(Editors note: Will this movie be a hit or a box off dud that will end up on pay per view
soon enough? See you at the movies.
The power of suggestion
substitutes for onscreen scares as a couple wanders off the grid in Northern
California in search of Sasquatch.
Bigfoot may or may not exist, but there’s definitely something
freaky going down in the woods in "Willow Creek," Bob Goldthwait's
“ effective yet wholly unnecessary contribution to the genre of
horror movies allegedly recovered from the hard drives of dead cameramen. As in
“The Blair Witch Project,” the power of suggestion substitutes for onscreen
scares as a couple wanders off the grid in Northern California in search of
Sasquatch, with predictable results. Still, the project does represent an
amusing stretch for the comedian-turned-helmer. Considering the low cost,
Goldthwait should have no trouble recouping this self-financed venture by
hand-targeting receptive auds
As it happens, “Blair Witch” co-director Eduardo Sanchez is developing a
Bigfoot chiller of his own, titled “Exists,” though “Willow Creek” has the good
fortune to reach screens first. Even though Goldthwait doesn't even bother to
show the creature in question, he could sap what little interest exists in the
subject simply by being first on the scene, the way “Olympus Has Fallen” trumped
the bigger-budget “White House Down” earlier this year.
Lead characters Jim (Bryce Johnson) and Kelly (Alexie Gilmore) belong to the
tail end of a generation whose only real connection to Bigfoot has been the 1987
kid pic “Harry and the Hendersons.” An amateur Documentarian determined to
capture firsthand proof of the creature’s existence, Jim drags his reluctant
g.f. along for what he oddly considers a romantic getaway. While not exactly
hipsters, the couple display enough ironic disrespect for the region’s folksy
tourism trade — reflected in everything from crudely painted murals to oversized
burgers — that they're practically begging to be humbled by the experience.
Bob Goldthwait (center)
By contrast, there’s something relatively endearing about the locals who
agree to be interviewed on camera, and these anthropological bits offer a
fraction more human interest than the relatively tired device of actors bumbling
through the woods recording everything via handheld video diary. Although
inherently frustrating, the found-footage approach does suit the subject,
considering that the most compelling evidence of Bigfoot to date has been the
equally shaky Patterson-Gimlin film.
When not wasting time on multiple takes of Jim’s surfer-dude narration,
“Willow Creek” casually sets up some of the Bigfoot lore that will resurface
later, including talk of a missing woman who might be the source of the forlorn
crying they hear late at night. Jim clearly hasn't considered what they would do
if Bigfoot actually appeared (Kelly’s too skeptical to be worried at first), and
the pair sneak down to the site where the creature has reportedly been spotted
in the past and set up camp.
Once darkness falls, Goldthwait treats audiences to a nerve-wracking
19-minute shot inside the tent, as the jumpy couple respond to a host of
unnatural sounds coming from all around them. It’s not easy to manufacture the
kind of tension “Willow Creek” achieves during this sequence, though it will
undoubtedly play better in crowded theaters than alone at home, where the entire
endeavor feels more like a cheap trick. In angling for suspense, this low-budget
stunt relies a bit too heavily on our suspension of disbelief.
Perhaps the most damning fact to disprove the existence of Bigfoot is the
atrocious quality of evidence that has been presented. The scientific community has only been given hazy eyewitness accounts, extremely vague photographs and films, and a few blatantly hoaxed footprints.
