Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

Creature from the Black Lagoon is a fairly straight-forward horror film, but even sixty-five years later, it still works. The movie plays on the fear of the unknown creature. Deep in the Amazon Rainforest, there might be some kind of ancient, half-fish-half-man horror that sets out to kill all humans who come into its territory. Maybe it even wants to steal away the women to continue living. That's a scary thought, in and of itself. When you add that to the movie's best quality, the score, it makes for some truly chilling, truly tense scenes. The whole film is well done, especially for 1954. The set design is fully believable, and the acting is solid all around. Julie Adams specifically does a great job. Even gill-man's costume was relatively well done, especially for the time.