The Shape Of Water is totally plagiarized from the famous Soviet sci-fi Human Amphibian. The only difference is that the Soviet Human Amphibian was played by a stunningly beautiful actor. And his love interest was an even more stunningly beautiful actress. And there was no sex because it’s a Soviet movie. Plus, the idea is icky even with the beautiful actors.
It’s funny how the Oscars go to the worst films in existence.
There have been a number of stories about amphibious fish-men who are romantically interested in a human girl, so the idea is hardly new. Remember The Creature from the Black Lagoon? The writer of The Shape of Water claims that he took his inspiration from that 1954 horror movie.
I’d never heard of the Soviet film you mention, but The Shape of Water has been accused of ripping off the plots of at least two other productions (the 1969 play Let Me Hear You Whisper and the 2015 Dutch film The Space Between Us).
It’s hard for a writer to come up with a genuinely original theme or plot that hasn’t already been done in some form by various other writers over the years.
LikeLike
An Guillermo Del Toro’s MO is to make homages to other genres he’s a fan of, so the fact that this is close to existing work surprises me none.
LikeLike
Did you notice how horrendous the “Russian” was? It sounded like they were speaking Portuguese!
LikeLike
I saw a video on Facebook (can’t figure out how to link it here) that compares ‘The Shape of Water’ to the 1984 film ‘Splash’ and shows a bunch of very similar shots and plot points.
I enjoyed the ‘The Shape of Water’ as a visual experience and I think it deserved the Oscar it won for Production Design, but the plot was totally predictable and I don’t see how you get best film or best director with that.
LikeLike
A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
Leave a comment