{ "id": "epqda1fhee", "slug": "the-creature-walks-among-us", "title": "The Creature Walks Among Us", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series", "label": "Franchise and series entries as standalone works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.kaiju-monster-entries", "label": "Kaiju and giant-monster series film entries", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.kaiju-monster-entries" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Franchise and series entries as standalone works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series", "label": "Franchise and series entries as standalone works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The Creature Walks Among Us (1956) is Universal-International's third and final Gill Man film, directed by John Sherwood, in which scientists capture the creature and surgically turn him into an air-breathing land dweller; the only series entry not shot in 3-D.", "snippet": "The Creature Walks Among Us (1956) is Universal-International's third and final Gill Man film, directed by John Sherwood, in which scientists capture the creature and surgically turn him into an air-breathing land dweller; the only series entry not shot in 3-D.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.kaiju-monster-entries", "markdown": "# The Creature Walks Among Us\n\n**The Creature Walks Among Us** is a 1956 American black-and-white horror and science fiction film from Universal-International, the third and final entry in the [Creature from the Black Lagoon](https://www.edgepedia.org/creature-from-the-black-lagoon) series, in which scientists capture the amphibious Gill Man and transform him into an air-breathing land creature[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US). It was directed by John Sherwood, written by Arthur Ross, and produced by William Alland, with Jeff Morrow, Rex Reason, and Leigh Snowden in the leading human roles[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | April 1956; New York opening 26 April 1956[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US) |\n| Series position | Third and last of the Creature from the Black Lagoon films, and the only one not shot in the 3-D process[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US) |\n| Director | John Sherwood, in his directorial debut after years as a Universal-International assistant director[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US) |\n| Running time | 78 minutes, black and white, 8 reels[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US) |\n| Lead cast | Jeff Morrow (Dr. William Barton), Rex Reason (Dr. Thomas Morgan), Leigh Snowden (Marcia Barton), Gregg Palmer (Jed Grant)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US) |\n| The Gill Man | Ricou Browning in underwater scenes, Don Megowan on land[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US) |\n| Critical standing | 43% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 7 reviews; 30% audience score from 500+ ratings[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/creature_walks_among_us) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nDr. William Barton (Jeff Morrow) leads an expedition to capture the Gill Man, the half-man, half-fish creature of the Amazon's Black Lagoon. He is joined by his young wife Marcia (Leigh Snowden), geneticist Dr. Thomas Morgan (Rex Reason), biochemist Dr. Borg, lab technician Dr. Johnson, and guide Jed Grant (Gregg Palmer), who warns that the creature is too deadly to control even with their equipment and a new sedative called rotonol[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US). During the trip Grant repeatedly attempts to seduce Marcia, who spurns him[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US).\n\nBarton's plan is to mutate the Gill Man's blood to create a more advanced form of life better suited to life in space; Morgan objects that humans cannot bypass nature, only make it safer for humankind[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US). The Science Fiction Encyclopedia summarizes the premise as an exploitative scientist making money from the space program by building up the creature's red corpuscles and thereby altering his gene structure[3](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/creature_walks_among_us_the).\n\n**The transformation.** In the course of the capture the creature is doused with gasoline and set on fire, and is horribly burned[5](https://www.colorado.edu/gendersarchive1998-2013/2004/12/01/race-gender-and-terror-primitive-1950s-horror-films). After the burning he loses his gills and becomes an air-breather, compared in the film to an African lungfish that can survive dry conditions with an additional pair of lungs; he does not at first understand the change and must be restrained from entering the water[5](https://www.colorado.edu/gendersarchive1998-2013/2004/12/01/race-gender-and-terror-primitive-1950s-horror-films). According to Universal's synopsis, once the lengthy operation is over, Dr. Barton finds that the improvements he made medically have done nothing to enable the creature to function in daily life alongside people.[6](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/the-creature-walks-among-us)\n\nIn the second half of the film the creature is kept in a pen beside Barton's home compound, where he can watch the men and Marcia but not interact freely with them, and he is for the most part benign[5](https://www.colorado.edu/gendersarchive1998-2013/2004/12/01/race-gender-and-terror-primitive-1950s-horror-films). The film ends with the creature walking over a sandy dune toward the sea and the Pacific, but his gills are no longer operable, leaving no apparent chance of return to his watery world[7](https://cinemagraphe.com/the-creature-walks-among-us-1956.php). The open-ended close suggests Universal may have considered continuing the series after 1956, but no further film was made[7](https://cinemagraphe.com/the-creature-walks-among-us-1956.php).\n\n## Production\n\nThe film was produced by Universal-International Pictures and distributed by [Universal Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/universal-pictures), with photography by Maury Gertsman, editing by Edward Curtiss, and art direction by Alexander Golitzen and Robert E. Smith[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US). Production ran from late August to mid-September 1955, and according to an August 1955 Hollywood Reporter news item some scenes were shot on location in [Fort Myers, Florida](https://www.edgepedia.org/fort-myers-florida)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US). The copyright was registered by Universal Pictures on 1 February 1956 (LP5974)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US).\n\n**A new director.** The film marked the directorial debut of John Sherwood, a longtime Universal-International assistant director[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US). The Science Fiction Encyclopedia describes it as the second sequel to *The Creature from the Black Lagoon* (1954), following *[Revenge of the Creature](https://www.edgepedia.org/revenge-of-the-creature)* (1955), noting that it was not shot in 3-D and had a new director[3](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/creature_walks_among_us_the). Ricou Browning, who had performed the Gill Man's swimming in the first two films, returned for the underwater scenes, with Don Megowan playing the creature on land[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US) • [4](https://apnews.com/article/0b86e761bf99d4acf6cdf92e66f470cb).\n\n## Themes and interpretation\n\nUnlike the first two films, this installment begins not in the Amazon but with the creature hiding in the Florida Everglades, still alive after his supposed death at the end of the second film[5](https://www.colorado.edu/gendersarchive1998-2013/2004/12/01/race-gender-and-terror-primitive-1950s-horror-films). A scholarly reading in the journal *Genders* argues that the Gill Man, as a half-human, half-fish hybrid, functions as a symbol of racial indeterminacy, and that the burning and transformation stage a violent passage toward whiteness: the creature can now \"walk among us,\" but only within confined spaces determined by the white characters, and the film undercuts any positive message of assimilation by portraying the human society he enters as fractious[5](https://www.colorado.edu/gendersarchive1998-2013/2004/12/01/race-gender-and-terror-primitive-1950s-horror-films).\n\nThe melodrama among the humans carries much of the story. Critics have noted that the film is as much about a toxic marriage between Bill and Marcia Barton as about the monster[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/creature_walks_among_us), and the synopsis gives Marcia's confided regret, that she married Bill as a teenager and now finds it too late to live the life she wants, a central place[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US).\n\n## Reception and legacy\n\nContemporary trade papers including Daily Variety, Film Daily, [Variety](https://www.edgepedia.org/variety-magazine), and The New York Times reviewed or listed the film in March and April 1956[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US). On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds 43% among seven critics and 30% among audiences[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/creature_walks_among_us). Reviewers there and elsewhere divide over the same points: some find the changed premise, in which the monster is captured and experimented on rather than simply encountered, the most interesting of the series[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/creature_walks_among_us), while others object that the surgically altered, clothed creature is barely the same monster and far less frightening than in his original form[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/creature_walks_among_us). The *Genders* essay calls it the most critically maligned film of the Creature series[5](https://www.colorado.edu/gendersarchive1998-2013/2004/12/01/race-gender-and-terror-primitive-1950s-horror-films).\n\nThe film was released on home video by Universal Home Entertainment on 22 July 1997[8](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Creature-Walks-Among-Us-The-%281956%29) and is currently available for digital purchase or rental, including in the *Creature from the Black Lagoon: Complete Legacy Collection* on Blu-ray and DVD[6](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/the-creature-walks-among-us).\n\n## References\n\n1. [The Creature Walks Among Us (1956), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51792-THE-CREATURE-WALKS-AMONG-US)\n2. [The Creature Walks Among Us, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/creature_walks_among_us)\n3. [Creature Walks Among Us, The, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/creature_walks_among_us_the)\n4. [\"Creature from the Black Lagoon\" actor Ricou Browning dies, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/0b86e761bf99d4acf6cdf92e66f470cb)\n5. [Race, Gender and Terror: The Primitive in 1950s Horror Films, Genders (University of Colorado Boulder)](https://www.colorado.edu/gendersarchive1998-2013/2004/12/01/race-gender-and-terror-primitive-1950s-horror-films)\n6. [The Creature Walks Among Us, Universal Pictures At Home](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/the-creature-walks-among-us)\n7. [The Creature Walks Among Us, 1956, Cinemagraphe](https://cinemagraphe.com/the-creature-walks-among-us-1956.php)\n8. [The Creature Walks Among Us (1956), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Creature-Walks-Among-Us-The-%281956%29)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Franchise and series entries as standalone works › Kaiju and giant-monster series film entries*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-creature-walks-among-us", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-creature-walks-among-us.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The Creature Walks Among Us\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-creature-walks-among-us. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Creature Walks Among Us](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-creature-walks-among-us)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-creature-walks-among-us](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-creature-walks-among-us). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Creature Walks Among Us\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-creature-walks-among-us. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Creature Walks Among Us is Universal-International's third and final Gill Man film, directed by John Sherwood, in which scientists capture the creature and surgically turn him into an air-breathing land dweller; the only series entry not shot in 3-D." }