Bigfoot

Bigfoot (2006)

A disgraced soldier named Jack returns to his father’s home after the man passes away and leaves it to him. With him he brings his daughter Charlie, who is a bit of a tomboy. Things are okay until Bigfoot shows up and starts to tear thru the locals! But for the longest time no one but Jack manages to catch a glimpse of the big hairy critter. Of course everyone laughs at him when he tries to tell them that it is Bigfoot who is making supper of the local birdwatchers, little leaguers, and rednecks. That is until the Bigfoot makes a meal out of the sheriff, who also happens to be an old friend of Jack. With the help of a local ranger, who also happens to be a cute lady named Sandy, Jack goes mano y footo with the big feller.

I love Bigfoot movies and the cheesier the better. So with that confession in mind I have to tell you that I had a blast with this movie. The story is goofy as hell with silly dialogue that had me smiling if not laughing from almost the start. Really there is some clever dialogue here, especially in the bar scenes. My favorite bit of dialogue was a monologue that I really don’t want to ruin, but it has to do with a boy and his father back in the 30s. I sort of predicted how it was going to end, but I’ll be damned if it still wasn’t funny. Of course I’m hoping that director/actor/writer Bob Gray meant it to be funny, otherwise I’m sounding like a jerk. Then again anyone responsible for “He had Tacos!” (trust me this is hilarious) must have a sense of humor.

Speaking of Gray he does a pretty damn good job as the local lawman, Bob. He has some funny lines and good comedic timing, which only helps the movie. I also thought that Todd Cox did a great job as Jack. He is funny when he has to and does a good job with the big action sequence that is the climax of the flick. And since I’m on that subject I have to say that the action is handled pretty damn good. Sure there are a few “clunky” moments that are unavoidable in a low budget independent movie, but this is still far better than most of the low budget stuff that I watch.

But we can’t talk about a Bigfoot movie without talking about the big guy himself. The downfall of every low budget Bigfoot flick that I’ve seen is the creature. They always just end up sticking some gun in a mask and gorilla costume. This just ruins the movie for me, even if it is just being played for laughs. What is awesome about this movie is how great the creature looks. Honestly they did a killer job on the costume and aren’t afraid to show it as often as they can. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen a Bigfoot movie that shows as much of the creature as this one does, and by God it holds up on screen!

If you haven’t guessed yet I’m going to recommend this movie. It is available from the nice people over at Troma. Check out there website at http://www.troma.com/ for more information.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer