Creature from Black Lake

After hearing a lecture on unknown, humanoid creatures such as Bigfoot and the Fouke Monster, two University of Chicago students, Pahoo (Dennis Fimple) and Rives (John David Carson), decide to spend their spring break pursuing the story and journey from Chicago to the Louisiana-Arkansas border. Once they arrive in Louisiana, they begin interviewing witnesses. The first interviews are with 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 (Jim McCullough Jr.) and his grandparents (Dub Taylor and Evelyn Hindricks), 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. At a local diner, the men meet two local women, Becky (Becky Smiser) and Michelle (Michelle Willingham), who take an obvious liking to them. The men invite them to come visit their campsite that evening in the nearby state park. Shortly after the women arrive, the group are attacked by the creature, who begins stalking them outside their tent during a rainstorm. Moments later, Sheriff Carter (Bill Thurman), Becky's father, storms into the tent, ordering the girls to leave before arresting Pahoo and Rives and holding them in the county jail. Meanwhile, local redneck Joe Canton (Jack Elam), whom the students previously encountered, is accosted by the creature in his backwoods shack. He defends himself against it with a rifle. When he stumbles into the police station raving about the creature, Sheriff Carter dismisses Canton as a raving drunk, and also keeps him overnight in the holding cell with Pahoo and Rives. Canton recounts to the men his first encounter with the creature from years prior, when it pulled his friend and fellow fisherman, H.B., into the lake, killing him. At dawn, the men are freed on the condition that Pahoo and Rives leave town. Instead, they defy the sheriff's orders and accompany Canton back to his home to learn more about his encounters with the creature. Canton directs the men to a remote area deep in the swamp, where he encountered the creature's tracks. That night, the men explore the swamp, and Pahoo is viciously attacked by the creature while Rives waits in their van. The creature raids the men's campsite before Rives radios the local police for help. Moments later, the creature attacks the van, forcing it to tumble down a slope with Rives inside. Rives attempts to shoot the creature before the van explodes into flames. Rives flees into the swamp, where he locates the injured Pahoo, who falls into a coma. Carter arrives at the scene with Canton, who agrees to help. At dawn, they locate Rives, along with Pahoo, who is on the verge of death. They are taken to the local hospital, where Pahoo is treated for critical injuries. When Rives pleads at Pahoo's bedside for his survival, Pahoo suddenly regains consciousness. He jokes with Rives that, though he is injured and in pain, he is only regretful that the men will have to restart their project.