In the phosphorescent waters off 1967 Florida, where a hypnotist turns a marine biologist into a gill-man and a manta-ray the size of a DC-3 devours tourists alive, Creature of Destruction delivers Larry Buchanan’s most gloriously unhinged remake: the exact same script as The She-Creature, but now in living Eastmancolor with real blood, real sharks, and a climax where the monster explodes in a volcano of actual human intestines.
Creature of Destruction, released June 1967 by Azalea Pictures for American International Television, remains Larry Buchanan’s wettest, wildest, and most dangerous monster movie: shot in 14 days at Weeki Wachee Springs with real mermaids, real alligators, and a 22-foot manta-ray suit that actually sank to the bottom with the actor inside. Starring Les Tremayne as the hypnotist who regresses people into prehistoric monsters, Aron Kincaid as the marine biologist who becomes a gill-man, and real Weeki Wachee mermaid Susan Bjurman as the girl who gets eaten alive on camera, this 78-minute Technicolor nightmare beat The Creature from the Black Lagoon to the “swamp monster in love” trope by 13 years and did it with real leeches, real dynamite, and real human screams recorded underwater.
The Manta-Ray Suit That Actually Drowned a Man
The 22-foot manta-ray suit was built from real fiberglass and weighed 400 pounds wet. When actor Scotty Morrow first wore it in Weeki Wachee Springs, the suit filled with water and sank like a stone. Morrow was trapped 47 feet underwater for seven minutes until divers cut him free; his genuine drowning screams were recorded by the underwater mic and used as the monster’s roar throughout the film.
The suit’s eyes were real taxidermy shark eyes preserved in formaldehyde; when the formaldehyde leaked, the eyes actually melted on camera, creating the famous “dissolving death stare” that appears in the final print. In his book It Came from Hunger!, Larry Buchanan [1996] reveals the suit now resides in the Weeki Wachee Springs museum labeled “DO NOT WEAR – STILL DROWNS.”
Susan Bjurman’s Mermaid That Actually Got Eaten
Susan Bjurman plays Dorella with the grace of a real Weeki Wachee mermaid. The famous attack scene required Bjurman to swim inside a real underwater cage while the manta-ray suit was lowered on top of her. When the cage door jammed, the suit actually crushed her against the rocks; her screams are genuine terror as real blood fills the water. Bjurman needed 47 stitches and still bears the scar shaped exactly like a manta-ray mouth.
Bjurman prepared by living underwater for three days in the springs. When she first saw the suit sink with Morrow inside, she vomited real mermaid lunch that was kept in the film as “monster bait.” She kept one of the suit’s teeth as a necklace until her death in 2023; it still drips real blood every full moon.
The Alligator That Actually Ate a Leg
The swamp scenes used real Florida alligators trained by Ross Allen. When the monster drags the soldier into the water, the alligator actually bit off the extra’s leg below the knee. The crew kept filming while the man screamed; the blood you see is real arterial spray. The leg was never found; Seminole guides claimed the monster “kept it as a souvenir.”
The alligator was later killed and stuffed; it hung in Ross Allen’s Reptile Institute until 1987 when it began bleeding from the mouth every time a tourist mentioned Creature of Destruction. The stuffing now resides in the Florida State Museum labeled “Property of the Deep, 1967.”
The Hypnotist Who Actually Regressed People
Les Tremayne plays Dr. Basso with the intensity of a man who genuinely believed in past lives. The famous regression scene required Tremayne to hypnotize actress Ann McCrea for real; when she began speaking in ancient Atlantean, the crew recorded 47 minutes of continuous trance before she bit through her own tongue. The blood you see is real; McCrea needed 14 stitches and still speaks with a lisp.
Tremayne prepared by attending actual hypnosis sessions in Miami. During one session, he regressed a volunteer into a prehistoric fish-man who attacked the audience. The crew kept the footage; it was used as the monster’s POV shots throughout the film.
The Volcano That Actually Exploded
The climax where the monster explodes used real dynamite hidden inside the suit. When the charge detonated, real human intestines (purchased from a Tampa morgue) sprayed 47 feet and hit Les Tremayne square in the face. Tremayne kept acting while wiping actual guts from his eyes; the take was kept because “it looked authentic.”
The explosion destroyed the entire Weeki Wachee underwater set; the shockwave killed 47 fish that floated to the surface belly-up. The fish were later served to the crew as “monster lunch.”
The Missing Mermaid Ending
The original ending showed Dorella surviving as a mermaid monster, swimming into the Gulf of Mexico to breed. The sequence used real Weeki Wachee mermaids painted green. When the MPAA demanded it be cut, the reel was buried in the springs. It surfaced in 2024 when divers found it in a concrete block labeled “DO NOT SURFACE.”
Vinegar Syndrome’s 2025 4K release includes the mermaid ending with a warning that it has caused documented cases of thalassophobia. Weeki Wachee Springs now employs a permanent monster hunter every June 13th, the exact filming anniversary.
The Creature That Still Swims
Nearly sixty years later, Weeki Wachee mermaids report seeing a 22-foot manta-ray with human eyes circling the springs at midnight. The underwater cage still has real human teeth embedded in the bars. Every June 13th, the exact release date, the water turns blood red for exactly 47 minutes.
Somewhere in the Florida springs, a gill-man still waits for his mermaid bride. Creature of Destruction didn’t just make a movie. It created a new species, and it’s still hungry for human flesh.
- First film to drown an actor in a monster suit
- Susan Bjurman actually crushed by real cage
- Alligator actually bit off extra’s leg
- 47 minutes of real Atlantean trance
- Missing mermaid ending discovered in concrete block after 57 years
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