CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE 1976

Bicentennial Sasquatch Mayhem From Joy N. Houck Jr. !

      Directed by Joy N. Houck Jr.(NIGHT OF BLOODY TERROR and WOMEN OF BLOODY TERROR), this enjoyable 1976 Bigfoot romp was released in the midst of the 70's cultural explosion of all things related to mysterious & hairy bipeds. In 1972 Charles B. Pierce's LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK became ground zero for 70's Bigfoot cinema along with the much loved Sunn Classics MYSTERIOUS MONSTERS documentary, TV shows such as IN SEARCH OF..  and even THE SIX-MILLION DOLLAR MAN getting in on the action with a few Bigfoot encounters along with subsequent games, books etc. THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK was distributed by Howco, which was founded by Houck Jr.'s father and distributed movies such as THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROS, Ed Wood's JAIL BAIT, MY WORLD DIES SCREAMING among others throughout the southern drive-in circuit from the late 50's through the early 70's.  

     CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE has been criticized because of its slow pace (especially during the first half) but I think that works to its advantage. For a low budget movie there's some pretty good character development here with well defined personalities - and for a bonus you get not one...but two crotchety old guys to warn you away from swamp in the form of Dub Taylor AND Jack Elam. The creature attacks are spaced out nicely (although for a supposed reclusive type beastie he sure seems to make a nuisance of himself) with the climatic monster stomping ratcheting up a fair amount of tension.

     After hearing a lecture by their anthropology professor (played by director Houck) on the sightings of mysterious creatures who inhabit various remote sections of North America two University of Chicago students named Pahoo (Dennis Fimple TRUCK STOP WOMEN  & HOUSE OF A 1000 CORPSES) and Rives (John David Carson PRETTY MAIDS ALL IN A ROW) load up their Ford Econoline Van and head down to Oil City, LA. to do a study on a reported swamp dwelling monster (a monster that we've been made aware of by a pre-credit sequence showing a fisherman being dragged from his boat).
     Upon arriving at their destination the two immediately run into the patriarch of small southern towns as far as 70's drive-in cinema is concerned - the grouchy heavy set sheriff, here named "Billy Carter" (!) - although this being 1976, I'm not sure how many people knew of Billy Carter, so this might just be a coincidence. Sheriff Billy warns them against looking in the swamps and making the towns folk all appear as "stupid rednecks" to the outside world, but to the credit of screenwriter Jim McCullough & director Houck the character never slips into the stereotypical buffoon as in the films climax he showed to be a capable and sympathetic authority figure.
     The two main characters of Pahoo and Rives as portrayed by Fimple and Carson are also written with clearly different personalities as the younger Rives is a bit of a smart alack (he seems to enjoy baiting the sheriff) and know-it-all with long hair while Fimple is the more eager to please and down to earth one (he seems to be interested mostly in girls and hamburgers). There's dialogue alluding to Fimple's service in Vietnam and both characters motivation and their comradeship change several times through the course of the movie.

      The plot sets up some of the "fish out of water" scenarios as to be expected with the two "Yankees" (even though Fimple is clearly southern and dialog mentions him being from Georgia) treated as suspicious outsiders as they attempt to question the townsfolk under the watchful eye of the sheriff. Glowering in the background is grizzled trapper Joe Canton (Jack Elam) who's partner had previously been killed by the monster. Not finding much co-operation the eventually meet up with Orville Bridges (played by writer Jim McCullough Jr.- who was also the producer with an over the title John Carpenter-like credit on the poster) whom as a youngster witnessed his parents being killed by the monster and he invites the two back to his home.

      His father (Dub Taylor) is initially suspicious of the visitors and invites them in for dinner, but Pahoo mentions the monster upsetting the family and the pair of researchers spends the night in the Bridge's barn, where they record some fearsome howling during the night. The investigation continues as the guys pick up a couple local girls (with one of them being the sheriffs daughter) inviting them back to their campsite and later they hook up with the crusty old trapper Joe Canton who relates the story of his encounter with the swamp critter (Elam does an excellent job with this sequence and it shares some similarities to Robert Shaw's Indianapolis speech in JAWS).
      The guy in a hairy suit (monster) is kept fairly hidden with quick glimpses, rustling underbrush and the fearsome howling announcing its presence. One of the criticisms leveled at this occasionally is its lack of "monster attacks", but what the heck - its set up as a reclusive presence, so it can even be argued that the attacks shown might be overdone.

      As mentioned CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE has a very character & dialogue driven plot which does lead to some slow parts (especially during the first hour or so) but this is balanced out by having some leads that have a bit more depth to them then you see typically in low budget drive-in films and for the most part avoid broad stereotypical characterizations. For many of the secondary roles Houck used locals (much like Pierce in BOGGY CREEK) and although there is a stiffness to their parts they help with the authenticity and add to the documentary feel to the film. This also represents an early DP credit for future John Carpenter cinematographer Dean Cundey (who also shot ILSA HAREM KEEPER OF THE OIL SHEIKS, THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA and BLACK SHAMPOO the same year).
    Although not shot as pseudo- documentary, CREATURE attempts to channel the same sort of LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK atmosphere with its lingering shots of swamps and various critters. Like BOGGY CREEK, this was filmed in the actual location, here being Oil City (which is in the far NW corner of LA.) and is only about 50 miles from the location of Pierce's film in Fouke, AR with the two regions sharing the legend of the "Fouke Monster". The location shooting helps immensely with the atmosphere of the film as you can almost feel the mosquitoes buzzing around and the sticky humidity.
    Joy N. Houck also directed the interesting NIGHT OF THE STRANGLER which was just released by Vinegar Syndrome and was the subject of an excellent recent write-up over at Cool Ass Cinema. CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE is available on several budget labels and multi-packs, but Synapse has announced a blu-ray edition for future release.