"I don't give a damn about the scientific community!"
Director
William Stromberg
Cast
Richard Cardella - Sheriff Steve Hanson
Glenn Roberts - Arnie Chabot
Mark Siegal - Mitch Kowalski
Bob Hyman - Richard Calkins
I wonder how many people have visited Crater Lake National Park in Southern Oregon, and basked in the knowledge that they're in a place of cinematic legend as Crater Lake was the filming location for 1977's The Crater Lake Monster. My guess is very few. Despite being filmed at Crater Lake, the movie takes place at fictional Crater Lake in Northern California.
This B-movie is quite the mixture of really bad acting, stop motion, and a little rip-off from Jaws.
The monster looks like something out of Lake Loch Ness. According to Wikipedia, it's actually a plesiosaur, although I don't remember that little tidbit of info being mentioned in the movie. I could have missed it, though.
In the beginning of the movie, a fire ball falls from the sky, suggesting this is our monster coming from space. But if that's the case, how did a plesiosaur get in space? And how did it survive the fiery plummet through the earth's atmosphere, crash into the lake and develop under water for a long time before surfacing. Obviously, I wouldn't expect a low-budget film like this to be that informative, even in regards to its own plotline.
Sheriff Steve Hanson (Richard Cardella) witnesses the meteor fall and calls it into the police station.
Months later, he consults some scientists to dive into the lake and pull it out. However, the scientists determine the meteor is too hot for them to touch. It's so hot in fact, they deem it's actually heating up the water. That's some serious dinosaur meteor fireball!
One thing leads to another, as things do in B-monster movies, and the remains of a few people are found in the lake.
Will authorities link these deaths to a giant monster? Will they even find the monster? Spoiler- yes, to both!
Hanson is finally told that the wounds on the remains of one of the victims were clearly caused by the teeth of a large animal (*whisper* just...like...in...Jaws.)
The Jaws inspiration is seen in the animal versus man close-up shots. Also, the plot seems loosely similar. In this case, a man-eating monster is tormenting the waters of a national park rather than a beach. A police officer is trying to keep people out of the water as tourists are mysteriously disappearing around the lake, and their bodies are washing up on shore.
Anyhow, a guy named Ferguson survives an attack from the monster, and runs into a diner. He tells the sheriff and the other people in there what happened. So, Hanson and others go to find this monster.
They find it outside a lot full of tractors and other farm vehicles. And then...it gets personal! This is as "B" a movie as a B-movie can be.
The stop-motion of the monster is just classic to watch...reminiscent of Ray Harryhausen's work, but certainly not as good as his.
Two characters, Arnie Chabot (Glenn Roberts) and Mitch Kowalski (Mark Siegal) are two guys running a boat dock. They're the comic relief of this shlockfest. But their comedy is just "yuck, yuck" funny, with lame gags, and slapstick pushing and shoving in the water. It's eye-rolling lame humor that adds absolutely nothing to the story. Nothing! It's just two grown men purposely trying to act childish just to get a laugh. That's it, and that's all.
The acting all around is plain and simply bad. It's like watching an elementary school stage production. The delivery is void of any respective inflection based on whatever is happening in the scene. It's just "say the line, and lets move on."
The audience for this flick would probably be made up of B-monster movie fans, although there are a lot better movies in the genre to watch.
For a giant monster flick, this is as cheap as they come. It's slow moving (both the movie and the monster, I mean) and lacks any emotion whatsoever. But I still had some fun watching it merely for its own sake.
Also, I'd like to use this platform to shout out to Richard Cardella's gorgeous 1977 walrus mustache. A thing of beauty is a treasure and a joy forever!
The monster looks like something out of Lake Loch Ness. According to Wikipedia, it's actually a plesiosaur, although I don't remember that little tidbit of info being mentioned in the movie. I could have missed it, though.
In the beginning of the movie, a fire ball falls from the sky, suggesting this is our monster coming from space. But if that's the case, how did a plesiosaur get in space? And how did it survive the fiery plummet through the earth's atmosphere, crash into the lake and develop under water for a long time before surfacing. Obviously, I wouldn't expect a low-budget film like this to be that informative, even in regards to its own plotline.
Sheriff Steve Hanson (Richard Cardella) witnesses the meteor fall and calls it into the police station.
Months later, he consults some scientists to dive into the lake and pull it out. However, the scientists determine the meteor is too hot for them to touch. It's so hot in fact, they deem it's actually heating up the water. That's some serious dinosaur meteor fireball!One thing leads to another, as things do in B-monster movies, and the remains of a few people are found in the lake.
Will authorities link these deaths to a giant monster? Will they even find the monster? Spoiler- yes, to both!
Hanson is finally told that the wounds on the remains of one of the victims were clearly caused by the teeth of a large animal (*whisper* just...like...in...Jaws.)
The Jaws inspiration is seen in the animal versus man close-up shots. Also, the plot seems loosely similar. In this case, a man-eating monster is tormenting the waters of a national park rather than a beach. A police officer is trying to keep people out of the water as tourists are mysteriously disappearing around the lake, and their bodies are washing up on shore.
Anyhow, a guy named Ferguson survives an attack from the monster, and runs into a diner. He tells the sheriff and the other people in there what happened. So, Hanson and others go to find this monster.
They find it outside a lot full of tractors and other farm vehicles. And then...it gets personal! This is as "B" a movie as a B-movie can be.
The stop-motion of the monster is just classic to watch...reminiscent of Ray Harryhausen's work, but certainly not as good as his.
Two characters, Arnie Chabot (Glenn Roberts) and Mitch Kowalski (Mark Siegal) are two guys running a boat dock. They're the comic relief of this shlockfest. But their comedy is just "yuck, yuck" funny, with lame gags, and slapstick pushing and shoving in the water. It's eye-rolling lame humor that adds absolutely nothing to the story. Nothing! It's just two grown men purposely trying to act childish just to get a laugh. That's it, and that's all.
The acting all around is plain and simply bad. It's like watching an elementary school stage production. The delivery is void of any respective inflection based on whatever is happening in the scene. It's just "say the line, and lets move on."
The audience for this flick would probably be made up of B-monster movie fans, although there are a lot better movies in the genre to watch.
For a giant monster flick, this is as cheap as they come. It's slow moving (both the movie and the monster, I mean) and lacks any emotion whatsoever. But I still had some fun watching it merely for its own sake.
Also, I'd like to use this platform to shout out to Richard Cardella's gorgeous 1977 walrus mustache. A thing of beauty is a treasure and a joy forever!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete