New Director Taking Us Back to the Black Lagoon
by Ben Bussey
It’s been known for a good long time that a remake of The Creature From The Black Lagoon has been in the works. A while back it was set to team up the fabulous (unrelated) Del Toro boys, Guillermo and Benicio. But whether the director moving on to Hellboy and The Hobbit, and the actor taking on The Wolfman instead, that particular partnership never came to light. Most recently Breck Eisner has been set to helm the new take on the Gillman, and as one of the dozen or so people who actually really liked Sahara I had hopes that could work. But again, Eisner moved on to – sign of the times – another remake, this time Romero’s The Crazies, which judging by the trailer might not be a total loss… but time will tell.
Anyway – now stepping up to the helm of the Creature From The Black Lagoon is Carl Rinsch, the guy most famous for not being the director of the upcoming Alien prequel (i.e., Ridley Scott put him forward for the job before deciding to go back into space himself). His TV ad work is well regarded, and certainly sets him up as a more than capable visual stylist; plenty of damn good filmmakers have come from similar beginnings. Perhaps a remake of a 50′s monster movie might not seem the most auspicious feature debut, but speaking for myself I’m keen to see what he can do with the Creature, mainly because I just want to see the Creature back on the big screen.
What does that say about me, that I’m excited about this and the new Wolf Man and Clash Of The Titans, yet I bemoan pretty much every 70′s/80′s horror rehash? Is it a double standard? Or is it the sense that these old school, mythic monsters have a timeless quality that not only sets the originals apart but also screams for generational reinvention, whereas the likes of Leatherface, Michael Myers and co were simply products of their time? Discuss…
Source: LA Times
