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.

NAKED ANGELS 1969

"Mad dogs from hell !"

"Hunting down their prey with a quarter-ton of hot steel between their legs !"

(and its in Eastman Color !)

     In 1966 Roger Corman unleashed THE WILD ANGELS and kicked into high gear the biker genre (which could lay its roots back to 1953's THE WILD ONE) and dragged it kicking and screaming into the world of 60's radicalism, LSD and low budget drive-in movies featuring the requisite sex and violence. After THE WILD ANGELS success the the screens were flooded with dozens (if not hundreds) of independent and major film companies takes on scuzzy black leather bikers with Nazi regalia (along with their female counterparts) roaring down highways and terrifying middle class America. Its kinda amazing when watching THE WILD ANGELS today on how well scrubbed and nattily dressed Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra are as the leads

     Their cheapness to produce was another reason the biker film was a popular genre with independent filmmakers. Along with very minimal special effects usually needed you could make a deal with a local motorcycle shop for loan of some bikes, the desert locals which were popular with the genre was cheap and easy to film in since the need for permits could be avoided for the most part and for background extras a local cycle gang could probably be rounded up without to much trouble for the price of a few cases of beer.
    NAKED ANGELS was released in 1969 and although it has all the standard hallmarks of other low budget biker flick such as desolate desert highways and a garage rock based score (more on that later) it does feature some above average work by its leads, a neon filled Las Vegas sequence and some quirky editing that gives it an almost art house look (albeit a low budget grungy one) to it. Directed/written by Bruce D. Clark and co-written by Marc Siegler (who later  teamed-up for New World's GALAXY OF TERROR) it also features early screen credit for future ace cinematographer Dean Cundey (HALLOWEEN and ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK) who's credited here as make-up artist - and most likely spent a little time behind the camera.

     Gang leader "Mother" (Michael Greene from TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.) returns to his buddies after spending two months in the hospital from beating at the hands of a rival gang. Greeting his second in command "Fingers" (Richard Rush THE STUDENT NURSES) by engaging in drinking game where they spit mouthfuls of beer back into each others glasses and then announces his plan to head to Las Vegas to exact an ass kicking revenge on the rival gang which goes by the name of the Vegas Hotdoggers. He also lays claim to the strawberry blond foul mouthed Marlene (the wonderful Jennifer Gan from WOMEN IN CAGES - and who looks cool as hell here filling out her open stitched leather pants).
     Heading into Las Vegas Mother and company first stop by a topless bar and kick the crap out of a guy to get him to tell where the rival gang is located. Out and about in Vegas Mother picks up a pretty brunette and after getting her back to her place her gangster boyfriend shows up and chases him up on a roof before the police and his gang intercede. The Vegas sequences are beautifully shot and give a nostalgic view of a pre-theme park hotel Vegas on Fremont St. (you can even spot a movie theatre marquee advertising TORTURE GARDEN and THE COLLECTOR) with still shots interspersed in that whether by design or not gives the film a European art house type feel to it. The cinematography is by Robert Eberlen who strangely only has a few other obscure DP credits on his resume. There is some great use of the wide open desert spaces with the climatic stand-off on a barren salt flat composed particularly well, but to be honest the endless time killing driving through the desert gets a bit monotonous.

  

     As with most movies of this genre there's a bit of a misogynistic streak running through it with Mother's brutal sex with Marlene in barn the group has taken shelter in after fleeing Vegas and later offering her up to the gang as a punishment for defying him and being a bit too frre & easy when he was in the hospital. Mother's increasing erratic leadership (there's hints that perhaps his brain got scrambled as a result of the beating) leads to a mutiny by his gang as they refuse to follow him further into the barren desert in his quest for revenge. Heading off on his own Mother soon finds himself beset by thirst and lack of gas along with heat stroke induced hallucinations that have him and his acquaintances in a wild west setting complete with a saloon shoot-out.

    For a low budget biker film the acting is pretty darn good with Michael Greene's slowly going psychotic Mother character giving an intense and creepy stare down with a crazy gas station attendant at one point and in a perfect world the New York theatre trained Richard Rust would have been a bigger star (his speech to Mother upon the gangs mutiny is striking). Also in a bit of a twist, there's there's some actual tenderness shown in the burgeoning romance between Rust's Fingers and Gan's Marlene. With her wild mane of hair and iron cross festooned bare midriff blouse Jennifer Gan is wonderful here seeming to be having a ball with her role as she deliciously spews out out her dialogue. Along with her role in the Filipino WOMEN IN CAGES she also played a biker chick in The Monkees episode THE WILD MONKESS from 1967 and had small parts in IN LIKE FLINT and VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. Like Richard Rust (who passed away in 1994) she left us much too early at the age of 62 in 2000. Director Penelope Spears can be seen lurking about as one of the biker chicks.

    Being released in 1969 Corman was nominally attached to NAKED ANGELS as an unnamed associate producer as this was just a short time before he left A.I.P. to start New World and although not technicality  a "Roger Corman film" it did later became an unofficial part of the New World film catalog. Along with ANGELS DIE HARD (1970), BURY ME AN ANGEL (1971) and ANGELS HARD AS THEY COME (1971) this was rumored to be part of an "Angel" collection that was to be released by Shout Factory as part of their deal with New World. Sadly this fell by the wayside after their New World releases sputtered out and Shout later released NAKED ANGELS as a bare bones stand alone release from a full frame master.
    The terrific acid drenched fuzz guitar soundtrack (one of the best of its kind) is by Mothers of Invention bassist Jeff Simmons and was released by Frank Zappa's Straight label. NAKED ANGELS originally went out on the top of a double bill with Jack Hill's excellent b&w racing drama PIT STOP.