My expectations for The Bigfoot Trap were quite muted, I never expected it to be amazing, but it had an interesting premise. Directed, written, produced and edited by Aaron Mirtes (Painted in Blood, Curse of the Nun), this thriller (with some horror elements) actually turned out to be pretty decent, with some lead characters who were both surprisingly well developed.
Josh MacMahon (Tyler Weisenauer) is a journalist who makes his living by interviewing people with fringe beliefs and then making videos that ridicule them. After his latest piece about a flat Earther blows up, his boss assigns him to go meet a man who thinks he is able to capture a sasquatch. Red Wilson (Zach Lazar Hoffman - Painted in Blood) is a mountain man who has created what he calls a 'Bigfoot trap', essentially a wooden prison out in the woods. Red has asked for a journalist to come visit him, so that he can finally prove the elusive creatures exist. Josh meets with the man, and together they head out on a two day camping trip. With their time together almost up with no conclusive proof, and with Red desperate to not look like a fool to Josh, he arranges a 'sighting', but this has tragic consequences, and in his grief, Red ends up locking the journalist in his Bigfoot trap. With events spiralling out of control, Josh must find a way to escape his confinement and make it back to civilisation.
I think the biggest misstep this movie makes is actually showing a sasquatch in the prologue sequence. That scene works in showing that Red isn't someone with silly views, but it also makes what happens less exciting, as despite all the fake moments created as a means to convince Josh, the viewer knows the creatures within this film's universe are actually around. At first I was hesitant to reveal that Red becomes an antagonist, as this moment happens around half way into the eighty four minute runtime, with the IMDB synopsis mentioning this fact though, I felt it was fair game. A good thing as this review would have been a lot harder to write otherwise. Rather than have Bigfoot being the main thread, that is the unifying element that brings the characters to where they need to be. One minor complaint is that in Josh's prologue he is shown with a cameraman, yet conveniently, when he heads out to meet Red he does all the filming himself. If that cameraman had been there as well, the film couldn't have played out like it did.
Where The Bigfoot Trap really excels is with how well crafted the two main leads are. Josh is undoubtedly a bit of a weasel, he is someone who has made his living by ridiculing others after all. But he has a conscience, and is aware that what he does is cruel, using the excuse for himself that this is all in aid for his career progression. Via self recorded videos he makes on his phone, you get the sense he sincerely feels conflicted about what he is planning to do. Josh remains somewhat flawed, but the events in the film shape him into a better person. Red on the other side is a very sympathetic villain, soft spoken and friendly, his transformation comes about due to specific circumstances, and he provides some context for just why the things he becomes upset about have affected him so greatly. While he is in the wrong, it was easy to understand his motivations. I didn't think the idea to have him at some point get ahold of some cocaine was needed, it changes him from someone operating out of grief and self preservation into a slightly more stereotypical antagonist, a coked up madman chasing Josh through the woods with a shotgun. Both men were the only two characters for the majority of the movie, other characters come and go, but they by far carry the film along admirably.
I thought The Bigfoot Trap was a really interesting thriller/horror with a neat central idea to it. It was a little bit rough around the edges, such as the trap itself that looked very flimsy, it's 'iron' bars looked like they were made out of plastic to me, overall though this worked. Both Josh and Red felt more real than you would expect for this type of film, and it went to some places that while not totally unexpected, worked well. The Bigfoot Trap is due for release on 10th July, from High Fliers Films.
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