Willow Creek

This really worked for me. I know the usual contingent is out with cries of, "Boring!" and "Worst movie I ever saw!"... but... whatever. They show up for everything short of Chainsaw Gynecologist IV. First off... if you don't like found footage movies, you won't like this. If you didn't like The Blair Witch Project or June 9, you won't like this. If you can't stand low budget movies that don't have loads of special FX and jump cuts... you definitely need to look elsewhere.

Willow Creek is a slow convincing build-up to a chaotic slap of weirdness. Everything leading up to that ending is atmosphere and getting to know the characters and ramping up the dread of what might happen to folks who wander out into the woods looking for monsters. There's a LONG scene in a tent with the characters becoming increasingly terrified... can you watch long scenes where not much happens? Do you have that sort of patience? If so you might like this movie as much as I did. Also, I'd say the real horror of the film doesn't sink in until after a few moments are taken to mull over the implications of what we see in those final moments. How they were foreshadowed early on. It's a creepy movie and I'm glad I watched it.

I admit that I like found footage films, or, rather, I find that story telling device compelling. Assuming it's done well. To do it well, your film relies heavily on acting first, then editing, then sound They all work well here.

Too often, these sorts of films have actors who don't know what to say, or how to say it, as they are expected to improvise and aren't confident how to be "natural". In this film, the actors are brilliantly natural and their chemistry is superb. They are a very believable as a couple and as people.

The goal itself is interesting, as I have rarely watched a Bigfoot movie, so I found that part of the film at interesting spin. But really, the slow burn here is what really makes me like this movie.

As with other films in which the protagonist is a wannabe filmmaker, there are lots of establishing shots with the local townsfolk to talk up the legend, and to get a sense of what is to come. It's all done pretty realistically, and, again, the actors dialogue/exchanges with each other are especially convincing.

Again, this film is very much about the slow burn of tension. This is very much exemplified in a scene near the end that lasts nearly twenty minutes for one continuous shot. And it's not boring. At all. The actors are brilliant in the scene, as is the sound. It's a highly effective scene and you really begin to get into the same dread of what's next as the characters due to the immersive nature of the scene.

Overall, I really liked it. I think the director did a great job in choice/direction of actors, and the overall story was not over the top. It's a great example of how found-footage should be done.

Though, the film doesn't actually try to tell you it's found footage, it's just that the only point of view is the camera(s) used by the characters. But I'll assume someone found the footage in that fictional universe at some point.

From celebrated director Bobcat Goldthwait comes this edge of your seat horror that will make you think twice before going into the woods.

If one were to believe the blurbs on the cover of the DVD, they might think this was an amazing film. Some of the quotes are a bit hard to believe. How this happens can only be explained two ways: incredible cherry-picking (which all advertising does) and people's inability to separate their love for Goldthwait and his film.

Is the picture without merit? Not at all. There are some decent, though short, interviews with real people who want to talk about Bigfoot. The film also serves as something of a promotional tool for the town of Willow Creek (sales of Bigfoot Burgers will likely be going up). And there are a few suspenseful moments that could be legitimately scary. Oh, and some humor, too.

But the complaint people seem to have, again and again, is that this is just "Blair Witch Project" with the witch replaced by Bigfoot. Maybe that is a simplification, but it is a more than valid complaint. The plot, the use of found footage, the way the audience never really sees anything... if Goldthwait was not inspired by "Blair Witch", it is a remarkable coincidence.

There are worse ways to spend 80 minutes. But any horror fan that is looking for something fresh to rejuvenate the genre will probably not find it here.

The entirety of the plot could be boiled down to, "Two insecure people hear sounds in their tent for 40 minutes." The characters are vapid, boring, and lack anything insightful or interesting to say. The interviews with the locals are as exciting as you'd expect "unedited" footage with a bunch of random people discussing Bigfoot to be.

When things finally do begin to happen, they don't proceed anywhere. It goes on and on with no point or purpose until all I wanted was for both of them to die, and die slowly.

Bobcat's other films showed some promise in some regards, but this was just awful.

In my review for the mediocre found-footage/horror film 'Followed' I talked a bit about my dislike for how serial murderers are often portrayed in cinema. While Se7en was a good thriller, it epitomizes IMO the problem... Serial Killers murder for sex and power, and usually a bit of both. However, fart too often, movies seem to depict them as these brilliant psychopaths whose sole purpose in life is to get into a game of 'cat and mouse' with their equally brilliant adversary, that is, whatever detective Morgan Freedman might be playing in any given film.

What's frightening to me about serial killers is that for the most part they go undetected and often get away with multiple homicides for years. That, and to top it off, they blend in with the outside world very well. That is what Willow Creek gets right-there is a hint of realism here on top of the campy thrills that separates Willow Creek from your average slasher film.

This is one of the few movies that I actually felt a certain sense of dread for our hero's, Jim and Kelly-which is a big thing for me, as it takes a lot more than gore and a loud bump to make me jump.

I would like to also mention that I thought the actors did quite well-not only the killer, but the protagonists as well. I thought Jim was really likable, which is another surprise for this type of movie, which usually has very poor character construction.

Worth the watch.