The Crater Lake Monster

No need to recap the plot. Okay, the film's no classic. In fact, someone in production borrowed the bulldozer vs. monster from 1960's schlock comedy Dinosaurus. But, in my book, the 80-some minutes isn't bad enough to rate among the truly bad, e.g. Manos: The Hands of Fate {1966}. Catch the photography, which is pretty good (of course, post- production bungled day-for-night, but that's not photographer Gentry's fault). Then there're the lush colors, about as vivid as any I've seen. Add Cardella's sturdy performance as the take-charge sheriff, along with some pretty good stop-motion, and you've got genuine compensations that lift results from the truly bad.

Of course, the intended comic relief is pretty lame, along with a script that appears almost thrown together. But perhaps most disappointing is the utter lack of tension. Monsters should generate tension. However, director Stromberg fails to build suspense, which requires a better sense of structure than what's provided here. Instead, the production goes for quick shock, which itself doesn't work very well. All in all, the movie's too good to be truly bad, and too bad to be good. I like what another reviewer observed, namely the results look like they were made by erratically skilled amateurs.

In Oregon, a meteor crashes into Crater Lake and heats the water, hatching a dinosaur egg. Months later, fishes have vanished from the lake and a huge dinosaur hunts cattle and human to feed. The local Sheriff Steve Hanson (Richard Cardella) investigates the mysterious disappearance of tourists and even a criminal. He also tells to the rednecks Arnie Chabot (Glenn Roberts) and Mitch Kowalski (Mark Siegel) that they shall not rent their boats to the tourists. When he discovers the dinosaur, his friend Richard 'Doc' Calkins (Bob Hyman) and two scientists asks him to leave the animal alive for the scientific community. Will Steve let the dinosaur live?

"The Crater Lake Monster" is a terrible and lame dinosaur film with awful story, screenplay, performances and special effects. The characters Arnie and Mitch are annoying and unfunny. There is a thief and murderer that appears in the middle of the story only to be eaten by the dinosaur in one of the most ridiculous scenes. When the sheriff discovers the existence of the dinosaur, he does not summon the army or the National Guard and prefers to confront the animal with a revolver and a bulldozer. The DVD from Rhino is very poor, without subtitles or extras; therefore adequate for this shameful flick. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): Not Available on Blu-Ray or DVD (fortunately)

The film starts out with the finding of cave paintings that depict dinosaurs with humans - an extraordinary discovery. On that exact same day, a meteorite lands in the lake in the same park as the cave painting findings. Then *poof* we end up with a dinosaur coming out of the lake! Of course it kills some people but for most of the film no one knows about the dinosaur and the deaths are just mysterious deaths.

There is a little bit of comedy sprinkled throughout the film this is somewhat laughable. The dinosaur is pretty neat looking for the time era (NOT a CGI generated creature like today's creatures and monsters). The story is kinda interesting but it does hit a few lulls off and on.

Overall it's an alright film - watchable but not great.

4/10

The Crater Lake Monster is a 1970's monster themed b-movie but alas not one of the better ones.

It tells the story of a meteor that awakens something ancient beneath a lake which proceeds to chomp on the locals.

I was drawn to the movie because of the cover art but shortly into the film you'll realise that it's not being entirely honest with you.

The movie itself looks and sounds great, in fact I was stunned to discover that it's as old as 77 so for that it gets a remarkable thumbs up. The SFX however leave a lot to be desired even for it's time. The "Monster" looks like it's straight out of Jason & The Argonauts movie (The original ones) and for that reason it's very hard to take seriously.

One stand out part of this film is a couple of comedy characters who actually make the film somewhat watchable to a degree. I actually laughed but was frustrated that even the dreadful finale had to screw that up.

With more plot holes than you can shake a stick at this should have been better but poor writing and laughable sfx ruined it.

The Good:

Some oddly good comedy

Looks ahead of its time

The Bad:

SFX are unintentionally funny

Cover is deceptive

Weak finale

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Bray Wyatt has come a long way

Stars are easier to see during the day

Dying underwater will cause your blood to teleport onto your boat

The heat of a meteor crashing into the lake incubates a prehistoric egg, which grows into a plesiosaur-like monster that terrifies the community and eats those daring enough to go into the lake, like a couple on a honey moon, a felon, and a mild-mannered fisher-man. Granted, the acting is bad (even though actor Mark Siegel went on to have a great effects career at Industrial Light and Magic)and the poor sound and picture quality of the crown international VHS (I just bought my copy of this film on DVD, much better video quality!), and the irritating flaws (How can that chick see "stars" in the middle of the day? How come a cop is driving over a course of 6 MONTHS to get to a dinner?), but despite the poor continuity and plot holes, I must admit that I did enjoy this film. The stop-motion special effects for the dinosaur are excellent, the suspense is adequate, the characters are quit funny, (unintentionally, most of the time) and it was pretty fun to watch and poke at the flaws.......enjoy!