Creature from Black Lake

Having lived through the Bigfoot-craze of the ‘70s I can tell you that no movie ever quite got it right (although the Bionic Bigfoot in The Six Million Dollar Man ranks pretty high up there!)  Ironically, the search for everyone’s favorite bipedal primate was perfect for the found footage format which was more or less how 1972’s The Legend of Boggy Creek kicked things off.  Four years later, Creature from Black Lake drove back to the swamps for another go, this time using a Jaws-like approach, keeping the legendary antagonist in the shadows for most of the running time. 

Rives and Pahoo (names so ridiculous they have to be spelled out on the back of their shirts) are a couple of Yankee college students making a spectacle of themselves in a small Arkansas town.  Their search for Bigfoot revolves around information from a trapper (Jack Elam) whose partner was a killed by the monster deep in the bayou.  Ignoring local advice – and pressure from law – our boys try to bring-em-back-alive but wind up overmatched by this hairy throwback from the swamps!

 

Creature from Black Lake is overly casual in that way only ‘70s films can pull off.  A sort of Hee Haw-horror combo, it gets by on low expectations and a few familiar faces (the aforementioned Jack Elam and Dub Taylor) while the plot meanders through a few underwhelming Bigfoot encounters.  PG rated to get a boost from the burgeoning TV market, it slips comfortably into a niche between regional releases and Roger Corman quickies.  Likely the most notable thing about it now is the cinematography by Dean Cundey, who was still seven jobs away from his big breakthrough on John Carpenter’s Halloween.  His camerawork here shows flashes of things to come but doesn’t include the cool blues we’ve all come to expect.  Some nice uncredited make-up work, though!

 

Synapse Films new 4K restoration makes for one heck of a Blu-ray, cleaning up what was always a dismal-looking film, but also presenting it in the original widescreen aspect ratio for the first time.  That in itself is a real difference-maker.  Extras include an audio commentary, trailers, slipcover and brief interview with Cundey who shares a few anecdotes about the production.

 

 

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tormented

Image
The west coast always struggled to create a creepy atmosphere on screen.  All that southern California sunshine just doesn’t lend itself to ghostly apparitions or gothic castles.  But  Tormented  (1960) gives it a good try, staging its opening scene in an abandoned lighthouse where blackmail turns into murder - and one cover up leads to another.  Director Bert I. Gordon, better known for his giant-sized - but low-budget - monster movies, works well at this level, turning in a film that delivers small scares but perhaps his most  professional finished product. Tom Stewart (played by genre regular Richard Carlson) is a fairly successful jazz pianist whose impending marriage to Meg Hubbard (Susan Gordon) will put him in an entirely new tax bracket.  Trouble is his old flame, Vi (Juli Reding), isn’t taking this lying down.  After  allowing  her to fall to her death in the opening scene, Tom is haunted by disembo...
Read more

All Ladies Do It / Frivolous Lola

Image
Every semi-professional review of erotica probably starts off with the same question:  what’s the difference between porn and art?  The internet age has essentially done away with foreplay; sex is merely the act of completion itself, minus the threat of any malware or suspicious browser activity.  But the work of Italian director Tinto Brass, for all its leering upskirt shots of derrieres and pubic hair, still communicates something that websites like Pornhub never will:  the art of seduction.  All Ladies Do It  (1992), a breezy sexual adventure, follows Diana (Claudia Koll) whose marriage is threatened by her fantasies of dalliances with other men, stories her husband believes are nothing more than exciting role play.  But her loose definition of adultery inspires plenty of promiscuous hook-ups, taking advantage of any (ahem)  loophole  that provides a quick thrill.   Flirting with some hardcore sequences (there...
Read more

The Cat and the Canary

Image
My favorite directors have always been showoffs:  Hitchcock, DePalma, Spielberg (when he’s feeling frisky) and gonzo auteurs like Sam Raimi.  There’s just something about their cinematic ambition, constantly reminding the audience that, yes, there actually  is  someone behind the camera calling the shots.  And that directorial discontent shines through even in the early days of the medium, such as Paul Leni’s 1927 adaptation of  The Cat and the Canary .  While the rest of the industry was still learning the basics of visual language, Leni fills his frame with tracking shots, POVs and dramatic lighting that set the standard for every spook show to come!  Gathered for the reading of the last will and testament of eccentric recluse Cyrus West,  the potential heirs meet up in his decrepit mansion to discover who will inherit the estate and family jewels.  Predictably there is some petty jealousy when young Annab...
Read more