What do you think?
Rate this book
Creature from the Black Lagoon
First U.S. publication of the novelization - an enhanced version of the original novel - of the 1954 classic film, Creature From the Black Lagoon.
Written by Vargo Statten (aka John Russell Fearn).
Previously and originally published in 1954 and only in the UK.
This book contains:
1. The original novel
2. The addition of stills from the film
3. A new introduction by David J. Schow
4. A new cover by Bob Eggleton
5. A new afterword by Philip Harbottle
Synopsis:
A small expedition travelling up a remote Amazon river captures a strange prehistoric beast, "a living amphibious missing link," who lurks in the depths of the Amazonian jungle. A group of scientists drug the lonely creature, who becomes enamored with the head scientist's fiancée and assistant, Kay Lawrence. It then breaks free to wreak havoc on the team, kidnaps the bathing beauty, and escapes into the Amazon. David Reed, Chief scientist, launches a crusade to rescue Kay and cast the ominous creature back to the depths from where it came. The jungle turns from exotic to treacherous when the creature blocks their passage and strands them in the wilds.
Written by Vargo Statten (aka John Russell Fearn).
Previously and originally published in 1954 and only in the UK.
This book contains:
1. The original novel
2. The addition of stills from the film
3. A new introduction by David J. Schow
4. A new cover by Bob Eggleton
5. A new afterword by Philip Harbottle
Synopsis:
A small expedition travelling up a remote Amazon river captures a strange prehistoric beast, "a living amphibious missing link," who lurks in the depths of the Amazonian jungle. A group of scientists drug the lonely creature, who becomes enamored with the head scientist's fiancée and assistant, Kay Lawrence. It then breaks free to wreak havoc on the team, kidnaps the bathing beauty, and escapes into the Amazon. David Reed, Chief scientist, launches a crusade to rescue Kay and cast the ominous creature back to the depths from where it came. The jungle turns from exotic to treacherous when the creature blocks their passage and strands them in the wilds.
- GenresHorrorScience Fiction
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1954
3 people are currently reading
116 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 28, 2017
I bought this because of the ten year old me, still there, screaming about how the Creature is his favorite. The intro from David Schow is great and so are the beautiful collection of stills from the film. the novelization itself is, frankly, bad. As sexist and other-ists as the film is, the novelization is so much worse, almost un-readably so. And there's a ludicrous addition (not in the film) to an early scene that would preclude anyone with a brain from going into the water.
But. Creature! And, ultimately, I bought it because it's signed by Julie Adams and the dude who played the Creature when underwater. So I'm a happy ten year old again.
But. Creature! And, ultimately, I bought it because it's signed by Julie Adams and the dude who played the Creature when underwater. So I'm a happy ten year old again.
March 15, 2017
Like the Gill Man himself, this novel by J.R. Fearn (under the pseudonym Vargo Statten) is a fascinating relic from the past unearthed for the world to enjoy. It is overall a much better book than the insultingly terrible and frankly pathetic later effort by Walter Harris under the pseudonym "Carl Dreadstone."
Spanish geologist Dr. Carl Maia is undertaking a dig in the Amazon. His foreman Luís comes to tell him that another one of the crew, Tomás, has found a fossilized arm with a webbed hand embedded in a rock wall the men were excavating. Maia enthuses that in life, the apparently half human, half fish creature must've been a powerful and vicious killer. After removing the arm from the ground, Maia decides to take it to show to some colleagues of his at the Brazilian Instituto de Biologia Maritima (hereafter just referred to as "The Institute"). He leaves Luís and Tomás to guard the camp.
At the Institute, Maia meets his old American friends ichthyologist David Reed and Kay Lawrence. We're also introduced to some other scientists when a meeting is convened to discuss the fossil, including the head of the Institute, Dr. Mark Williams (why an American is the head of a Brazilian facility is not explained). Mark has some bumpy history with David and Kay. He got Kay her job at the institute, and apparently there used to be something between them, but there isn't anymore. Now she is (more or less) with David. However, she still feels some obligations towards Mark because of him helping her with her career. Everybody is just so excited about the fossil, and an expedition is immediately undertaken to return to the Amazon and dig up the rest of the skeleton.
Meanwhile, back at Dr. Maia's camp, evil things are afoot. A living version of the fossilized remains Maia's men found emerges from the nearby river and enters the tent. Luís tries to attack it with a thrown lantern, but the creature deflects his blow and promptly slams him down to the ground, crushing his bones. Then it turns and does the same thing with Tomás, before rampaging through the camp, trashing everything, and then returning to the water.
Meanwhile, we find David, Kay, Mark, Dr. Maia and another American (?) scientist from the Institute named Dr. Thompson aboard a boat called the Rita, commanded by salty old sea dog Captain Lucas, headed up the Amazon River. They arrive at Maia's camp to find Luís and Tomás' bodies, but conclude that a jaguar killed them. While they bury them, Kay wanders over by the river, where the "gill-man" from earlier sees her and becomes infatuated, even reaching a webbed hand out to touch her leg - just as David calls her over to tell her they've finished laying Luís and Tomás to rest.
With the burial out of the way, they set to work, but can't find any more fossilized gill-man remains. It's theorized that hundreds of years ago, part of the rock wall fell into the nearby river. Instead of checking that, they immediately leap to the conclusion that the fossils got carried downriver and emptied into a lagoon which Lucas tells them is called the Black Lagoon. He says it's a "paradise," but nobody has ever returned alive to prove it. Everyone decides going to such a place is the greatest idea in the whole wide world, and, hopping aboard the Rita, they head off thattaway. The gill-man, still with a hankerin' for some human woman, begins following the ship....
Fearn's book is a bit on the lean side, but it's faithful to the film and even expands on it in some places, such as adding a scene where David and Mark have to fight a giant man-eating tree underwater (!). The writing style is a little odd since Fearn sometimes changes scenes mid-paragraph, but once you get used to the flow, it's easy to read. In any event it's nice to have a novelization of this movie with all the characters named correctly, and although I find it odd Fearn changed Lucas and Maia's races (in the movie, Maia is Brazilian and Lucas is apparently supposed to be Venezuelan), the fact they and Thompson don't die horrific deaths as they do in Harris' version is definitely nice.
The book recently got reprinted with a lot of added material including a photo section, an introduction discussing the book's origins and novelizations in general (wherein Harris' book is mentioned and rightfully derided), and an afterward discussing Fearn and how he wrote the gill-man, giving him motivation (in particular, he almost never attacks unprovoked, and pretty much everything he does stems from Luís attacking him in the tent - his first encounter with modern humanity didn't go so well). It comes in both a hardcover and paperback version.
Spanish geologist Dr. Carl Maia is undertaking a dig in the Amazon. His foreman Luís comes to tell him that another one of the crew, Tomás, has found a fossilized arm with a webbed hand embedded in a rock wall the men were excavating. Maia enthuses that in life, the apparently half human, half fish creature must've been a powerful and vicious killer. After removing the arm from the ground, Maia decides to take it to show to some colleagues of his at the Brazilian Instituto de Biologia Maritima (hereafter just referred to as "The Institute"). He leaves Luís and Tomás to guard the camp.
At the Institute, Maia meets his old American friends ichthyologist David Reed and Kay Lawrence. We're also introduced to some other scientists when a meeting is convened to discuss the fossil, including the head of the Institute, Dr. Mark Williams (why an American is the head of a Brazilian facility is not explained). Mark has some bumpy history with David and Kay. He got Kay her job at the institute, and apparently there used to be something between them, but there isn't anymore. Now she is (more or less) with David. However, she still feels some obligations towards Mark because of him helping her with her career. Everybody is just so excited about the fossil, and an expedition is immediately undertaken to return to the Amazon and dig up the rest of the skeleton.
Meanwhile, back at Dr. Maia's camp, evil things are afoot. A living version of the fossilized remains Maia's men found emerges from the nearby river and enters the tent. Luís tries to attack it with a thrown lantern, but the creature deflects his blow and promptly slams him down to the ground, crushing his bones. Then it turns and does the same thing with Tomás, before rampaging through the camp, trashing everything, and then returning to the water.
Meanwhile, we find David, Kay, Mark, Dr. Maia and another American (?) scientist from the Institute named Dr. Thompson aboard a boat called the Rita, commanded by salty old sea dog Captain Lucas, headed up the Amazon River. They arrive at Maia's camp to find Luís and Tomás' bodies, but conclude that a jaguar killed them. While they bury them, Kay wanders over by the river, where the "gill-man" from earlier sees her and becomes infatuated, even reaching a webbed hand out to touch her leg - just as David calls her over to tell her they've finished laying Luís and Tomás to rest.
With the burial out of the way, they set to work, but can't find any more fossilized gill-man remains. It's theorized that hundreds of years ago, part of the rock wall fell into the nearby river. Instead of checking that, they immediately leap to the conclusion that the fossils got carried downriver and emptied into a lagoon which Lucas tells them is called the Black Lagoon. He says it's a "paradise," but nobody has ever returned alive to prove it. Everyone decides going to such a place is the greatest idea in the whole wide world, and, hopping aboard the Rita, they head off thattaway. The gill-man, still with a hankerin' for some human woman, begins following the ship....
Fearn's book is a bit on the lean side, but it's faithful to the film and even expands on it in some places, such as adding a scene where David and Mark have to fight a giant man-eating tree underwater (!). The writing style is a little odd since Fearn sometimes changes scenes mid-paragraph, but once you get used to the flow, it's easy to read. In any event it's nice to have a novelization of this movie with all the characters named correctly, and although I find it odd Fearn changed Lucas and Maia's races (in the movie, Maia is Brazilian and Lucas is apparently supposed to be Venezuelan), the fact they and Thompson don't die horrific deaths as they do in Harris' version is definitely nice.
The book recently got reprinted with a lot of added material including a photo section, an introduction discussing the book's origins and novelizations in general (wherein Harris' book is mentioned and rightfully derided), and an afterward discussing Fearn and how he wrote the gill-man, giving him motivation (in particular, he almost never attacks unprovoked, and pretty much everything he does stems from Luís attacking him in the tent - his first encounter with modern humanity didn't go so well). It comes in both a hardcover and paperback version.
March 5, 2015
When marine paleontologist Dr. Carl Maia’s expedition into the Amazon rain forest discovers a unique fossil, which looks like a webbed hand, he asks for a full expedition to the area by his colleagues at the Morajo Institute of Marine Biology. He is joined by the institute’s money-conscious director, Mark Williams, ichthyologist David Reed, research biologist Kay Lawrence, and Dr. Thompson, whose specialty is not obvious. They engage Captain Lucas and his river boat, the Rita, complete with crew.
Back at Dr. Maia’s base camp, the expedition is shocked to discover that the guards have been killed, apparently savaged by a wild beast. There’s no sign of the animal itself, and it does not seem to be around while they look for fossils. Coming up empty, they decide to head down the nearby branch river, which the natives claim runs into a place called “the Black Lagoon.” It’s supposedly a place from which no man returns.
As it turns out, there’s a bit of truth to that story. For within the Black Lagoon lurks a creature, a surviving member of a species from the Devonian era. And it’s not fond of visitors….
The 1954 movie Creature from the Black Lagoon was a huge hit for Universal Pictures, spawning two sequels, the last of their monster franchises. For the movie’s international debut in Britain, they hired Vargo Statten (pen name of John Russell Fearn) to write a novelization. Unlike other novelizations, which generally have to work off an early script, Mr. Fearn was able to use the finished product, making the book very faithful to the film. The book was considered a superior example of the type, and has become a collector’s item, running in the thousands of dollars.
This is the first American reprint, and Dreamhaven Books has done it up well, with a new cover, an introduction explaining the background of the film and book, many movie stills and production photos, and a biography of Vargo Statten.
The actual reprint part is relatively slim, as was the custom for paperbacks of the time, and sticks very closely to the movie with additional dialogue. The plot works well enough, but you shouldn’t think about the science too hard. Many of the scenes are cinematic in nature, and at times the reader will need to pay close attention to follow the action.
The book shares with the movie a heavy dose of Fifties sexism and gender politics. It’s suggested to Kay, for example, that “science” and “feminine” are contradictory personality traits. She’s constantly being told that things are too dangerous/tough/frightening for a woman. And Kay seems to enjoy two handsome fellows quarreling over her.
Meanwhile, Dr. Williams and Dr. Reed suffer from toxic masculinity; fighting over Kay’s affections, competing over what to do about the creature, and rushing to the attack when running away would have been wiser. Dr. Williams uses his position as Kay’s boss to pressure her into not completely rejecting his romantic advances.
And then there’s the poor lonely Gill Man, who wants Kay for…something, it’s not quite sure what. If only these other dratted humans would go away! Yes, the Gill Man is a monster that kills several people due to them invading its territory. But we can sympathize with its wish not to be captured for Science! and put on display or vivisected.
This is a fun read with good extras, and I highly recommend it. It’s a must-have for the Gill Man lover in your life. Please consider buying it directly from Dreamhaven Books to support small press.
Back at Dr. Maia’s base camp, the expedition is shocked to discover that the guards have been killed, apparently savaged by a wild beast. There’s no sign of the animal itself, and it does not seem to be around while they look for fossils. Coming up empty, they decide to head down the nearby branch river, which the natives claim runs into a place called “the Black Lagoon.” It’s supposedly a place from which no man returns.
As it turns out, there’s a bit of truth to that story. For within the Black Lagoon lurks a creature, a surviving member of a species from the Devonian era. And it’s not fond of visitors….
The 1954 movie Creature from the Black Lagoon was a huge hit for Universal Pictures, spawning two sequels, the last of their monster franchises. For the movie’s international debut in Britain, they hired Vargo Statten (pen name of John Russell Fearn) to write a novelization. Unlike other novelizations, which generally have to work off an early script, Mr. Fearn was able to use the finished product, making the book very faithful to the film. The book was considered a superior example of the type, and has become a collector’s item, running in the thousands of dollars.
This is the first American reprint, and Dreamhaven Books has done it up well, with a new cover, an introduction explaining the background of the film and book, many movie stills and production photos, and a biography of Vargo Statten.
The actual reprint part is relatively slim, as was the custom for paperbacks of the time, and sticks very closely to the movie with additional dialogue. The plot works well enough, but you shouldn’t think about the science too hard. Many of the scenes are cinematic in nature, and at times the reader will need to pay close attention to follow the action.
The book shares with the movie a heavy dose of Fifties sexism and gender politics. It’s suggested to Kay, for example, that “science” and “feminine” are contradictory personality traits. She’s constantly being told that things are too dangerous/tough/frightening for a woman. And Kay seems to enjoy two handsome fellows quarreling over her.
Meanwhile, Dr. Williams and Dr. Reed suffer from toxic masculinity; fighting over Kay’s affections, competing over what to do about the creature, and rushing to the attack when running away would have been wiser. Dr. Williams uses his position as Kay’s boss to pressure her into not completely rejecting his romantic advances.
And then there’s the poor lonely Gill Man, who wants Kay for…something, it’s not quite sure what. If only these other dratted humans would go away! Yes, the Gill Man is a monster that kills several people due to them invading its territory. But we can sympathize with its wish not to be captured for Science! and put on display or vivisected.
This is a fun read with good extras, and I highly recommend it. It’s a must-have for the Gill Man lover in your life. Please consider buying it directly from Dreamhaven Books to support small press.
February 2, 2016
Top-notch novelization. It makes logical and entertaining expansions of the material without ever betraying the characters or themes of the original film itself. This was a wonderful read, especially since it functioned as a bedtime tale to my now-monster-loving kids each night.
March 15, 2015
Faithful novelization of the film with a great introduction by David Schow. Includes many stills from the movie. Recommended.
November 13, 2025
This is a great novelization of one of my favorite movies. The author fleshes out the characters a bit more by additional dialogue, and some scenes are expanded, but otherwise it is completely faithful to the movie. In addition to the novel itself, there is a very good introduction by horror author David J. Schow, and a nice photo section, plus a mini biography of the author (real name: John Russell Fearn) at the end. Recommended to all fans of classic monsters and especially of the Gill-Man!
January 25, 2026
This book was exactly what I expected it to be… a creature feature that is also a pulp fiction novel. And I loved it.
May 13, 2015
A fun read.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews