Creature from Black Lake
Entry updated 11 April 2019. Tagged: Film.
Film (1976). Howco International Pictures/Cinema Shares International Distribution. Produced by Jim McCullough Sr. Directed by Joy N Houck Jr. Written by Jim McCullough Jr. Cast includes John David Carson, Jack Elam, Dennis Fimple, Roy Tatum, Dub Taylor and Bill Thurman. 91 minutes. Colour.
University of Chicago anthropology students Pahoo (Fimple) and Rives (Carson) hear reports of a Bigfoot-like creature (see Apes as Human) inhabiting swamplands near Oil City, Louisiana, and take a trip south to investigate. After a chilly reception and incidental complications in the small, backwoods town, the Sheriff (Thurman) advises them it would be best to forget tales of the creature, and leave. They stay and meet farmer Grandpaw Bridges (Taylor), whose family had an encounter several years before with this entity, resulting in the death of one of his children. Persisting, the students meet swamplands trapper Joe Danton (Elam), who relates his narrow escape from Bigfoot when it pulled his friend out of their boat to his death. By now it seems that the creature (Tatum) is stalking them rather than vice-versa. On the third night they have a climactic battle with the monster, which overturns their van. Managing to wound seriously it with high-powered rifles, the two friends escape with their lives and leave town, having finally decided to leave well enough alone.
One of several 1970s films about Bigfoot or Yeti-like creatures, Creature from Black Lake is a routine offering, though fairly successful at the time and better than many of its rivals. Even at the climax, disappointingly, the creature is never seen clearly. [GSt]
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