  • The Monster High character Lagoona Blue is the daughter of the Gill-Man.
  • In October 2010, Funko released a seven-inch, button-eyed, cuddly version of the Gill-Man.[13]
  • 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 the Gill-man and Disney's Ariel.[14]
  • In the spin-off comic of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen featuring Captain Nemo II, the heroes face off against a clone army of Hitler and Ayesha look-alikes while also contending with Gill-men.
  • At the very end of Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School, a character who appears to be Gill-man (though colored orange instead of green, presumably for copyright reasons) is briefly seen with his daughter, alongside an unnamed alien and Godzilla (as a giant foot) together with their respective daughters.

References
  1. Navarro, Meagan (5 March 2019). "The Enduring Terror of the Gill Man: 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' Turns 65". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  2. Lambie, Ryan (16 January 2020). "Whatever Happened to John Carpenter's Creature From The Black Lagoon?". Den of Geek. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  3. Jody Duncan and James Cameron (2007). The Winston Effect: The Art and History of Stan Winston Studio. ISBN 1-84576-150-2.
  4. http://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3457493/iconic-horror-movie-scene-inspired-shape-water/
  5. Hutchinson, Sam (28 April 2020). "Horror Icons: 10 Things You Need To Know About The Creature From The Black Lagoon". Screen Rant. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  6. Gajanan, Mahita (28 June 2020). "I'll Be Gone In the Dark: Inside HBO Michelle McNamara Doc". Time. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  7. Hutchinson, Sam (28 April 2020). "Horror Icons: 10 Things You Need To Know About The Creature From The Black Lagoon". Screen Rant. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  8. "Monsterex", in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Universe Sourcebook (vol. 1) pg. 56.
  9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Special #3: "The Night of Monsterex" (1992)
  10. Mark Pellegrini (Winter 1992). "The Night of Monsterex". TMNT Entity. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  11. Mark Pellegrini (Winter 1993). "The Return of Monsterex". TMNT Entity. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  12. Mark Pellegrini (Winter 1992). "The Night of Monsterex". TMNT Entity. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  13. "Universal monsters get cuddly." DreadCentral.
  14. Disney Characters Meet Freddy, Michael, and Even the Creature From the Black Lagoon!
  15. Clack, Jennifer A. "A new Early Carboniferous tetrapod with a mélange of crown-group characters." Nature, Volume 394, Issue 6688, July 1998, pp. 66–69.
  16. Clack, Jennifer A. " 'Eucritta melanolimnetes' from the Early Carboniferous of Scotland, a stem tetrapod showing a mosaic of characteristics." Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, Volume 92, Issue 1, March 2001, pp. 75–95.
  17. Barkan, Jonathan. "Universal's Classic Monsters and Video Games That Featured Them". Dread Central. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
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