We hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween! To cap our series on Universal Monster Movies, we're taking a look at the last really iconic horror creation the studio produced, The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

After partial, fossilized remains of a strange, human-like amphibious creature are found in a remote Amazonian location, a small team of researchers is dispatched to try and find the rest of the remains in hopes of it leading to a scientific breakthrough. Shortly after their arrival, however, they begin to be terrorized by a still-living creature that appears to be from the same species as the remains.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon was released in 1954, blurring the line between the iconic monster movies of the 30s and 40s, and the sci-fi horror pictures that were in vogue throughout the 50s. Regardless of the semantic debate on whether this is a monster movie or sci-fi, there's no doubting that the creature itself is absolutely one of the signature Universal Monsters, a pop culture icon that remains immediately recognizable more than six decades after its release. The film was directed by Jack Arnold, one of that era's finest genre filmmakers, and perhaps the single most important figure in 1950s sci-fi cinema.

Please send letters and get well cards to Riccou Browning (the underwater Gill-man/creature) at:

Riccou Browning

5221 SW 196 Lane

Southwest Ranches, FL 33332