Movies
The Woman Behind the Creature from the Black Lagoon
Who Was Milicent Patrick? The Unsung Hero of Universal Monsters
Before the first female special effects artist at Universal took charge of designing the Gill-man, things were looking dismal for the picture. The props department had previously been responsible for creating the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but early looks for the monster were not received well.
Director William Alland reportedly loved these initial designs, derisively known as The Pollywog – but he was the only one.
After a test screening, actor Ricou Browning remembers that the higher-ups at Universal Studios, James Pratt and Edward Muhl, said the costume “sucked.”
Meanwhile, Frank Westmore, (the brother of the head of the makeup department, Bud Westmore) recalled: “Instead of projecting menace, he looked like a man swimming around in long rubber underwear…”
Chris Mueller, in charge of sculpting, is the one who named him The Pollywog, a fitting name for what looks reminiscent of a 1960s Batman villain.
Before Milicent Patrick got to work on the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Gill-man was far from the Universal monster we know him as today.
Who Was Milicent Patrick? The Unsung Hero of Universal Monsters
Before the first female special effects artist at Universal took charge of designing the Gill-man, things were looking dismal for the picture. The props department had previously been responsible for creating the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but early looks for the monster were not received well.
Director William Alland reportedly loved these initial designs, derisively known as The Pollywog – but he was the only one.
After a test screening, actor Ricou Browning remembers that the higher-ups at Universal Studios, James Pratt and Edward Muhl, said the costume “sucked.”
Meanwhile, Frank Westmore, (the brother of the head of the makeup department, Bud Westmore) recalled: “Instead of projecting menace, he looked like a man swimming around in long rubber underwear…”
Eight years earlier, studio chief William Goetz had ordered that no more “B” monster movies be made. After all, at that point, Universal Pictures already had Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolf-man (among many others) under its belt. Each with groundbreaking effects for its time. A made-for-TV villain was far below the par of what had come to be expected from the studio.
It was at that point a redesign was in order. The makeup department took over, and with it, came Universal Studios’ first female special effects artist.
Milicent Patrick’s Artistic Journey: From Disney to Universal
By the age of 25, she had worked on Fantasia, including the skit “A Night on Bald Mountain”, designing the winged Chernabog. This was more than likely the first monster she ever worked on for a wide audience.
After being laid off by Disney following a strike, she worked in modeling for a short while.
Then, she shifted her work to acting, where she worked small parts in front of the camera, such as the “Tavern Girl” in Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd, and an uncredited role in Bride of Vengeance. It was in 1952 that she met the head of the makeup department Bud Westmore who offered her a job behind the scenes immediately after seeing her designs.
She did uncredited special effects work on It Came from Outer Space, Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, This Island Earth, Against All Flags, and Sign of the Pagan. But it’s her work on Creature from the Black Lagoon that brings us here today.
After the prop department’s Pollywog was laughed out of existence, Milicent Patrick spent six weeks painstakingly designing the creature that would come to be known as the Gill-man.
I’d say the rest is history but unfortunately, Bud Westmore attempted to erase much of this history – and it’s all because Universal’s publicity department loved Milicent Patrick.
Bud Westmore’s Role in Erasing Milicent Patrick’s Legacy
But Bud Westmore was reportedly furious and tried to have the whole tour canceled. He was the head of the makeup department after all, and felt that saying someone else created the creature didn’t give him credit for heading the project.
Bud insisted Milicent Patrick be called “The Beauty Who Lives With the Beast” instead.
He made other demands for Milicent Patrick’s tour, eventually including that she must tell interviewers that Bud Westmore himself created the Gill-man from start to finish.
This – of course – was far from true, as Milicent Patrick did the design, Chris Mueller sculpted the head, and Jack Kevan oversaw the project. But Milicent was so happy to be on tour, that she tried to oblige Bud Westmore’s outrageous demands.
But, the press loved Milicent Patrick too. Any comments she made about Bud Westmore were dismissed because they only wanted to know more about Milicent. The tour was extended and Milicent Patrick did more than forty interviews.
Unfortunately, by the time the tour ended, she was ultimately fired from the project by Bud Westmore.
Bud Westmore Takes Credit for Milicent’s Work
As was customary, Bud Westmore’s name would be the only one to show up in the credits for makeup design in the movie. But the credit for Milicent’s creation was largely stolen after that, with Bud Westmore publicly refuting any claims that he wasn’t responsible for the design.
To give a brief overview of Bud Westmore’s character, enjoy this quote a columnist named Mike Molony made in 1950:
“Hollywood is highly amused at the slip makeup artist Bud Westmore made when he related in an interview how he was responsible for that classic cosmetic creation, the Frankenstein monster. This, of course, is pure foopypoop. Ace makeup artist Jack Pierce made Boris Karloff into the monster back in 1931, when Bud hadn’t long been graduated from diapers, and his older brothers were busy learning the makeup business, working at Max Factor’s.”
The publicity department at Universal tried to great avail to convince Bud Westmore to let Milicent Patrick come back, up to a week after Creature from the Black Lagoon was released, but he refused to relent.
Milicent Patrick kept her career in front of the camera after that but unfortunately, most of those parts went on to also be uncredited.
After Bud Westmore died in 1973, Milicent tried to come out with the truth. Despite being featured in a “Queen of the Monster Makers” piece by Famous Monsters in 1978, many remained skeptical for years about the depth of Milicent’s involvement until a producer/screenwriter changed everything.
Mallory O’Meara’s Mission to Restore Milicent Patrick’s Legacy
Few people know of the injustice Milicent Patrick was dealt, and the woman is owed her flowers. Unfortunately, she is no longer here to claim them as she passed away in 1998; never living to see the credit her work was owed.
To Milicent Patrick, The Beauty Who Created the Beast.
For more about the making of Creature From the Black Lagoon, see our Horror Trivia Tuesday video on Instagram or TikTok!
I don’t know about you, but it feels like I stepped out of the theater after seeing Wolf Man, blinked, and suddenly it was September. It’s been a very busy year in general, but as always, especially so for the horror genre. We’ve had some misses and some hits, but overall, I’d say it’s been a strong year (though maybe not quite as strong as 2024 and its deluge of incredible movies).
Though your mind might still be primarily occupied with a more recent release, there have been a lot of incredible movies to hit both theaters and especially streaming services like Shudder in 2025. So, we here at Horror Press have decided to put together a shortlist of the best horror the year has had to offer so far.
The Best Horror of 2025 So Far
Feel free to wave this list in the face of your friends who say that all the horror they’ve watched this year is bad. Or just to celebrate because your favorite made the cut! Without further ado, let’s start with…
Dangerous Animals
Fun and insane animal horror movies are so hard to come across these days, but Dangerous Animals chums the waters with some fresh meat for the subgenre. Sean Byrne, best known for his work on the Australian sleeper hit The Loved Ones, tells a story reminiscent of Wolf Creek on the high seas.
A surfer and her boyfriend fall prey to a boat captain who promises a thrilling cage diving experience, but with a catch: he secretly enjoys torturing people before feeding them to sharks. Jai Courtney shines as the antagonist Tucker, whose mealy-mouthed grins and demented demeanor sell the danger our leads are in.
Clown in a Cornfield
The pick for the best slasher offering this year (until Black Phone 2 releases, #JoeHillHypeTrain) is a no-brainer. Shudder has finally delivered the long-awaited adaptation of Adam Cesare’s Clown In A Cornfield. And helmed by Eli Craig of Tucker & Dale vs. Evil fame no less! In the now dead hamlet of Kettle Springs, Missouri, a group of teens run afoul of its former mascot Frendo. While it initially presents itself as a basic corn-fed killer clown movie, if you stick with it, you’ll find it’s actually much more clever and thrilling than it lets on.
Predator: Killer of Killers
When I say Dan Trachtenberg does not miss, he does not miss in the slightest. The current creative director of the Predator franchise, fans of the series have been eating good ever since his work on 2022’s Prey, and have Predator: Badlands to look forward to early next month.
While Predator: Killer of Killers could have easily been a cheap animated film to tide over fans while they wait for Badlands, it proved to be one of the best films in the franchise yet. An anthology film featuring Yautja hunting throughout human history and across cultures, the animation here is slicker than slick. Killer of Killers delivers the action horror that everyone has been asking for from the franchise for years.
The Ugly Stepsister
When I heard The Ugly Stepsister was a collaboration between a bevy of film institutes and production companies across four different Nordic countries, I wondered what made it so special. What I saw explained it. While it is technically Cinderella, it’s specifically a retelling of Aschenputtel, one of the original and much darker iterations of Cinderella collected by the Brothers Grimm. And dark this is.
Told from the perspective of Cinderella’s stepsister Elvira, we watch her spiral as she tries to beautify herself in the ugliest of ways, all in an effort to secure a wealthy male suitor. Truly inspired costuming, grotesque body horror played for both shock and laughs, and a dead-on sense of comedic timing make this one a very memorable watch.
Weapons
Director Zach Cregger’s sophomore outing in the horror genre following his smash hit Barbarian is well-loved, and for good reason. This time, Weapons shines a spotlight on lives in a small town, and how they intersect, trying to make sense of a horrifying incident: the disappearance of 17 children who run out the front doors of their homes in the dead of night.
Cregger dances deftly on the line between horror and comedy in a way I can only describe as masterful, creating a film that is both viciously funny and aggressively disturbing. Where the film goes is a curveball, even for those who have seen the trailers, and a delightful one at that, since Weapons brings a new horror icon to the stage.
Companion
And speaking of Zach Cregger, this sci-fi horror is another one of his productions. If you’ve somehow avoided seeing anything about Companion until now and don’t know what it’s about, keep it that way and go watch it immediately. The ad campaign spoiled it, but the story is undeniably enthralling even if you know where it’s going. This movie features what is, by far, Sophie Thatcher’s most dynamic performance yet, supported by a stellar cast and the film’s pitch-black humor.
Fréwaka
The first Irish-language horror film is also one of the nation’s best cinematic offerings yet. A gripping and immersive folk horror film, it follows a home nurse named Shoo assigned to a superstitious older woman named Peig who lives on the edge of a remote village. Shoo soon begins to see dark ongoings in her dreams and waking life, plagued by the same mysterious group that Peig has been dealing with her entire life.
Fréwaka is a precision-made film, chock full of high impact editing and cinematography. It evokes a kind of existential monster, both man-made horrors of human cruelty and the mythological ones that lie deep in belief and the dark corners of Irish folklore. In short, unsettlingly effective.
Ash
Flying Lotus’ directorial career has been a point of interest for me ever since the genre shapeshifter that was Kuso and the demented parody that was his segment “Ozzy’s Dungeon” in V/H/S/99. And even with the high hopes those ventures gave me, Ash is so much more than I could have expected.
After astronaut Riya wakes up to nightmares of bodies being melted and screams of agony, she finds herself as one of only two survivors in a mission to colonize a planet gone horribly wrong. Ash is a lovely middle point between Event Horizon and The Void, a mixture that is sure to please those of us who like our science fiction dripping with an evil atmosphere and dark visuals. It also boasts some of the best color grading and lighting in any film this year.
Sinners
If you haven’t seen Sinners already, what have you been up to? Brain science? Rocket surgery? Here, visionary director Ryan Coogler tells the tale of a repressed young black man in 1930s Mississippi, trying to break away from his preacher father’s restrictive ways. His journey to do so lands him a performance at a juke joint out in the woods, one he plays so well that it lures in an ageless and relentless vampire.
Michael B. Jordan, Jack O’Connell, and Wunmi Mosaku lead an all-star cast through a mystical horror story with purpose. It explores the meaning of culture, religion, music, and the Black American experience—all while delivering one of the best vampire films of all time. The showstopping original soundtrack by Ludwig and Serena Göransson that it boasts isn’t half bad either.
Bring Her Back
I won’t mark this with the caveat of “so far”—this will be the most disturbing film you see this year. Bring Her Back blew any expectations you might have had from the Phillipou Brothers’ Talk To Me out of the water. While the premise of an orphaned brother and sister who are sent to live with an off-kilter foster mother and another mute child she’s fostering might seem predictable, this film is anything but.
It’s truly an emotionally draining watch, blow after blow with both the physical and emotional trauma it puts its characters through, and forces you to watch. It refuses to let you breathe for even a minute in its final act. It’s definitively Sally Hawkin’s finest hour as an actress, and beyond this short list, it’s firmly some of the best horror of all time.
2024 was pretty damn swamped with horror. Longlegs, Heretic, Nosferatu, I Saw the TV Glow…even over halfway into 2025, fans are still catching up on every horror flick they might have missed last year. Early on, though, we were given one of the best horror-rom-coms of the 21st century…and no one seemed to really care. Did people stop liking fun? It seems to be the only explanation for why this movie did not catch on more. Directed by Zelda Williams and written by the legendary Diablo Cody, Lisa Frankenstein was designed to be a cult classic, and should be remembered as one.
A Vibrant 80s Aesthetic That Screams Originality
One thing to note about this movie right off the bat is how unapologetically itself it is. The film is an absolute vibe, boasting an original aesthetic. There is so much 1980s nostalgia saturating the mainstream (cough, cough, Stranger Things), so it could be hard to imagine why we need another tongue-in-cheek horror-comedy set in the era. Lisa Frankenstein takes a completely original approach to the 80s. Its fashion and music concern themselves with the alternative, new wave-ish, goth-y side of the decade. It does not glorify what was big and popular, but rather picks it apart in ridiculously kitschy designs.
The film feels like a mix of Tim Burton’s brightest, suburban aesthetics, mixed with the grittier side of 80s culture and music. It is a bit of a, dare I say it, Frankenstein’s monster of a wavelength. With such striking originality, it’s hard to say why exactly the film did not find its way into viewers’ hearts.
The Bride of (Lisa) Frankenstein
The leads in the film are both phenomenal. Kathryn Newton is funny and full of life as the protagonist, who feels like a more light-hearted version of Wednesday Addams. Cole Spruce is phenomenal as the creature, playing an old-school, lovable monster. They truly play the movie as equal parts Edward Scissorhands and Juno. Speaking of…
Diablo Cody’s Cinematic Universe: A Horror-Comedy Legacy
What really puts this film on the next level is its writing. The film is written by the legendary Diablo Cody, creator of classics such as Jennifer’s Body and Juno. The film continues her legacy of teen-centric stories, combining drama, comedy, and, more often than not, bloody horror. Her originality shines through in this film without a doubt, with the humor evoking a distinctly mid-2000s indie flick feel.
Additionally, in an interview with Deadline, Diablo Cody said, “…this movie [Lisa Frankenstein] takes place in the same Universe [Jennifer’s Body]. Jennifer’s Body is of course revered as a classic horror-comedy, blending brutal supernatural lore with a ton of humor. That movie has a much higher fan base than Lisa Frankenstein, however, Cody has confirmed that these films share the same Universe. This alone should give fans of the genre another chance to consider this movie. Plus, with news of a potential Jennifer’s Body 2, Lisa Frankenstein could potentially be part of what one day may be an iconic trilogy.
A Deeper Love Letter to Art and Creation
For all the pomp and frills of teen dramedy, romcom-ishness (new word!) and bloody horror, Lisa Frankenstein has some more to say than what meets the eye. The movie is not just a romance between Lisa and The Creature. It is a romance between Lisa and art itself.
Lisa’s character is an artist from the beginning, sewing and designing her own art and fashions, fascinated by the art surrounding her. She has a passion for art and art history, and desires to create. In a sense, through her sewing and construction, The Creature is an art piece. The movie is literally a romance between her and the act of human creation.
In one of the movie’s best sequences, Lisa has a dream sequence in which she is married to the bust of The Creature, and the room is decorated like George Méliès’ A Trip to the Moon. This iconic short film from the turn of the 20th century remains one of the most impactful and inspirational films ever made, helping to pioneer narrative storytelling in film. By referencing and paying homage to this movie, Lisa Frankenstein draws a throughline between Lisa’s creation and the creation of art as a whole. This is a movie that understands its place in film history and appreciates the importance of creation on both a Divine and human creative level.
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