The Crater Lake Monster (1977)

Creature features back in the 70's often based themselves around the notions of monsters that many people actually believed could be out there. To this end, there were several films about the Yeti and Bigfoot. The water-based equivalent of this phenomena were the lake monsters of which there were several reported 'sightings' of, these included legendary creatures such as the Loch Ness Monster and Ogopogo, amongst many others. I know it sounds strange nowadays but back in those days people really did believe things like that could actually be out there. The Crater Lake Monster is one of those films that taps into the belief in the possibility of the existence of these lake creatures. It was made by b-movie legends Crown International Pictures and it tells a story where a large plesiosaur emerges from a lake after a dormant dinosaur egg is fertilised by a meteorite from outer space.This film seems to have a pretty bad reputation but I can't go along with the negativity at all. Most cheap monster movies from the period would never have put a fraction of the effort into the rendering of their creature as this one does. The special effects artist David Allen has to be given special mention for his stop-motion work, which I thought was more than decent. The monster is a pretty impressive creation, especially when you take into account the low budget here. The beast emerges several times to cause perturbation and despair and whenever it does constitutes the highlights of the movie. On the whole, the film looks pretty decent too, with an attractive location and some nice photography. So, from a creature feature point-of-view this definitely scores. The only thing that damaged the film for me was the excessive use of very poor humour based around the antics of a half-witted duo called Arnie and Mitch, whom we spend far too much time with. Their appearances do slow down the film and feels a bit too much like padding. But, this aside, The Crater Lake Monster is a very pleasant experience and one of the more ambitious releases from Crown International from the period.

A same American town is terrorized by p.l.e.s.i.o.s.a.u.r. This is a great horror movie. Do not watch it alone. This movie has a great story line. It also has great acting. It also has great special effects. This is underrated. Do lesson to the negative. The see this movie it is a great movie. Richard Cardella is a great actor. This movie is awesome. It should be 10 not 3. It does not deserve 3. And Glen Roberts is a great actor. I can imagine how could not like this movie. It is a great monster movie. Mark Siegel is a great actor. This movie is an underrated classic. It is like Jaws only scarier. And that is not easy to do. See this movie it is great.

This could have been a much better movie than it turned out to be. First of all a plesiosaur, while not an herbivore, survived on fish, snails, and clams. So one awakened or hatched after millions of years would not have targeted humans. I suppose if it got hungry enough it might eat whatever it could find, but??? Again this is another movie that I ask why was it even made? I also wonder why the actors accepted the roles but I guess they figured that any screen presence was better than none. I don't know about that since a bad role can be a death knell for actors with out an established reputation. I realize that the lower grade actors must accept lesser roles but surely there must be a line. The graphics are poor, the acting is almost decent but still sub par and the overall quality is bad, bad, bad.

A meteor lands in Crater Lake, Oregon, where the incredible heat incubates a dormant, fertile Plesiosaur egg; once hatched, the dinosaur rapidly grows to 50ft in length and begins to feed on unfortunate visitors and locals. Sheriff Steve Hanson (Richard Cardella) investigates with the help of paleontologists Dan (Richard Garrison) and Susan (Kacey Cobb).Filmed in Fantamation (whetever the heck that is), The Crater Lake Monster is a typical 50s-style creature feature, only it's from the late-70s, meaning that along with the hokey premise, dreadful acting and jerky stop-motion monster, we also get Jaws-inspired attack scenes with a fair amount of bright red blood splashed all over the place, and characters sporting either big sideburns or Farrah flicks. Helping to pad out the film to feature length are light relief hick duo Arnie and Mitch, a pair of drunken dolts who hire out fishing boats on the lake, plus a pointless sub-plot about an armed robber on the run from the law having shot two people during a liquor store hold-up (maybe he was upset because they didn't stock one of their stylish 'Booze' T-shirts in his size).Fans of quality film-making will no doubt quickly move right along, but those who dig shonky monster movies for their sheer naffness should find enough to enjoy here: in addition to the not-in-the-least-bit-scary animated aquatic creature, we get some hilarious close-ups of a crap monster model in the water, some of the worst day-for-night photography ever ('Look at the stars' coos a woman to her husband as the sun beats down on them from a clear blue sky), true professional Bob Hyman as the town's doctor fluffing his lines but carrying on regardless, a guy crashing a boat gently on a sandbank and then taking a nap, a very slow car chase, and a police photo-lab adorned with 10 x 8s of cute kittens and puppies (suspects in an illegal bone and catnip smuggling operation perhaps?).