Release Date: March 12th, 1976
Format: 16mm (Frida Cinema in Santa Ana, CA)
Written by: Joy N. Houck Jr.
Directed by: Joy N. Houck Jr.
1.5 Stars
Next up in Frida’s super secret grindhouse triple-feature of 1970s Bigfoot movies: Creature from Black Lake.
Unlike the Frida’s opening feature film The Legend of Boggy Creek (#369), which is a docudrama consisting of fake interviews about a Bigfoot-like creature called the Fouke Monster, Creature from Black Lake is a traditionally scripted live-action film with real actors and a real plot.
But like Boggy Creek, Creature from Black Lake places us back in the American south, this time in Louisiana.
What is with these rednecks stealing the Pacific Northwest’s beloved and peaceful Sasquatch? And why is their version so violent?
I didn’t care much for Creature from Black Lake, about two anthropology grad students from Chicago trekking down to the bayou to investigate the mysterious killing of a trapper by that damn Fouke Monster. Written and directed by Joy N. Houck Jr., Creature from Black Lake lacks suspense, probably because it veers towards being a road trip buddy movie as much as it does a monster movie. There is clearly some Jaws influence that finds its way into Houck Jr.’s script (like Jaws, a couple recent college grads, a police officer, and a grizzled hunter must combine forces to try and take down a seemingly unstoppable beast).
But that’s where the similarities between Spielberg’s masterpiece and Creature from Black Lake end.
