The Monster of Phantom Lake

Right on the money! Captures all the iconic greatness of 1950's "horror movies" including stilted acting, men in charge while women are perceived as hysterical, tacky costumes, leafy monster & scary location. However the ending is still a little bit of a surprise. One didn't expect the effort so one did not anticipate it!! Great fun. Enjoy!!

This is an independent movie filmed in Minnesota. It's a fun take-off of 1950's B-grade monster movies and was deliberately campy fun. Filmed on a budget of probably about $8.00 (and most of that was likely gas money), it satirizes the stilted dialog, cheesy special effects, and hokey plots that have made 1950's era monster movies timeless guilty pleasures. It even has some appropriately corny music added. Shot in black and white, the entire film takes place in the woods near a lake, and starts with some workers illegally dumping "atomic waste". Predictably, some highly implausible biological responses result. Equally predictable, are the set of teenage victims who first discover the "monster". Fortunately, the unflappable Professor Jackson is on the spot with his not-so-secretly adoring graduate student assistant. Needless to say, it was a hoot. After the movie, some of the cast was in the lounge to mingle with the audience and to sell the DVD and posters. (The poster was free with the purchase of a $10 DVD and yes I bought it.)

Almost as much fun, were the 1950's newsreel clips shown before the movie, as was the custom then. They showed, in order, newsreel footage of violence in the Middle East, a grim old couple celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary, and a knife-throwing Mom using her kids in her hobby. All-in-all, it was a fun movie that I highly recommend.

There is a fine line one must stay behind in order to make a spoof of movie genres. The best ones keep a solid element of the original but wander into the outrageous. This film is so far beyond the fifties horror B movie in its adaptation, that it plays everything for comedy. The dialogue is so stilted and the interactions of the characters so unnatural that we forget the plot as they pose and speak. Of course, the monster is utterly ridiculous, looking like it is made out of scraps from someone's sewing basket. I enjoyed it at first and thought it would develop, but it lost me and I just wanted it to end.

After some wonderfully plodding, creepy music, THE MONSTER OF PHANTOM LAKE begins.

When drums of "atomic waste" are heedlessly dumped into the titular body of water, there's more than mere pollution to worry about. Far more. The locals have no idea that horror beyond description awaits! Or, something like that.

Oh no!

A crazy hermit tumbles into the sludge, undergoing a terrible transformation! Soon, a hideous creature arises, spelling d-o-o-m!

TMOPL is Christopher R. Mihm's masterwork of intentionally silly, 1950's-style sci-fi cheeeze. The acting and dialogue are suitably clunky, and the characters- scientists, highly suspect "teens", the canoe patrol, etc. are fun. The bucket-headed monster is as absurd as it's supposed to be, paying homage to actual schlock gems like HORROR OF PARTY BEACH. Mihm loves the genre, and the result is a joy to watch.

EXTRA POINTS FOR: The musical interlude, complete with a theme song that just keeps a rockin', a rollin', and a ramblin'!... Oh yeah!...

Not a loving homage to monster movies of the 50's. Rather a poorly acted, cheap rip-off of same. Not an original idea either. I know you can view the wooden acting as intentionally camp, but I would have to see any of these players do ANYTHING with skill before I would venture that opinion. Camp is not an excuse for really stilted dialogue delivered stupidly.

The only regret is that this web site requires me to give it one star. It doesn't deserve even that.