Boggy Creek

So, once again a bunch of teenagers goes to a lonely blockhouse in the forest, not scared by rumors that many people disappeared in this area or were even found dead. Then Bigfoot appears to terrify and kill them one by one. Sounds like the same old song, but 'Boggy Creek' differs somewhat from other movies of this type. Usually, cheap horror flicks disappoint on the acting and cinematography, but deliver the slashing and the blood. With 'Boggy Creek', it is just the other way around. Acting is decent, no horrible cliché types like the nerd with glasses. The characters are well developed with more background story than usual. The picture is not looking as cheap as it probably was; good job in all technical departments. The creatures are designed as hairy and ugly as they should be. The DOP used 'long' lenses to achieve blurred backgrounds a lot which is helping the eerie atmosphere, the editing is pretty fast and rhythmic in the right places, also the music is tasty and fits the environment. Obviously there were people at work who understood something about cinema techniques.

But unfortunately, they forgot about the horror along the way. The movie never really gets to a climax, and the few killings there are lack enthusiasm, like 'let's get it over with quickly'. All in all, it feels like somebody who was a melodrama expert was unwillingly assigned to do a horror picture, so the result is looking great for the budget, but lacks any impact. The characters become interesting, and then they don't do much. It's a pity, because the beginning was promising.

So I had looked forward to this movie since I heard that it was being made, filming was at the lake that I spent most of my childhood. The acting was actually a lot better than many mainstream teen horror films and for that I say Kudos! But it seemed to me that the closer we got to the end of the film it seemed that the director and crew felt the need to hurry up and finish the movie, ending in a disappointing end with many unanswered questions. This being a inexpensively made movie I don't see a sequel being made. So when watching you need to take the film for what it is, a pretty good movie for the first 45 minutes and then followed by a less than desirable ending with many holes in the plot. This would have easily been a really good independent film had the story line been tweaked just a hair. So I say if you can find it for cheap get and watch it but don't go out of your way to get a copy of it.

Started off well with nice looking gore. After the girls arrive at the cabin it drags so slowly and becomes boring as hell. They terrible script doesn't help at all, (especially the pathetic reasons for the extra people showing up!!!)

The acting is quite good surprisingly. And the eye candy is welcome. (Especially Mya. Gorgeous) and even some men for the women too.

Tommy is annoying and occasionally racist comments.

Needed a better script and more action. All the trips out on river and talking about nothing in particular were obvious padding to make the film last to feature length.

The bigfoot costume/make up was passable as could easily been comedic but looked ragged and dirty for, claws. Just enough shown.

The ending. Pathetic. Absolutely garbage.

**MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS**

What we have here is a little horror story filled with the usual clichés. While certain parts of it are fairly fun to watch, the good parts seem to be overshadowed by the overall cheesiness.

To be fair, the movie is fairly well produced and shot. But that's about all I can say in terms of what worked. As for the rest?

The soundtrack baffled me, as most of it was atmospheric "feel good music "that accompanies the protagonists excessive nostalgic episodes. The acting, while decent, was centered entirely around the weak character clichés. To put it bluntly, I spent more time living in dread of the potential dialogue than I did of the monster. Every time a character was ready to open their mouth I felt myself cringe.

I do approve of the monster though. The creators made the wise decision to use costuming rather than CGI, which is much more appropriate and doesn't kill the atmosphere by looking so cheap. While there is fairly little gore, what you do see is believable enough.

But the overreaching weakness of the film is the unlikeliness of the story. Teens traveling out in the woods, spending the night in cabins and tents, after HUNDREDS of corpses of men have been found ripped to shreds and young women are disappearing all over the place? No police notifications to vacate the area, stay inside homes, or always carry a loaded fire-arm for defense? Where are the investigators and news reporters?

Add to this the black screens with the words "Sunday" and "Monday" to give you a timeline, regardless of it's importance, and encyclopedic descriptions of the the monsters at the very beginning, and you get the feeling that the director was shooting for a mix of reality TV, documentary, slasher and drama. The lack of focus in the film leaves it wanting for any real effectiveness.

Final say, it was dry, but not terrible.

I couldn't wait for this movie to come out, due to the fact that it was filmed in Uncertain, Texas. Caddo Lake is a beautiful and mysterious place, and I'm personally familiar with almost every shooting location shown in this film, especially the lake scenes. This film seemed to have good intentions. The acting was better than expected; however, the storyline was somewhat of a disappointment. The premise of the film was good, but the sub-plots and relationships between the characters dragged on for way too long. If you're going to shoot a creature-feature … focus on your entrée, not the garnish. The creature effects were fairly decent for the budget. Even though this film is strictly for entertainment, I felt it shed a negative light on the locals, especially the folks at Crip's Camp. No need for a sequel. If you really want to be spooked, take a boat ride on Caddo Lake at night. Bring along some night vision or a thermal-imager … that's where the real action is.