Creature from Black Lake

Creature from Black Lake is a 1976 American horror film written and directed by Joy N. Houck Jr. and starring Jack Elam, Dub Taylor, Dennis Fimple, John David Carson, and Bill Thurman. It follows two anthropology students from the University of Chicago who attempt to document the Fouke Monster, a Bigfoot-like creature who is said to torment a small Louisiana community. The film was one of the earliest projects of cinematographer Dean Cundey, who went on to work as a frequent collaborator of John Carpenter's, serving as the cinematographer of his films Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980), and The Thing (1982). Plot After hearing a lecture on unknown, humanoid creatures such as Bigfoot and the Fouke Monster, two University of Chicago students, Pahoo and Rives, decide to spend their spring break pursuing the story and journey from Chicago to the Louisiana-Arkansas border. There they begin interviewing witnesses, first a family that suffered a car crash when the creature menaced them on the road, killing the parents of a young child, Orville Bridges. Pahoo and Rives stay with Orville and his grandparents, who are reluctant to speak with them, fearing they will portray them as superstitious rednecks, but soon take a liking to the students. Grandpaw Bridges regales them with stories about encounters with the creature, including one in which he witnessed it viciously murdering his pet dog. Late in the night at the family's rural farm, the household is awoken by sinister, guttural screams coming from the woods, which Pahoo and Rives are quick to attempt documenting with a tape recorder.