For Momo: The Missouri Monster, their tenth release Seth Breedlove and Small Town Monsters have changed up their basic format a bit. There’s still the mix of interviews and recreations we’ve seen in the likes of The Flatwoods Monster: A Legacy of Fear and Terror in the Skies. But now it’s but in the frame of a creature feature TV show. With clips from a supposedly rediscovered 70s film.

The host of this show, Blackburn’s Cryptid Casefiles, is Lyle Blackburn. He’s the author of several books including Momo: The Strange Case of the Missouri Monster. He relates the events of the summer of 1972 when a large three-toed creature was seen around the town of Louisiana, Missouri. He shows the locations and interviews surviving witnesses. He’s got a pleasant personality and engaging interview style which held my interest. Also, it made for a nice change of pace to have somebody besides Seth in front of the camera.

I was really interested in the faked film, also called Momo: The Missouri Monster. I grew up on films like The Legend Of Boggy Creek and Creature From The Black Lake. Breedlove is a fan of them as well and I wanted to see how well he duplicated them. He actually does a fairly good job with some of the segments. Others though look a bit too modern, with effects you would never have seen anywhere short of a major budget film in the 70s. This is especially true of the various scenes of the lights in the sky that accompanied the creature’s arrival.

In true exploitation film style, the events of this “lost classic” don’t always match what really happened. This gives Blackburn a nice context for his questions, contrasting the fictionalized version with what these people remember. It’s a novel approach and makes a nice change from the usual interview style in documentaries. Momo: The Missouri Monster deserves credit for finding a way to liven the format up.

While I enjoyed the film for what it was, I almost wish instead of a documentary they had actually made the fictional version of Momo: The Missouri Monster. With its bizarre creature and suggestions of UFO activity, it would have made a fun monster movie. The Small Town Monsters crew should give making a fictional film some serious thought.

Momo: The Missouri Monster will have a midnight premiere at the Kentucky Theater in Lexington, Kentucky on Friday, September 6th with cast and crew in attendance. This will coincide with Cryptid-Con, a cryptozoology and paranormal convention celebrating its third year and featuring a number of renowned authors, television personalities, and speakers.

On Friday, September 13th, the Canton Palace Theatre in Canton, OH will play host to the Ohio Premiere of Momo: The Missouri Monster with cast and crew in attendance. Finally, on September 20th, as MOMO hits audiences nationwide, the Missouri Monster will storm the State Theater in Point Pleasant, WV as part of the kickoff for the annual Mothman Festival.

Momo: The Missouri Monster will be available on DVD as well as VOD September 20^th. Check the Small Town Monsters website for details.