It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present.

You believe that someone out of the past can enter and take possession of a living being?

We may be through with the past, but the past is not through with us.

Welcome to The Next Picture Show, a movie of the week podcast devoted to a classic film and how it shaped our thoughts on a recent release.

I'm Tasha Robinson here with...

Keith Phipps.

Scott Tobias.

A handsome yet drippy sea creature just walked off with our producer Genevieve, but we assume she'll be back in future episodes if we figure out where its hidden grotto is and go-retriever.

Here on the next picture show, we believe that no film exists in a vacuum and that all culture is more interesting in context. So every other week, we get together to talk over a classic film and consider how it relates to a current movie. This week, we're wading into the deep, dark waters of the id for a couple of strange romantic fantasies featuring fishmen. Keith, you want to hook us up with some info about this week's pairing?

Only if you promise a reel in the fish puns.

Gilberto's Romantic Fantasy, the Shape of Water opened in theaters in December 2017,

but like so many prestige films that first emerged around the holidays,

it's had a long, slow release and a slow build with audiences. It's a bit of a hard sell as a movie, a swooning, nostalgic romance built around a mute woman and a grotesque amphibian monster. But its slowly captivated art house audience, thanks to its beautiful cinematography, its strong performances, and its obsession with classic musicals, which provide the kind of background that seduces cinefiles by confirming and underlining their love of old movies. Deltoro's obsession with the past and old classics

comes up in another way in the shape of water. It was heavily inspired by the 1954 3D Universal

Horror Movie, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, featuring a very similar man-shaped amphibian

monster that obsesses over a human woman and wants to carry her away,

even as her partners on a scientific expedition are scheming to capture or kill the creature for study. De Totoio said in numerous interviews that he was obsessed with the 1954 film, and that

he wanted the romance, quote unquote, between the monster and the leading lady to work out.

So here's his version of the story, which is surprisingly not that radically different from the original. On today's episode, we'll look at the 1954 horror classic, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, consider its place in the Universal Monsters Pantheon, break down some of the movies that inspired it, and consider some of the movies that inspired in turn. Then later in the week, we'll bring in the shape of water and see how Del Torre's usual obsession with ghosts, the past, and especially monsters, play out in this peculiarly romantic yet bloody setting. Both of these movies are a little fishy about their emotional connections, but after this break, we'll take a deep dive into their symbolism, and I expect it will all go swimmingly. Tasha, I believe I made myself clear about the puns.

Come on, I was just baiting you a little.

Just don't confiscate my mic.

Science couldn't explain it, but there it was, alive in the deep, deep waters of the Amazon.

...