Gill-Man: B+ Movie Edition, The

What can I say really, this edit just makes the film feel a lot more compact and entertaining for me.

Effective trim of an already shortish horror film. The editor's aim was to carve out the slack bits, and thereby boost the pacing. Nicely done.

Video - 1280 X 720p. Black n white, with good contrast. The underwater photography in this is outstanding, and the final interior cave shots are fine. Cuts went by unnoticed.

Audio - 224 Kbps 2-Channel, AAC. No subs. Dialogue is clear and understandable throughout. One might argue the finest element of this film is the soundtrack, which is dramatic and effective.

Narrative - Tell the truth, I did not notice any change in the narrative. And yes, quit a bit was excised. The story flows fine, I did not notice missing passages. This is a light edit and, because of the brevity, easy to digest. Boy meets girl - boy chases girl - conflict.

Enjoyment - Of all the "classic" Universal monsters, the Creature has always been one of my least favorites. Possibly because there is next to no history or backstory for the guy. He's existed for thousands of years in his isolated bachelor pad? Is the Creature even a he? If the Creature is actually a "she" then the sequence where it kidnaps Kay has a whole new dimension! Otherwise, the Creature comes across as this lovesick sap. Where were the village maidens? Countless manfish mutant fishpop offspring?

Yeah, kicking a rock, sorry. Nevertheless, compared with the original feature, Scribbling Man's edit is much preferred. Enjoy with your favorite fish sticks!

not too much to say here, overall pretty good. slimmed version is worth watching.

I vaguely remember seeing this film as a youngster so I went into it with an open mind, as a result the only thing that made it obvious this was quite a streamlined cut was the runtime itself. I didn't notice any jumps in narrative, each scene flowed naturally from the previous one and video and audio seemed smooth for a low budget film from the 50's. I have had a look since at some of the untouched scenes and really appreciate how much chaff the editor has managed to eradicate from film which works in the films favour even if it does make the runtime quite brief for a main feature. Where the edit really shines though is in how with clever and quite intricate editing it manages to give some menace and agility to what is essentially a clumsy bloke in a rubber suit who can't see where he is going. It's not a stretch to say the film now has quite an affinity with Jaws and I remain convinced a young Speilberg was heavily influenced by this film. It's certainly evident in this edit that it has some striking similarities and now has a more Jaws like pace too. Highly recommended for any fan of old B movies, it's also an excelent quality print for its age. I give this B+ edition an A-