This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

The Worst Film Ever

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

I mean hey, this movie had a very low budget, and I have to hand it to them, they did quite well with what they had. However, I wouldn't say that makes this a good movie. The plot isn't so bad, but it leaves many assumptions to be made. Not to mention when a cop sees a meteor crash into a lake, you'd expect him to say or do more than come over the radio and just be like "a giant fire ball just crashed into the lake I guess, we should call the forest rangers". I mean, nonchalant much? The best part of the film of course is the monster, stop motion all the way in 1977? You're kidding! It's extremely obvious in many parts of the film that the cameras and equipment used are not professional equipment, and the plot tends to switch between a menacing monster, and two drunks who get into mischief. Overall the film had a lot of potential, but it could have been so much better.

The main attraction in the Crown International creature feature "The Crater Lake Monster" is its stop motion animation by David Allen, who was one of the experts in the field. As for the rest, it's reasonably engaging stuff, with likable characters and a passable story. Although the movie runs only 84 minutes long, it is overextended somewhat, with some digressions - especially comedic digressions - that don't really add anything to the story. For example, more than a little too much time is spent with comedy relief characters Arnie (Glen Roberts) and Mitch (Mark Siegel). But the effects are fun, and there is some atmosphere to enjoy.A meteor crashes to Earth, landing in Crater Lake in Oregon. The now extremely hot water acts as an incubator for a dinosaur egg, a leftover from a long ago time. The monster, a plesiosaur, hatches and is soon feasting on local people and cows. It's up to intrepid county sheriff Steve Hanson (Richard Cardella, who also wrote the story and screenplay with producer / director William R. Stromberg) to figure things out and also determine how best to slay the beast.Strombergs' movie is never as much fun as it could be, because sometimes it's just not that interesting unless the monster is slithering around. (An amphibious dinosaur, it has flippers rather than feet.) But it's still amusing to watch, and the writers add such things as a subplot with a liquor store robber who is pursued by Steve, just to spice things up a little. The music (composed without credit by Will Zens) sounds like stuff you'd hear in a schlock picture from decades past. The on location shooting in rural California is effective. And the acting is absolutely nothing great but suitable for the material. Also co-starring is Bob Hyman as the local M.D. who is one of the voices who expectedly try to persuade our hero to let the monster be taken alive. And while too much time may be devoted to Arnie and Mitch, they're still somewhat endearing and not fatally annoying.Worth a look if you love creature features of all kinds of budgets.Six out of 10.

A meteor lands in Crater Lake, Oregon, where the incredible heat incubates a dormant, fertile Plesiosaur egg; once hatched, the dinosaur rapidly grows to 50ft in length and begins to feed on unfortunate visitors and locals. Sheriff Steve Hanson (Richard Cardella) investigates with the help of paleontologists Dan (Richard Garrison) and Susan (Kacey Cobb).Filmed in Fantamation (whetever the heck that is), The Crater Lake Monster is a typical 50s-style creature feature, only it's from the late-70s, meaning that along with the hokey premise, dreadful acting and jerky stop-motion monster, we also get Jaws-inspired attack scenes with a fair amount of bright red blood splashed all over the place, and characters sporting either big sideburns or Farrah flicks. Helping to pad out the film to feature length are light relief hick duo Arnie and Mitch, a pair of drunken dolts who hire out fishing boats on the lake, plus a pointless sub-plot about an armed robber on the run from the law having shot two people during a liquor store hold-up (maybe he was upset because they didn't stock one of their stylish 'Booze' T-shirts in his size).Fans of quality film-making will no doubt quickly move right along, but those who dig shonky monster movies for their sheer naffness should find enough to enjoy here: in addition to the not-in-the-least-bit-scary animated aquatic creature, we get some hilarious close-ups of a crap monster model in the water, some of the worst day-for-night photography ever ('Look at the stars' coos a woman to her husband as the sun beats down on them from a clear blue sky), true professional Bob Hyman as the town's doctor fluffing his lines but carrying on regardless, a guy crashing a boat gently on a sandbank and then taking a nap, a very slow car chase, and a police photo-lab adorned with 10 x 8s of cute kittens and puppies (suspects in an illegal bone and catnip smuggling operation perhaps?).

First off, this movie bears a striking resemblance to the Japanese film "Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds". I would suggest one of them ripped off the other, but both came out in 1977. They have nearly identical setups as a dinosaur is released thanks to strange disasters and it begins to feed on the locals. That one though did have a huge volcanic eruption at the end and a monster bird thrown in for fun, while this one has two guys that are in the film way too much. So the winner of who was the better film goes to the Japanese film. It took itself a bit too seriously, but this one spent a bit too much time on two characters that I suppose the filmmakers thought were a riot. I have read how bad this film is and when it started I was thinking, "this is not to bad." Two people were killed in quick succession in between the monster attacking a herd of cows so I did not think it was going to be a super great film, but at least it looked as if there would be plenty of action. Then the film focuses on this two losers with a boat renting place and it will show you scenes that seem to have no reason for being in the film.The story has a meteor crashing into a lake and this will warm the lake up enough to incubate a dinosaur egg. Time passes, though there was nothing to indicate this, and it gets big and begins chomping on the locals and the tourists. Sheriff knows somethings is wrong, but it is not until later that it all comes together for him. The plot was okay, had they done a better job of crafting the film and had more bloody kills this one could of been a classic. Unfortunately, there are huge stretches of nothing happening and a strange moment where a man robs a liquor store and shoots two people that almost seems to come from another movie.The thing that really drags this film down though is Arnie and his buddy as they chew up more scenery than the dinosaur chews up people. You will have to watch them have discussions, fight, and sit around drinking and then walking and not having any encounters with the dinosaur until the end where I gave the film one more point than I was when the dinosaur at least got a hold of one of these bozos. If they had focused on the dinosaur and had some more action this film would have been still bad, but more watchable. Watching two guys being portrayed as funny, but they are not...boring.So this film pretty much is your standard Jaws ripoff. The only thing that makes it stand out is the two buds and the strange inclusion of a robbery and chase. The film was pretty boring for the most part, but I will say it was rather bloody for a PG rated film as we even have a severed head thrown into it. Could have been good, if the makers of this film did not think those two idiots were super funny.