Bigfoot: The Lost Coast Tapes

USA • 2012 • 90m •

• Directed by: Corey Grant. • Starring: Drew Rausch, Rich McDonald, Ashley Wood, Noah Weisberg, Frank Ashmore, Rowdy Kelley, Japheth Gordon, Sweetie Sherrié, Alan Carnes, Brittani Ebert, Loren Lester, Travis McHenry, Chrisón Thompson. • Music by: Eddie Booze.

Sean Reynolds, a highly acclaimed investigative journalist (who strongly believed in paranormal phenomena), destroyed his career when the most watched episode of his reality show, based on paranormal phenomena, turned out to be a hoax. Sean saw a news report on a "Bigfoot Hunter" (Carl Drybeck) who claimed to possess the body of a dead Sasquatch. He believes Drybeck is a phony and decides to create a new show that reveals people's paranormal claims as hoaxes. Sean assembles his old film crew and heads to Northern California's "Lost Coast" to meet with and interview Drybeck. Obsessed, Sean is staking his comeback, his life and the lives of his documentary film crew on proving Drybeck's claim to be a hoax.

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Trailer

1:49

Review:

Image from: Bigfoot: The Lost Coast Tapes (2012)

Now, I've seen a lot of people completely trash this movie since it's come out, so it made me very wary about buying it on DVD. But, the trailer enticed me and the film looked interesting.

What are those lights in the trees? Is the old man telling the truth? Will it just another Blair Witch clone without any substance?

Well, I got my answer in an average, but still good 'Found Footage' Horror movie (Which recently has become a staple of Horror Cinema)

The story concerns a group of TV documentary crewmen going out into the woods on a call that an old mountain man has the body of a baby Bigfoot and is willing to show them the evidence for a hefty (but reasonable) $75,000 dollars. Some members of the crew are less than willing to take his word as fact, while the others are finding strange, other worldly things are happening to them. One begins getting strange, psychic vibes (Because every good Paranormal investigation group need a psychic)and the other (a sound man) begins hearing strange things through his headphones and begins to freak out.

From then on, the group begins splitting apart and after a terrifying encounter with something out in the woods, the psychic girl is injured and left in the cabin while the other members of the team go with the mountain man to the dead body.

This kicks us off to the finale of the film which, in my opinion, had me tensed up, butt clenched, until the final frames.

Now, from my brief and uneducated summary of the film, I'd like to say, since watching this a few hours ago, names have slipped out my mind, and some scenes drowned out by a haze of pub banter and alcohol. But, myself being a person who enjoys horror films and has sat through the best and worst of the genre, I have never been more terrified of the walk home from the pub and car headlights through my windows, ever.

Something about this movie really got under my skin. Maybe it's the whole idea that it's something more than a simple Bigfoot hunt, something further viewedexplored in the films final moments. Bright lights and hoofed feet seem to point towards something more demonic.

For the good points, I liked the characters. They seemed light hearted, and while not entirely without cliché, never dull. The actors did a decent job with the obvious limited resources they had for the film. The only part where I feel they faultier is near the end, when they are being killed off or disappearing. It turns into a scream at each otherswear fest, and comes off as slightly immature. But still,I enjoyed them, and generally wanted them to try and get through the film.

The special effects are a point of interest. There's very little of it. The odd bloody person, a very well done shot the woodsman impaled on a pine tree. One of the more ambitious attempts is the suicide of one of the members. They tried, that's all I'll say, but, no one could be recognised after taking a shotgun buck to the face at close range. Another interesting thing is we never see the monster in question, but it is implied there are two out there. Large, furry, humanoid monsters that are trying to help the group, and a large, hoofed monster that is hell bent on murdering them all. They're all done in quick flashes of CGI or shown as shadows fleeting through the background, giving them an ever present feeling and a sense that there is no escape form here because they are everywhere. As a man who enjoys monster movies and seeing some of the creative decisions made in making the monster, it was better not showing anything at all, it added to the more supernatural element of the film.

Overall, this had me curled up, shoulder tense and frozen to the spot until the credits rolled. While not the best of the bunch, I turned the lights on and left my room for the pub and for the first time in a while got that childhood sense of the fear of the dark; one that I haven't had for a while, and that sense that someone was watching and I just saw something move in the trees in the park up ahead. It's an interesting concept that never gets too big for it's boots and handles the paranormal side quite well (although predictably). The characters are enjoyable clichés without getting to boring and the pace is always going forward, never looking back. It's very action packed for a hand held film and handles the shots well, never letting too much away while never putting too much into frame. With just a change or cut of the final line 'It's not Bigfoot, IT'S NOT BIGFOOT!' The film would of left me with a bit more of an impact.

Anyhow: A for effort C+ for execution and a big fat FU for making me terrified of the dark unknown again.

Review by chubbalubbadingdong from the Internet Movie Database.