PopHorror Let's Get Scared
The new horror comedy Bigfoot! is a rare example of a film’s alleged shortcomings actually working in its favor. It shines, it stumbles, it makes you laugh, and it makes you scratch your head. And it’s got movie references for days. But as someone once famously said of Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959), it’s never boring.
The latest offering from Absurd Productions Pictures, Bigfoot! is divided into three acts: Comedy, Comedy (Again, go figure!), and Horror. It stars indie stalwarts like Matt Burns (The Devil’s Den: 2019), Jenny Jannetty (Milfs vs. Zombies: 2015), Genoveva Rossi (The Litch: 2018), and Jesse L. Green (Killer Campout: 2017), among others. Even Jim Krut, the infamous “Helicopter Zombie” from Dawn of the Dead (1978), pops up as a sheriff.
The Comedy acts immediately reminded me of those fish-out-of-water GEICO Cavemen commercials, only funnier. These skits take place in a world where Sasquatch and Man co-exist peacefully. For the most part.
Turns out, Bigfoots (Or is it Bigfeets?) share many of the same hopes and fears of their human counterparts. They sit around drinking beer, attending both individual AND group therapy, worry about fitting in, and stress out over Erectile Dysfunction. Yes, much like BoJack Horseman, there’s Bigfoot-on-human “relations.” In a movie like this, it’s not a question of if, but when.
The group therapy sessions especially ring true, laced with just the right amount of feel-good bullshit and non-answer answers. “I’m not sure what your point is, but I think you made it, right?” says the therapist in response to one of the Bigfoot’s existential crises.
Another Comedy bit I enjoyed was a twist where Bigfoots torment humans for a reality TV show. There’s a goof involving a stumbling redneck that’s probably a reference to Ed Wood (1994), but a part of me hopes it’s actually riffing on the baffling and dubious Radioactive Flesh Eating Foliage (2015).
The tone of Bigfoot! changes dramatically with its final act, Horror. Here we find a ragtag group of scientists and military personnel holed up in the woods, besieged by Bigfoots who feed on human flesh. Sound like a certain George A. Romero film? It’s supposed to.
But even with the change in tenor, the Horror segment still features some delightfully goofy stuff, specifically with Jannetty’s character, who shares a “psychic connection” with the hairy beasts. Fantasy/dream sequences have Jannetty dancing provocatively with three Sasquatch while trippy music plays. It’s the funniest, strangest, and most weirdly erotic stuff I’ve seen her do since her porny corndog-eating scene in Milfs vs. Zombies.
Still, lighting and sound issues make Bigfoot! a bit unpolished, but that’s probably the point. The movie goes where it wants, and is made in the DIY spirit of Ed Wood and his magnificent messes. As such, the film is dedicated to the memory of legendary Wood collaborator Conrad Brooks, who died in 2017.
And with dialogue like “They’re too powerful; we underestimated them greatly,” I’m sure Ed and Conrad are smiling down from Heaven. Get your paws on Bigfoot! at www.absurdproductionspictures.com.
