I remember watching “Creature from the Black Lagoon” as a kid on television. It was just the one time, I was quite young, and I remember wondering if it was supposed to scare me.
Obviously, 30 years later I could be mixing up any number of times my Dad made me sit down to watch an old black and white movie with him, but I’m pretty sure in the final scene as the creature drifts down to the bottom of the lagoon, I just felt bad for him. The creature seemed more childlike than menacing, didn’t he? Again, I could be way off, and maybe I should just go back and give it a rewatch, but I don’t know — I’m content to let that faded moment be my “Black Lagoon” experience. Well, I mean, my experience with the original. Obviously we’re not referring to the creature’s return in the ever-brilliant “Monster Squad.” That’s a guaranteed planned rewatch if I can ever find the DVD they released a while back.
So where were we? Oh right… so, news is being kicked around about another Universal Monster remake starring our scaly friend, and it sounds like they want their lead woman to be the beautiful Scarlett Johansson. From tracking-Board.com:
Scarlett Johansson is Universal’s top choice to star in the CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON remake, and is being courted for the lead role.
Courting doesn’t mean a great deal, so in a lot of ways this is more news about the project moving forward than any solid casting announcement. But since the topic is being brought up, I have to say I almost like the idea.
I know the plan is to reestablish some Universal Monster movie universe where they can do cross-overs and all that, which means they’re probably going to set this in present day. From the article, it even sounds like they’re starting this whole movement with the lackluster “Dracula Untold.” That I don’t love. Instead, I think Johansson would be perfect for a classic 50’s or early 60’s setting. In fact, why not set this whole universe reboot idea back in the day? That would be amazing. And then after five or six films, cap it with another comedy duo running from the entire monster line-up.
I think it’s brilliant. At the very least it seems better than the alternative, which is we live in a world where Universal thinks “Dracula Untold” should be the building block for the future.