The Crater Lake Monster (1977)

The Halloween monster fest continues with 1977’s The Crater Lake Monster. I remember this movie being on TV all the time when I was a kid, but I never got around to watching it, except a little bit of the ending. I’m actually surprised that I never sat to watch the whole thing, considering how much I loved monster, dinosaur and kaiju films. It was uploaded to YouTube so I finally saw the entire thing.

The plot is pretty simple. A meteor crashes into a lake and warms the water, incubating a dinosaur egg that’s been down there for thousands of years. It hatches, and soon enough, the title terror begins feeding on the locals and farm animals. The sheriff works with some scientists to solve the mystery of the missing people and cows. The dinosaur (resembling a plesiosaur) eventually reveals itself, and everyone sets about to stop its rampage.

The movie was cheesy and the story is mostly straightforward, apart from a subplot about a guy who robs a convenience store, and 2 bumbling idiots who run a boat rental business. The rest is people being stalked and eaten. The monster is brought to life via stop motion, and what appears to be an animatronic head for close up shots. The creature’s scenes are all entertaining, especially the first few attacks, where none of the victims bother to scream, mostly just sit there with shocked looks on their faces. The climax takes place on land, with the monster against a bulldozer.

The Crater Lake Monster is a goofy but fun movie that gives us plenty of monster action. Unlike many older flicks that only give us glimpses until the very end. Check it out if you enjoy retro creature features.

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