EXISTS

EXISTS (2014)

Directed by Eduardo Sanchez

Written by Jamie Nash

Starring Chris Osborn, Roger Edwards, and Brian Steele

Rated R

So, another week, another bigfoot movie.

Yeah, it's another 'found-footage' movie, and I've already mentioned how tired I am of those, but as long as they keep making them about bigfoot and aliens and the like I guess I'll keep watching.

Luckily, third time seems to be the charm with this run of sasquatch-themed movies.

There are issues, of course. One problem it can't help is that I've seen THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (multiple times) so a group of five twenty-somethings going off to, yes, a cabin in the woods, is always going to remind me of that film and make me wonder who bet on 'sasquatch/wendigo/yeti.'

The other big problem is how much of a cookie-cutter plot most of these movies tend to have. 

This one, however, manages to play with the formula a tiny bit and that really elevates it in my opinion. It's also possible that I wouldn't have liked it so much if I hadn't just sat thru BIGFOOT WARS and WILLOW CREEK recently but I have and by comparison, EXISTS is a big(foot) step up.

Director Eduardo Sanchez - of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT - gives us a group that includes Brian, played by Chris Osborn, who tags along with the specific intent of shooting video of the trip to post on YouTube. As such, he's prepared with multiple cameras, including a handful of GoPros, to capture the guys doing things like making stunt jumps with their mountain bikes into the local lake and stuff like that. This gives the audience a variety of viewpoints on the events and cuts down a little on the 'why is he still filming/how is he managing to keep things in frame?' issues. 

Another thing that gave this monster-fan a thrill - you get to see the creature! In broad daylight, even! Considering that ninety-nine percent of these movies cut to black just before we ever get a look at whatever is going on, this is a huge and welcome change. The bigfoot outfit was designed by Spectral Motion of the HELLBOY movies and other top films. It was worn by Brian Steele, doing quite the 180 from his turn as Harry in the HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS TV series.

If you're interested in either bigfoot or found-footage films, I'd say give this one a rental.

WILLOW CREEK

WILLOW CREEK (2013)

Written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait

Starring Bryce Johnson and Alexie Gilmore

Not rated

Netflix got around to sending me Bobcat Goldthwait's WILLOW CREEK.

On the plus side, it was made loads better than BIGFOOT WARS.

On the minus side...it follows the 'found footage' formula to the letter. Lots of setup. Some tension. Some panic. End credits.

And remember how the preview and poster for QUARANTINE (the 2008 US-made remake of REC) ended up showing the final scene of the film?

Don't watch the preview for WILLOW CREEK. Or if you do, cut it off when the title comes up on screen. 

Or watch the whole thing and see a nice, condensed version of the film in two minutes and save yourself the other seventy-five minutes.

Man, that makes it sound like the whole thing sucks. It's really not that bad, it's just nothing particularly special and I had some hopes for this one.

It comes down to weighing how you feel about bigfoot movies versus how you feel about found footage films. I'm about sick to death of found footage films but I keep watching them. They keep coming up with ideas I'm interested in, but without fail they pretty much end right when they get interesting and leave me annoyed more than anything else.

  

BIGFOOT WARS

BIGFOOT WARS

Directed by Brian T. Jaynes

Written by Andrea Doss, Frederic Doss, and Jacob Mauldin

Based on the books by Eric S. Brown

Starring Holt Boggs and C. Thomas Howell

Not rated

So I had nothing else going on the other night and decided to rent BIGFOOT WARS (after seeing that Netflix could send me WILLOW CREEK on disc).

Bad decision.

Aside from kinda-okay-looking-in-a-70s-movie-style sasquatches and C. Thomas Howell chewing scenery as a pot smoking hillbilly survivalist  there's pretty much nothing to recommend this film. (Judd Nelson got roped into it too, somehow.) Okay, there's some decent gore, too, I guess.

If you must see this one, at least try to catch it for free so you only lose five hours of your time. (No, the movie isn't five hours long. IMDb claims it's only 75 minutes. It just seems *much* longer.)

Looking around, I've seen where C. Thomas Howell and one or two others involved in the movie took to Twitter to basically apologize for how it turned out. And Howell has been in Asylum movies, so....

The movie is supposed to be based on a series of novels by Eric S. Brown. I've yet to read any of Brown's original work, so I don't have any idea how close it may have gotten.

The director, Brian T. Jaynes, also directed 2010's BOGGY CREEK, which kinda covered the same territory (and for which Brown wrote the novelization). They could easily be connected. It's also a little bit better.