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3.5/10
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A meteor that crashed into Oregon's Crater Lake unearths a dinosaur egg. The heat from the meteor causes the egg to hatch, and the emerging dinosaur takes to snacking on the locals.A meteor that crashed into Oregon's Crater Lake unearths a dinosaur egg. The heat from the meteor causes the egg to hatch, and the emerging dinosaur takes to snacking on the locals.A meteor that crashed into Oregon's Crater Lake unearths a dinosaur egg. The heat from the meteor causes the egg to hatch, and the emerging dinosaur takes to snacking on the locals.
Glen Roberts
- Arnie Chabot
- (as Glenn Roberts)
Michael F. Hoover
- Ross Conway
- (as Michael Hoover)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to lead actor/writer Richard Cardella, Crown International Pictures took over production and did very little post-production work. For example, many of the day-for-night scenes were not tinted.
- GoofsThe Conways' boat trip and the subsequent monster attack are described as happening on a moonlit night, yet all scenes take place in broad daylight.
- Quotes
Mitch Kowalski: I've been stuffin' my shoes with newspaper for so long, my feet know more about what's goin' on than my head.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Fantastic Dinosaurs of the Movies (1990)
Featured review
The Life Aquatic with Arnie & Mitch!
Well, what are the odds! At the exact right moment that a few redneck amateur-scientists discover cave paintings indicating that some type of dinosaur monster might have inhabited the area thousands of years ago, a burning meteor crashes into the lake and spontaneously hatches a monster's egg that has been lying there
for over a thousand years, I suppose! "The Crater Lake Monster" is a movie that literally must be seen to be believed, but you better do so in the company of many friends and a pile of ganja in order to make the wholesome a little bit easier to digest. Yes, this is a terrible film with the utmost ramshackle screenplay imaginable and numerous irrelevant padding interludes that are downright embarrassing, but it's also irresistibly charming and so clumsily put together that you simply have to cherish some kind of fondness for it. Half of the film – at least – revolves on the wacky adventures of Arnie and Mitch. These two local yokels own and run a boat renting shop near the lake, but spend most of their days picking their noses and quarreling over fascinating stuff like to spell the word "bait". It is mostly during their prototypic Laurel & Hardy situations that new puddles of blood or decapitated heads are discovered in the lake. Steve Hanson, the heroic but not exactly sharp Sheriff is on the case, but only if he's not too busy chasing big city thugs traveling through the area. Halfway through the film, there suddenly is an abrupt scene about a thug robbing a liquor store and killing two people in the process. This textbook "WTF" moment appears to take on the complete other side of the country, like in New York City or something, and has absolutely nothing to do with the events going on at Crater Lake. Only like twenty minutes later the robber pops up again in Hicksville and there's an "exhilarating" chase through the woods, ending in the Dino's hungry muzzle. The absurd little details in "The Crater Lake Monster" are too numerous to mention! For example, this is probably the only creature-feature in which the players discover the obligatory gigantic footprint AFTER they already spotted the actual monster. The goofs in continuity should be legendary as far as I'm concerned. It's like everybody forgot to pay attention to it. Night turns into twilight into day and back into twilight
all during one and the same diurnal course! The monster is undeniably the best aspect about the film, especially since it's accomplished through good old fashioned and adorable stop- motion effects. The cute critter is a Plesiosaur; meaning an aquatic dinosaur looking like a crossbreed between Denver the Last Dinosaur and an alligator. "Crater Lake Monster" is a unique and unforgettable movie- experience that I can only encourage to track down! The miserable 1 out of 10 rating is just out of principle (and because basically, this IS a very bad film) should be put into perspective, because I might as well could have given it 10 out of 10 for sheer entertainment value.
helpful•169
- Coventry
- Aug 13, 2009
- How long is The Crater Lake Monster?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- El monstruo del cráter
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $100,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 25 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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By what name was The Crater Lake Monster (1977) officially released in Canada in English?
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