The Crater Lake Monster

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The Crater Lake Monster
Film poster
Directed by	William R. Stromberg
Written by	William R. Stromberg Richard Cardella
Starring	Richard Cardella Glen Roberts Kacey Cobb
Distributed by	Crown International Pictures
Release date(s)	1977
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Crater Lake Monster is a 1977 B-rated 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.^[1]

The storyline revolves around a giant plesiosaur, akin to the Loch Ness Monster, which appears in Crater Lake, next to a small Californian town. As people are attacked by the monster, the Sheriff (Cardella) investigates along with a group of scientists in order to stop the creature.

The film is mostly notable for being an example of David W. Allen's early stop-motion animation, and "the best thing about the movie (make that the only thing)". Otherwise, the film was widely panned by critics, with DVD Drive-In calling it "one of the worst giant monster flicks of all time".^[1] The film suffered from financing and publication problems with Crown International; as Cardella recounts:

“

Crown International was part of the financing and they just screwed up everything. They pulled their support for some key scenes (that would have explained a lot and plugged some of the obvious holes), added a canned score that really sucked, and turned it over to some hack to edit. The asshole didn't even use a fade or dissolve in the whole freakin' picture!^[2]

”

Despite being a critical and commercial flop, the camp appeal of the film led to a VHS release on United Home Video, and DVD release on Rhino Home Video.^[1]