The Crater Lake Monster
| The Crater Lake Monster | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | William R. Stromberg |
| Written by | William R. Stromberg Richard Cardella |
| Starring | Richard Cardella Glen Roberts Mark Siegel |
| Distributed by | Crown International Pictures |
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Release date
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1977 |
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Running time
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85 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $100,000 |
| Box office | $3,000,000 |
The Crater Lake Monster is a 1977 B-movie horror film directed by William R. Stromberg for Crown International Pictures, and starring Richard Cardella. The script was also written by Stromberg and Cardella, and their affiliation with The Crater Lake Monster marked the zenith of their careers.
The storyline revolves around a giant plesiosaur, akin to the Loch Ness Monster, which appears in Crater Lake in Northern California, near Susanville (not to be confused with the much more famous Crater Lake in Oregon). As people are attacked by the monster, the Sheriff (Cardella) investigates along with a group of scientists in order to stop the creature.
In Crater Lake, Northern California, Dr. Richard Calkins (Hyman) is informed by his colleague Dan Turner (Garrison) that he and his girlfriend Susan Patterson (Cobb) have made an incredible discovery in a nearby cave system. The three head down and discover a system of cave drawings, including what appears to be a depiction of people fighting off a Plesiosaurus, thus providing evidence that dinosaurs existed at the same time as man. However, a flaming meteorite crashes into the lake just overhead, resulting in a cave-in that destroys the cave system and the drawings, while the three scientists are barely able to escape alive. The local sheriff, Steve Hanson (Cardella), sees the meteorite crash and radios in the incident before continuing on his patrol.
Several months later, Sheriff Hanson meets with the three scientists to go search for the meteorite. Turner and Patterson dive down to the bottom of the lake, only to find that the meteorite is still too hot to recover and has resulted in the entire lake becoming significantly warmer than before, rising to approximately 90 degrees. Somewhere else on the lake, a birdwatcher (Hal Scharn) is setting up his equipment when the monster suddenly rises out of the water, moves onto the shore, and kills him.
Two friends, Arnie Chabot (Roberts) and Mitch Kowalski (Siegel), running low on money, decide to start a boat rental service. Their first customer is U.S. senator Jack Fuller (Eliot), who rents a rowboat for a quick fishing trip for $20. However, he is attacked and killed by the monster. Arnie and Mitch see the empty boat drifting in the middle of the lake and go out to retrieve it, finding only some large blood stains inside the boat. They bring the boat back to shore as evidence for the Sheriff.
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