The Mysterious Monsters (aka. Bigfoot Mysterious Monster) (1976)

This is another of those Sunn Classic Pictures documentaries from the 70s that takes a look at the mysteries of the Earth.  This time around our host is Peter Graves of Mission Impossible fame who narrates our journey thru the unknown.  The documentary uses reenactments, interviews, and supposed footage of the creatures to examine the history of the sightings.  I remember the fact that this documentary contains the famous Patterson film was a big deal.  In the cast of Bigfoot the documentary also takes a look at Native American legends regarding Sasquatch. 

I grew up watching these documentaries and I’ve always loved them.  This is my favorite of all the Sunn Classic Pictures (later known as Schick Sunn) documentaries that they put out.  In fact one of my earliest memories as a youngster was being so freaked out by the reenactment of the arm reaching thru the window that I was afraid of looking out the window in the dark for months!  When I started to collect movies on VHS I looked for the movie that contained that very scene for years before finally stumbling onto The Mysterious Monsters.  Now of course the movie doesn’t have the same impact on me as much now as it did when I was 7, but I still really enjoyed it.  I suppose it could be the nostalgia factor of watching an old favorite from my childhood.  But then several of the other documentaries that I watched in the 70s didn’t hold up as well as this one did, so I think not.  The movie is paced nicely with the interviews split up with some “exciting” and fun to watch reenactments of various Nessie and Bigfoot sightings.  I also had forgotten how great Peter Graves, who had a perfect voice for this sort of thing, did in narrating the movie. 

Now I’ll admit that the documentary is very cheesy and silly.  Many of the “facts” that are brought forward have since been disproved or called into serious question, including the famous Patterson film.  But honestly these were always more just for entertainment then education.  Even when I was young I always just thought of The Mysterious Monsters as fiction and never once really thought there was a Bigfoot lurking outside my window.  Well okay maybe for a few months I thought there might be one outside my window, but just for a few months. 

So if you are a child of the 70s and 80s like myself then I bet you might have the same nostalgic fun that I had with this one.  That is if you can track it down.  I’ve heard that it is available on what appears to me to be bootleg DVDs, which are just rips off of the old VHS copies that have been floating around for a long time.  I wouldn’t spend too much money on either, because you never know what the quality is going to be like.  But if you can get your hands on one for cheap I recommend that you do so. 

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2010 John Shatzer