On the Trail of Bigfoot: Last Frontier is the latest documentary from Small Town Monsters (On the Trail of Bigfoot: The Journey, On the Trail of Bigfoot: The Discovery) and as the title obviously suggests, this is once again about the search for definite proof of bigfoot.While my father is convinced of the creatures existence, I am on the fence about it, of course I would love to believe, but am naturally skeptical. I would have thought I would have been bored of documentaries about the creature, having seen so many, yet I might actually suggest that Last Frontier is one of the better ones.
Directed, narrated and featuring Seth Breedlove, this ninety minute doc was filmed in Alaska, hence the title 'last frontier'. There is much made of why this might be a possible place for the elusive creature to exist, due to the sheer size of the area. I loved that there was a narration, I recall the last documentary I watched didn't have one and it felt sorely missing. This follows a familiar format and the vast majority is made up if eye witness accounts from various people. What made these eye witness accounts all the better was how much the people giving these accounts seem to genuinely believe what they are saying. This includes a man who is so overcome with emotion at telling his story that he literally breaks down in tears, and an account from an elderly woman who Breedlove notes is the most authentic sounding one he has ever heard.
What really set this apart from other Small Town Monsters docs was the emotive score, there is an epic sounding, but also bitter sweet music that plays over the whole thing, and it really added a lot of atmosphere to what was being spoken about. There are also the usual recreations, mostly taking the form of images of bigfoot hiding in the trees, or shown as a silhouette, and there are also lots and lots of drone shots, a staple of the Small Town Monsters documentaries.
The content here I found more interesting, with it suggested that the remote area, and distance from the equator has naturally resulted in larger, more monstrous creatures being sighted. There are even talk of different species roaming the areas, with various eye witness testimonies describing various types, such as the albino bigfoot. This gave more of a genuine horror vibe than earlier ones about the creature I have watched, it seemed from what everyone was saying that this creature, should it exist, is really not something that would be a happy experience to encounter.
Balanced against these eye witness testimonies are native american accounts of the creature that has made it into their myths and legends. Several of the people interviewed were native americans themselves who firmly believe in the creature. Breedlove takes a more measured approach in his narration, with it sounding more like he hoped the creature exists, rather than being a firm believer in it. He does throughout remain very respectful of the people he is interviewing, and as I said, these people really do believe in their experiences.
Having watched a lot of these, I was happy to see Last Frontier was one of the better ones, I really enjoyed my time with this, it is beautifully shot, and it ends well, finally giving some new evidence in the form of recordings captured during the making of the documentary, which included strange howls, random bangings and strange cries. On the Trail of Bigfoot: Last Frontier comes to cable VOD and digital HD on January 23rd.
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