I still can’t comprehend it, master satirist and ex-Police Academy madman Bobcat Goldthwait suddenly makes a found footage bigfoot movie. How the darn did that happen? Well, I still haven’t found the answer, but its clear Goldthwait wanted to do something quick and dirty, gerilla-style, and the result came out as Willow Creek. Shoot in less than a week with a very small crew. The interviews being made is for real, because he didn’t want the locals to know it’s a fictional movie - just to make them more comfortable talking in front of the camera. The whole movie is - in a way - cut in the camera, 67 edits in total, because like Goldthwait says: The thing I was trying to do on this movie -- one of the things about found footage movies that always disturbs me is, "Who are these creeps who edit this stuff together?" It's like, "I'm sorry your daughter got raped to death, but I could take this footage and edit a movie out of it." I was trying to avoid that.
Jim and Kelly (is that a reference to former martial arts star Jim Kelly?) is a happy couple going on a road trip up to Bluff Creek, where the famous Patterson–Gimlin film was shot (you know the footage of a dude in a crappy gorilla-suit making a silly walk?). Jim has a slight obsession with bigfoot and wants to make a DIY documentary about the case. Kelly helps him, but is very skeptical about it. So we follow them to the local town where it all started and then on a hiking trip into the wilderness…then, of course, something goes wrong.
Willow Creek is also one the most hyped found footage films recently, together with the fantastic - and very different - Borderlands. A hype can be both good and bad, and in the case of Willow Creek you need to understand that Bobcat Goldthwait never set out to make a typical, spectacular, genre film. He wanted to make something real, and he succeeded with that! This is literally what you would see if you found the tape or disc belonging to a couple lost in the woods, with the only cuts being those in the camera and sometimes long stretches of stuff you wouldn’t consider especially commercial, like some local folk singers performing - but it’s all about building up something that actually could happen.
The acting is fine and slowly we get to know Jim and Kelly, including a slightly awkward, but still lovingly, try of Jim to get Kelly to marry him. It never goes overboard and being silly though. Now, the we have the ending. I’m not gonna spoil it for you, but it’s a controversial move - a little bit like Jeremy Gardner did with the excellent zombie film The Battery. It’s the antithesis of action, of a visual explosion of gore, mayhem, special effects - it’s a try - a good one - to make classic scary film by not showing anything. First I was a bit skeptical, I mean, why didn’t the film deliver what I expected? Then it felt fresh, it felt just like the thing I wanted to see one o’clock at night. The longer the scene went on the more enthusiastic I became. I was witnessing traditional, old-school storytelling and damn, it’s was scary. There’s another thing towards the end that freaked me out, and I’m still thinking about it.
And that’s what makes Willow Creek a strong film: you can’t get it out of your head. You want to see it again. Very few movies do that to me nowadays. Just don’t expect Cloverfield. This is a smart, zero-budgeted little love story with a bigfoot-twist. Watch it when it’s dark, when you can concentrate on the story. Then it will blow you away.
Sounds very interesting, and i actually hope it´s good just because Goldthwait directed. He has been hated by many over the years just because he was that stupid character in Police Academy. I always liked that character though, it was just different.
Posted by: Tobe | June 01, 2014 at 00:36
"I still can’t comprehend it, master satirist and ex-Police Academy madman Bobcat Goldthwait suddenly makes a found footage bigfoot movie. How the darn did that happen?"
Yeah how indeed?
I´m glad he did......after seeing World's Greatest Dad (2009) I´m up for his other films.
"(is that a reference to former martial arts star Jim Kelly?)"
Could be....
"(you know the footage of a dude in a crappy gorilla-suit making a silly walk?)"
Yeah....that one....real or not real?
"It’s the antithesis of action, of a visual explosion of gore, mayhem, special effects - it’s a try - a good one - to make classic scary film by not showing anything. First I was a bit skeptical, I mean, why didn’t the film deliver what I expected? Then it felt fresh, it felt just like the thing I wanted to see one o’clock at night. The longer the scene went on the more enthusiastic I became. I was witnessing traditional, old-school storytelling and damn, it’s was scary."
More drama driven than action driven......
"Very few movies do that to me nowadays. Just don’t expect Cloverfield. This is a smart, zero-budgeted little love story with a bigfoot-twist."
I won´t....last time I was surprised by bigfoot film was Sasquatch/The Untold (2002), the ending caught me with surprise.
Good review and thanks.
Posted by: Megatron | June 01, 2014 at 23:35