After Wednesday’s review of one of the more serious Godzilla movies, Rooster Illusion is letting its proverbial hair down with an ultra-low budget horror comedy from the team behind recent silent slapstick masterpiece Hundreds of Beavers*.

Lake Michigan Monster (2018):

The Plot: Eccentric drunk Captain Seafield (director Ryland Brickson Cole Tews) assembles a motley crew to hunt down the lake monster that killed his father. The team’s increasingly desperate attempts to slay the beast lead to the murky depths of Lake Michigan…and Seafield’s past!

Writing about comedy can be difficult. Humor is subjective, and hearing a joke second-hand usually diminishes its potency. Lines from Lake Michigan Monster have already worked their way into my lexicon (“Ashcroft, you know I don’t have any intuition!”), but professional standards prevent me from making that the bulk of my review.

Listing similar movies or the filmmakers’ influences runs the risk of making the work sound derivative. Saying that Lake Michigan Monster draws upon Monty Python and seasons 1-8 of The Simpsons conveys its pedigree but not its charms (I might also add things like The Angry Beavers, early Sam Raimi, and SpongeBob SquarePants to that list). The film wears its influences on its sleeve, but in a way that feels…authentic. There’s a world of difference between borrowed style and artists taking inspiration from the things they love. This film is definitely the latter. For all that its tone and approach invoke different eras of classic comedy and B-horror, Lake Michigan Monster is very much its own thing.

This summer, I saw both Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025) and Jaws (1975) on the big screen. Both blockbusters, but separated by a wide gulf of artistry. The former was made for an eye-watering $180,000,000 and used every pixel that budget afforded to present an experience that can be generously described as “going through the motions”. Gareth Edwards is a talented filmmaker, but one gets the feeling that a budget that big is more of a hindrance than a help. Jaws wasn’t exactly made for cheap ($7,000,000 in 1975), but Steven Spielberg famously had to work around a malfunctioning animatronic shark. He makes the Great White’s presence felt through clever editing, letting the audience’s imagination build up the threat before the big reveal in the third act. To be fair, he was also working with a much better script than Edwards.

Lake Michigan Monster has very different aims than either Jurassic World: Rebirth or Jaws, but the comparison came to mind when I was thinking of why this film works so well. Not every low budget movie benefits from the lack of resources, but the right filmmaker will turn it to their advantage. Tews and co. lean into the limitations of their $7,000 budget to create an off-kilter version of Milwaukee that’s the perfect setting for this goofy tale of nautical vengeance. The low-resolution image quality imposed by actress Beulah Peters’ old DSLR camera becomes the foundation for a retro black and white aesthetic. Cheap costumes and props are freely used as the butt of jokes but also contribute to the film’s scrappy charm. All these things are appealing, but what really makes the film work is sharp editing and quality writing.

I’ve long maintained that you have to be smart to make “dumb comedy” work. It’s not just about being able to reference a wide variety of things—although being literate in your chosen genre always helps—it’s constructing jokes and keeping them coming while still having the wherewithal to keep the plot moving. It is, as Chris observed about early Simpsons in his recent Second Breakfast double-feature, the ability to be “simultaneously low- and high-brow”. Tews and co-writer Mike Cheslik (who took over directing duties for Hundreds of Beavers) fill their script with recurring bits and callback jokes, peppered with moments of abject silliness. It is exactly my cup of tea.

Lake Michigan Monster is a comedic B-movie cobbled together by a group of friends that utterly transcends that description. It reminds me of projects I made with my friends in high school and college, while still being a Real Movie. In a way, this is what we were trying to make. I’m old enough to feel relieved that a movie like this is out there, instead of jealous that I didn’t make it**. Even if I hadn’t already seen Hundreds of Beavers—which, again, I heartily recommend—Lake Michigan Monster would clearly be the start of a promising career.

If you’re looking for something light to add to your Octoberween lineup, this is a good one to watch with a group.

Lake Michigan Monster is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

*I cannot recommend Hundreds of Beavers highly enough.

**Well, maybe a little jealous.