James Wan’s new Universal film should use the Creature from the Black Lagoon for inspiration

James Wan is one of many notable filmmakers now working with Universal on a monster movie. What if it was Creature from the Black Lagoon-inspired?

James Wan is joining the ranks of esteemed filmmakers like Leigh Whannell, Paul Feig, Dexter Fletcher, and Elizabeth Banks in collaboration with Universal Pictures to create the next monster movie for the studio, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

In the aftermath of Whannell’s extremely successful film, The Invisible Man, Universal has officially ditched their interconnected Dark Universe. Instead, they’re focusing on making unique, filmmaker-based projects that allow creatives to do what they do best with a lot more creative freedom.

Wan and his production company Atomic Monster, will be crafting a new film described as “Universal’s classic monster legacy and shines it through a modern prism.” He’ll collaborate with Supernatural writer Robbie Thompson on the project.

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Unfortunately, he won’t be directing the movie, but he will serve as a producer. Even though it’d be nice if he were the director, I’d still like to see his magic touch on a specific classic monster.

The synopsis of the film is as follows: “a group of teens who discover that a neighbor is building a monster in his basement.”

If anything, it sounds like the movie will borrow heavily from Frankenstein, but what if it didn’t?

One of my favorite classic monsters has always been the Creature, or the “Gill-Man,” from the Black Lagoon. Yet in the many ideas I’ve seen tossed around for more Universal monster films, that’s the one that no one dares touch, at least not yet.

But Wan’s film could be a great opportunity to tie in lore from the iconic monster. Since it doesn’t look like it’s going to be focused on just one entity (or else they’d probably just label it Frankenstein, etc. as they did with Invisible Man) I don’t see why they couldn’t make the creature look a little like the classic Gill-man.

I feel like the amphibious beast could look quite loathsome and haunting with modern-day special effects. I’d love to see them go practical, too. I know Wan already has one horror film in the works that will use practical effects, it’d be nice to see another classic monster movie get the same treatment.

What do you think about the idea of James Wan tackling a Universal monster movie? Would you like to see a Gill-man film? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

James Wan’s next film — The Conjuring 3 — is due for release in September of this year.