{"id":25759,"date":"2022-12-13T14:17:46","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T22:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=25759"},"modified":"2022-12-13T14:17:46","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T22:17:46","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-creature-from-black-lake-1976","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=25759","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE (1976)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This title is currently available on Blu-ray from Synapse\nFilms.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the 1970s, independent genre pictures were seemingly at their prime. If you could raise a bit of money, take an interesting concept and bring the right people together, you could make a movie and get it distributed (at the very least, regionally) at drive-ins and local movie houses. One such example is Creature from Black Lake<\/em>, a homemade flick from Louisiana that capitalized on the sudden wave of public interest in cryptozoology and fantastic creatures. Specifically, the giant, hairy beast known as Bigfoot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movie was profitable during its original run, on\ntelevision and on home video formats like VHS in the 80s, but the picture was\nalways dark and blurry. Perhaps that is why in more recent times the film had\nfallen into obscurity. Thankfully, Synapse Film has rescued the title from the\nvault, cleaned it up with a 4K restoration and is now presenting it on Blu-ray.\nWhile this is a very low-budget affair, it features excellent photography from\na future big-time cinematographer and the end result is actually quite atmospheric.\nIt is great to see it all restored in high definition so that audiences new and\nold can see the film in all its glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based loosely on the Fouke Monster legend, the story begins\nnear the Louisiana\/Arkansas border. Viewers are treated to a couple of effective\nscenes including a pair of fishermen and a family who are assaulted by a\nBigfoot-like monster. Meanwhile in Chicago, curious university students Rives\n(John David Carson) and Pahoo (Dennis Fimple), hear a lecture on the myth. They\nconvince their professor to send them down south to investigate the legend.\nThey immediately find the small-town locals unwilling to assist them, but as\nthey hang around and get to know a few individuals, they begin to hear more\nabout the attacks from witnesses like Grandpa Bridges (Dub Taylor) and Joe\nCanton (Jack Elam). All skepticism from the leads disappears after they come\ninto contact with the creature. As their obsession grows, the danger rises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To be fair, this is a very low-budget effort and so there\naren\u2019t many attacks in the movie. The opening does include a couple of striking\ndaytime encounters and the one with a family (including a very upset toddler)\ndoes send chills down the spine. But after this zippy opening, the film simply\nfollows Rives and Pahoo on their trip. It\u2019s certainly good for developing the\nquirky characters and adds a documentary-like feel to the proceedings, but\neverything is fairly relaxed and low-key for a suspense flick. We see the pair\ndiscuss the legend in their van, camp, as well as talk to people for the next\nhour. At least there are some funny and awkward encounters. This is\nparticularly true at a diner when the protagonists play an audio recording of\nthe monster and upset the staff and customers. However, the lives of the heroes\naren\u2019t really at risk until the final act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But at least the two quirky men are charismatic and\nrelatable enough to keep viewers watching. The climax includes some unexpected\nand unexpectedly gripping elements. And the cinematography is far better than\none would expect for a movie like this. Despite being shot on real locations,\neverything looks beautifully lit. The widescreen swamp images are beautiful, as\nis the nighttime material. While films like this are often so dark and muddy\nthat one can\u2019t see anything, all important elements here are clearly visible\nwhile still being surrounded by darkness. Additionally, we only really get\nbrief glimpses of the title beast, which helps add to the atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This marked an early feature for director of photography\nDean Cundey and he shows a natural gift. It\u2019s no surprise that he would go on\nto shoot classics and notable titles like Halloween, The Fog, Escape from\nNew York, The Thing, Psycho II, Romancing the Stone, Back to the Future, Big\nTrouble in Little China, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Jurassic Park<\/em> among many\nother credits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, the film is a better-than-average, fun little drive-in\nmonster movie that makes the most of its limited resources and also serves as\nan interesting time-capsule of an era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Synapse Blu-ray includes a beautifully sharp widescreen\nimage and the movie probably looks better here than it did during its original\nrun. There are also some great extras. The first is an entertaining film\nhistorian commentary. The two hosts are very aware of the movie’s eccentricities\nand discuss its more unusual characteristics. They share detailed information\non the production, or at least everything they could find out about the\nfilmmakers and how the independent project came together and managed to find a\nrelease. They give some fun factoids about the cast and note that Hollywood\ncharacter actors like Jack Elam were reported as being exceptionally\nprofessional and helpful onset (despite the picture being labeled as drive-in\nfare). Additionally, they discuss the resurgence and popularity of Bigfoot\/Yeti\nmovies during this period and name a few obscurities that horror fans may want\nto hunt down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My personal favorite feature is a lengthy interview with\nDean Cundey himself, who relates his personal experiences on the film. He notes\nthat at this point in history, the number of independent productions allowed\nhim to find work on numerous projects, experiment and hone his craft. He\u2019s\nproud of this early effort and is enjoyable to listen to. In fact, one of his\nbest revelations involves the creature itself. While even the experts don\u2019t\nappear to be certain who was responsible for the monster’s make-up, it turns\nout that Cundey himself was the man who designed the beast and made some of the\nface and hair appliances. It\u2019s a fascinating revelation. There is also some\ngreat publicity material like a trailer (that has also been cleaned up) and a\nradio spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creature from Black Lake<\/em> isn\u2019t the greatest genre\nfilm ever made, but it does have a unique voice and is beautifully shot, fun\nand atmospheric. The new Blu-ray from Synapse really helps display its\nstrongest attributes and adds some engrossing background details about the\nproduction. If you enjoy Bigfoot movies or low-budget drive-in genre pictures,\nthis enjoyable release will be a pleasant surprise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This title is currently available on Blu-ray from Synapse Films. In the 1970s, independent genre pictures were seemingly at their prime. If you could raise a bit of money, take an interesting concept and bring the right people together, you could make a movie and get it distributed (at the very least, regionally) at drive-ins […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":25768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[107,2713,2933,3073,4879,4880,4881,14197,19487],"class_list":["post-25759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-107","tag-bigfoot","tag-blasts-from-the-past-2","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-creature-from-black-lake","tag-creature-from-black-lake-blu-ray-review","tag-creature-from-black-lake-review","tag-monster-movie","tag-synapse"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25759\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}