Creature from Black Lake

This was one of the many low-budget Bigfoot movies made in the 70s, all of which were probably attempts to cash in on the success of "The Legend of Boggy Creek," which somehow took in $20 million. Despite being unoriginal, I think this is a MUCH better movie than "Creek" and possibly the best Bigfoot movie ever made, take that as you will.

Whereas "Creek" suffered from having no plot, no main characters, and insane musical numbers, "Lake" has a tense, engaging story with a great cast. The last 15 minutes are unexpectedly suspenseful and had me hooked. It also has some very funny scenes, especially during the second half when we are introduced to Trapper Joe (played by fantastic character actor Jack Elam). Joe is hilarious, although I'm still slightly creeped out by the fact that he had a large doll hanging by a string in his bedroom.

Besides the characters, I also just like the look and feel of this movie, with the brown, dusty backgrounds and eerie forests. The settings are great and create an unforgettable atmosphere. If you're looking for a low-budget thriller that, while not exactly scary, is at least fun and exciting, this one is hard to beat.

This movie was to be the last respectful BIGFOOT movie to come out for along time. Hollywood had already begun turning the topic into a pop culture joke starting with the SIX MILLION DOLLER MAN/BIGFOOT travesty. This would eventually lead to the E.T.-ing of our favorite bipedal primate with films like HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS. Hairy hominids just didn't seem very scary following this film. This movie stars one ticked off sasquatch. Even more so than his cousin in the previous film, LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK. The story is about two anthropology students on a trip to investigate a supposed swamp creature in OIL CITY LA. The chills and suspense are plenty, there is a lot of comic relief, especially from veteran actors Jack Elam and Dub Taylor and the acting is miles above The acting in BOGGY CREEK. There is however one major flaw in the script. So much so that I even noticed it when I first saw the movie at age fourteen. You see, in real life most bigfoot investigators spend their entire lives searching for the beast and end up at best finding a few hairs or maybe a foot print or two. I know this is only a Fictional movie but our two main characters seem to be running into this creature constantly from the moment they hit town. This seems even more glaring when you add the fact that most of locals, who presumably have lived there all their lives, have never seen the monster. These two (lucky?) guys have three encounters with the creature, on three consecutive nights, in three different locations, presumably miles apart. You begin to wonder who's searching for who. The movie's continuity would seem smoother if one or two of these three particular encounters were with different characters, and the two main characters show up later to investigate. These issues shouldn't take away from the overall entertainment value of the film, they just seemed obvious to me. If your into all things crypto-, see this movie. Its the last really scary bigfoot flick.

I know, I know. This is an extremely dated, average, run of the mill, low budget, cheesy seventies B class horror movie. However, I saw this film in the theater when I was ten years old and it scared the hell out of me. The creature depicted in the movie kept my brother and I out of the woods for an entire summer. We were convinced that the existence of Sasquatch type creatures was entirely possible and that sudden violent death awaited anyone unfortunate enough to have a close encounter with one of these bad tempered beasts. For nostalgic reasons alone this is still one of my favorite B class horror movies, but don't go out of your way to find it.

I remember seeing this movie in the now defunct 'Jerry Lewis Cinemas' chain when I was a teenager. Living in a rural, and I mean rural area, the movie affected my brother and I that summer. My little brother wouldn't go near the woods at our house (all we had around were woods, LOL), and would check all the door locks before going to bed for almost a month because of this movie.

Myself, well, I'd get some goosebumps when I was riding my motorcycle through the woods. But back to the movie. You either love it or hate it. Black Lake does have some slow scenes, but does deliver a punch, especially with Dub Taylor's flashback scenes. Jack Elam made the movie for me, I just wished they had given him more screen-time. I loved the way he chewed up his lines!

The creature is never really seen in detail, just in shadows or blurry footage, but that adds to the suspense. It's available on VHS or VCD from Bijou Flix. Watched it the other day with my wife and teen daughters....and it did scare them.

For its time and budget, a good Bigfoot film IMHP.

Being a "Bigfoot" fan and watching and liking 70's cult films this 1976 simple and sweet made flick "Creature from Black Lake" was a fun little treat to watch. Set in the rural country backwoods swamps of Louisiana where strange sightings have occurred of a big hairy beast which has made the locals quite. Now enter two city slicker Chicago college students and they journey and adventure to explore and hunt for the strange creature! The film was made low budget as you can see the shots are cheap. Still the images are effective as the scenes of attacks are violent chases! Plus the audio and sound recordings are haunting! The feel and atmosphere is spooky with wooded forests and the creature is scary looking and the film moves along just right. Overall for a mid 70's camp like film it worked just fine.