I’m so fucking sick of found-footage movies. They’re just an excuse for amateur filmmakers
to make a lazy, poorly choreographed product with minimal special effects and a
minimal budget. All it takes are a
couple of no-name actors, a camera and some off-camera sound effects, and bam,
cheap film. This isn’t always a bad
thing. The Blair Witch Project pioneered the genre, but that worked so
well because the characters were always emoting and there was a constant
feeling of dread throughout. Cloverfield also works decently well
because it doesn’t use the shaky-cam as an excuse to not show its monster, but
instead allows us to catch glimpses and build up the sense of wonder for what
it looks like as a whole, even if the end-result was a bit disappointing. However, Willow
Creek doesn’t follow those examples.
I was actually really hopeful that this would be a decent
film, since veteran television director Bobcat Goldthwait sat at the helm for
this one. Found-footage films are
usually the domain of newcomers trying to prove their worth with no money, but
Bobcat’s been around for a while, so I’d hoped that he would have something new
to bring to the table. Unfortunately,
that’s not the case at all; this film falls into the same traps that this genre
is constantly victim to. And the worst
part is that the beginning shows a lot of potential for it to be otherwise.
The story follows explorers Kelly and Jim in their search to
find Bigfoot. Jim is a believer, and
Kelly is a sceptic, because that’s how these plots work. They’re making a documentary about their
trip, and they begin by interviewing locals before going in and camping at the
spot where Bigfoot was first captured on film a few decades ago. The romantic interactions between Kelly and
Jim are sweet and they feel authentic, which is good since this is purportedly
supposed to be real events. The
interviews with locals also feel hokey and unscripted, and the film gives off a
really cute couples’-adventure vibe for about half of its runtime.
Of course, this is all just set-up for when the ax falls and
the dramatic tension sets in, and that tension worthlessly falls flat on its
face. The couple begin to get warned off
by threatening hillbillies who don’t want them going into the woods, but
they’re nothing more than cardboard-cutout harbingers that we’ve seen in every
clichéd horror film ever. When the
couple finally get to the campsite, the big dramatic setpiece of the third act
is… huddling in the tent motionless as eerie sounds emanate from outside the
tent. This is boring as hell. It doesn’t even work well as a jump scare,
because the sounds that the Bigfoots (Bigfeet? Bigfi?) make is like a mix
between a tornado siren and an old man yelling at you to get off his lawn. There’s no shock value, and the whole
production feels cheap and lazy.
The final shots of the film are, of course, a shaky,
split-second shot of the monster, accompanied by a shot of the ground and the
sounds of the couple being ripped to pieces.
My reaction: “My god, they’re finally dead so I can turn this off!” This was perhaps the most boring, trite, and
pointless film I’ve seen in a long time.
It doesn’t just stick to genre conventions; it wears only the warts of
the genre like they’re badges of honor.
It showed early promise in the first act, but when it came time to
deliver the goods, I genuinely believe a first-year film student could have
done better. Just move along,
folks. Nothing to see here.
Can you think of any good found-footage films? Let me know in the comments below.
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