Review of The Crater Lake Monster (1977) by Gus S — 28 Dec 2008

Exciting set-up in the tradition of the classic monster film. But the story crashes and burns so fast it is unbelievable. The interesting characters, that where the main focus at the start, are pushed into the background and the movie begins to circle the drain as two annoying rednecks provide "comic relief" from the absent tension.

There is huge amount of confusion as the scenes randomly switch between night and day throughout the movie and the viewer has no idea what time of day it is supposed to be. One particularly comical example of this is when a woman talks about the "beautiful moon and stars" she sees, but it is so bright out they must have filmed the scene at noon.

The hidden gem in this movie (which does make it worth watching) is the monster itself, which is surprisingly well animated in a Harryhausen style but there is not nearly enough of it.