The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday 13th February - Birthday Edition

Despite being a rotted corpse, this rotting zombie is one year older somehow today, having arrived at my forty third birthday. To celebrate I've not only taken a week off of my day job, but also crafted a trio of news stories to make you scream...possibly.

A crowdfunding campaign has been released for new Bigfoot movie, Fear The Fouke Monster. Inspired by the real life legend of a hairy swamp monster living near the small American town of Fouke, this follows in the footsteps of 1972 cult classic The Legend of Boggy Creek, which also was based on the same legend. Half of the movie has currently been shot and pre-editing has begun. Filmmaker Mark Francis says about his film "We kill women, children and pets in this film. This ain't no 'gentle giant of the forest!" An Indiegogo campaign is currently running, for more details, travel the link to find out more.

David Lynch inspired horror film Texas Nightmare has had an official trailer released. This comes from director Michael Merino and stars Sadie Katz (Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), James Pratt (The 3 Killer Pigs), Lew Temple (The Devil's Rejects), and Eva Hamilton (The Black Mass). The film sees a writer heading to an isolated home in rural Texas to work on a new book. They find themselves caught up in a battle against a local cult instead.

Finally for this Birthday Day, Gator Creek is coming to digital platforms in the UK and Ireland on March 24th from Vertigo. This survival film was directed by Taneli Mustonen and Brad Watson and features an ensemble of young stars. The story has a plane crashing in the remote Louisiana bayou, with the survivors discovering they are being hunted by giant alligators mutated by chemical waste dumped in the area.

Feet of Death (2024) - Horror Film Review

I have seen various films about Bigfoot over the years though I can't say it is my favourite subgenre of horror. I find the topic interesting however due to how many people in the real world believe the creature to actually exist. James Chick's feature length directorial debut - Feet of Death, may not be perfect, but I did appreciate the crazy path the story ended up going and it just may be the most interesting Bigfoot horror film I have yet seen.

After a dead body of a man is discovered out in woodlands, local sheriff Ken Clark (Jack Vanover) calls in forest ranger Jason Easterly (Andrew Jacob Brown), he suspects the death may have been due to an animal attack. They are shocked to find evidence at the scene that seemed to suggest an unlikely culprit, a Bigfoot creature, with Jason very sceptical of it possibly existing. Ken introduces Jason to local Bigfoot expert, Henry (Benjamin Watts), whose advice eventually leads to the two men deciding to send out a search party to search local forest based caves where it is believed the creature (if it exists) might be dwelling.

For much of Feet of Death this felt like a very lowkey movie. After the initial discovery of the body this turns into almost a rural police drama as the sheriff and ranger interview various people, speak with a pathologist who had examined the corpse, and contemplate possible alternates to the unlikely legendary beast. The first two acts were light on horror and quite inoffensive in a nice way. The cast were a varied bunch with some working better than other. Jason is a bit of a gloomy protagonist, having lost his wife to a bear attack a year previously. His relationship with Ken is shaky to begin with, I didn't really feel this plot point was needed as it is resolved barely a quarter into the film, which then subsequently became a lot more fun. Then you have Jason's older colleague Al (Tim Blough), an overly sentimental man who regards Jason as a son, though I never got the impression that feeling was replicated with the lead. Best of all was Henry, a larger than life character who just about stole all the scenes he appeared in. Maybe a bit of a redneck stereotype, I still liked his infectious belief in the possibility of the Bigfoot existing.

Things really ramp up in the third act which almost (but not quite) feels like a different movie entirely. It features a genuinely unexpected twist, and benefits by mostly being set during night, leading to lots of exciting moments, with some great scenes set in the rain. A lot of the central plot was decent enough, though some parts around the edges were a little obvious, such as what likely really happened to Jason's wife a year previously. I also didn't really like the ending of this, an unsatisfying way to swiftly wrap things up.
The Bigfoot is shown sparingly, not even really making an appearance until late in the movie, probably a wise decision as it keeps the tension up of if it is really a real thing or not from the perspective of the lead character. Either in dense forest or in darkness, you never get that great a look at it, which adds to the effectiveness it has as an antagonist force.

I thought some of the story beats here were really quite clever, and felt different to the typical Bigfoot movie. Jason was a decent lead and of course Henry was a great character. It might take a while for the horror part of the movie to begin in earnest, but I enjoyed the build up and I enjoyed the transition to a more darker movie, both literally and figuratively. Feet of Death arrived on Amazon in September.

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Savage: The Bigfoot Legend...Lives (2011) - Horror Film Review

 

I don't mind films about bigfoot, though they can be hard to make them compelling to watch, often due to the elusive nature of the creature. Savage: The Bigfoot Legend...Lives (also known more simply as Savage) was directed and co-written by Jordan Blum in his feature length directorial debut, and despite some generic parts managed to be better than I initially gave it credit for.

Firefighters trying to contain a fire that has broken out in Bear Valley National Park find themselves attacked by a strange creature (Jack Harrison), something that results in long time park ranger, Owen (Tony Becker) being called in to investigate. While a bigfoot creature operating in the area is said to be a legend created to entice tourists, it seems that the forest fires have riled it up and that it is actually real. With its food source being disrupted, the deadly creature has turned to human prey. Scientist Dale (Shane Callahan) meanwhile has hired local hunter, Jack Lund (Martin Kove - Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, The Karate Kid series of films) to help him track down the beast. Their hunt leads them to Gabrielle (Anna Enger Ritch - The Haunting of Hill House TV show), a wanted criminal whose abusive partner had an unfortunate run-in with the creature.

It appeared to begin with that this horror might be too middle of the road for me. It had a series of generic feeling characters, and a general look to the film that did little to garner excitement. It picked up thankfully, and that was down to several factors. It took a while to like the character of Owen, he was one of the more generic and predictable people, though as the most noble of the protagonists he had some moments. You could almost call Dale and Jack the antagonists here, were not the bigfoot creature a legitimate threat to everyone's safety. Dale is at best a neutral character, ridiculed his whole life due to his belief in the creature, he is obsessed with finding it. While a bit out of his depth, he has courage, at one point even the internal organs of a victim of the beast falling onto him barely fazes him. A better route to go down than having him as a more expectedly cowardly character. Jack was another decent one, he was more villainous, with his aim to kill the beast, but a mid-film flashback shines some light on his personal reasons for wanting it dead. Gabrielle was fine, the character didn't stand out much, but she was there for a reason and was utilised well.

I was impressed with the bigfoot creature itself. Sure, it never looks particularly convincing when it is shown full on screen, but it still gelt like a genuine threat. It has some actually great scenes, with it bounding along on all fours, and able to swiftly clamber up trees. I also loved the moments when victims are suddenly thrown up into the sky, or dragged off camera. There was more violence than I had anticipated, with severed heads, and a decent amount of blood thrown in. The only notable low budget effect came unfortunately in the final act, somewhat dampening what should have been an epic finale.

While the characters are ones you would have seen in plenty other films, I did come to enjoy some of them, in particular I loved the relationship between Dale and Jack. It made them more than stereotypes, and gave them a decent developmental path to go down. It was wise to sparsely show the bigfoot but on the whole the design for it was good. I fully expected to find this a slow film to get through, but to its credit I never once found myself getting bored. Savage: The Bigfoot Legend...Lives came to EST/VOD/SVOD Digital platforms on 28th November of last year, and come to AVOD on 1st January.

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The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Tuesday 5th December

The Dark Room arrives on Blu-ray on December 26th from Bayview Entertainment. This horror comes from directors Kenny Scott Guffey and Jake C. Young, and stars iconic 80's actress Diane Franklin (Better Off Dead, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure), Brandon Ludwig (A Night of the Undead) and Kayla Perkins (Wicked Ones). Mentioned previously, this film is about a photographer who uncovers something disturbing while developing photos for a local religious leader. Something that may have something to do with a series of murders taking place in the town. This can be pre-ordered at Deep Discount.

Monster Mash is a new horror anthology out now, again via Bayview Entertainment. This contains within it three short films, Whispering Hollow Road 'A dark shadowy noir with a monstrous twist', The House 'A modern gothic tale of lycanthropy', and Homebound Horror 'A grimy grindhouse tale of revenge of extraterrestrial proportions'. I do love anthology films. This can be purchased on Amazon.

Finally for today, SAVAGE The Bigfoot Legend...Lives is also out now, again from Bayview Entertainment, on VOD. Starring Martin Kove (Karate Kid) and Lisa Wilcox (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master), this Jordan Blum directed terror is about a forest fire at a national park that causes a Bigfoot to go on a murderous rampage. Head here to rent or buy the film.

On the Trail of Bigfoot: Land of the Missing (2023) - Documentary Review

On the Trail of Bigfoot: Land of the Missing is the latest documentary from Seth Breedlove (On the Trail of Bigfoot: Last Frontier, On the Trail of Bigfoot: The Journey). Like last year's Last Frontier, this one takes place in Alaska, and sees Breedlove interviewing various eye witnesses to apparent Bigfoot creatures. While the director begins by saying fear sells and that wasn't the point of this documentary, he later states that overwhelming accounts of aggressive creatures shaped the path this doc took. Initially planned to try and explain the huge number of unexplained disappearances in Alaska, this became more focussed on accounts of attacks.

As always, it is the people that Breedlove interviews that makes up most of the content here. Also as always, there was never a sense that the people being interviewed are making their stories up, they seem to genuinely believe what they are saying. This includes the more 'out there' story of a man forced to defend himself with a gun against a pack of Bigfoot while at a remote cabin with two family members one long night, and more measured stories, such as a park ranger who encountered a bizarre trail in the woods.
Breedlove is never firmly in the camp of firmly believing what he hears, he goes at lengths to say the idea of there being multiple species of Bigfoot seems a bit hard to believe, while he states that due to the huge number of disappearances in the area, to attribute even a minor number of them to Bigfoot killings would be too much. He does want to believe in the creatures though, with the amount of documentaries in the On the Trail of Bigfoot series, that backs up his interest.

Many of the people he speaks to believe in what they are saying, but there is often a balanced counterview. One section that detailed an account of a sixteen year old boy who went missing in 1975 is counterbalanced by an anonymous source saying it is far more likely the boy died due to the harsh environment, rather than his father's belief that Bigfoot was the thing responsible. For a documentary titled Land of the Missing, the focus is more on accounts of violent beasts. There is a little side tangent that talks of legends of little people and giants also in the area, as well as links to U.F.O sightings, secret military bases, and an intriguing legend of a gigantic black pyramid structure deep in the wilderness. Many of the testimonies are set to art of the creatures (art mainly created by Michael Broom). I thought at least one recreation would have been interesting. Outside of Breedlove's narration and interviews, there isn't much of him out exploring. It opens on his account of staying at a remote cabin for a few days, but that is never gone back to.

With legends of hairy men dating back to Native American myths and legends, I like to think that there could have possibly been something there at some point in time but find it hard to believe there could be anything like that around today. Bigfoot is one of my favourite cryptids if only due to my father believing in them, a man that I respect a lot. Land of the Missing didn't do anything to change my viewpoint, but it was interesting to watch, adding more of an element of horror to what these docs usually provide. On the Trail of Bigfoot: Land of the Missing comes to Cable VOD and Digital HD from 1091 Pictures and is available on Blu-ray exclusively from Small Town Monsters on August 22nd.

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