This 3-D hackle-raiser reverts to the prehistoric. After the discovery of a web-fingered skeleton hand in the Amazon region, a scientific expedition heads into the steaming tropics to hunt more fossils. In the back-washes of the Amazon they come across a still living Gill Man, half-fish, half-human.
The 3-D lensing adds to the eerie effects of the underwater footage, as well as to the monster’s several appearances on land. The below-water scraps between skin divers and the prehistoric thing are thrilling and will pop goose pimples on the susceptible fan, as will the closeup scenes of the scaly, gilled creature. Jack Arnold’s direction does a firstrate job of developing chills and suspense, and James C. Havens rates a good credit for his direction of the underwater sequences.
Richard Carlson and Julie Adams co-star in the William Alland production and carry off the thriller very well. As befitting the Amazonian setting, Adams appears mostly in brief shorts or swim suits.
