31 Nights of Halloween Horror part 29 - Willow Creek

Willow Creek
80 mins.
Dir. Bobcat Goldthwait
2013/USA

I love Bigfoot movies.  I am completely over found footage movies.  I have always been a fan of Bobcat Goldthwait, his comedy and his movies.  Let's go camping deep in the woods of Six Rivers National Forest in Northern California and see happens when you combine these three elements.

Less is more with Willow Creek.  If you liked Blair Witch Project, you will like this movie.  If you hated Blair Witch Project you will hate this movie.  Not because of the shaky cam and running, but because there is nothing to see.  What is more scary then the fear of the unknown?  I loved Blair Witch Project and Willow Creek is similar in the sense that a documentary is being made, a bunch of town locals are being interviewed in the beginning, we go camping, we see nothing, but we hear enough that we know we should get the fuck out of there.  And while it is hard to not compare this movie to Blair Witch, Willow Creek is really a movie onto itself.

Bryce is a Bigfoot aficionado who wants to make a documentary at the site of the infamous site where the Patterson-Gimlin footage was shot, (look it up heathens, if you do not know what this is.)  He comes across more as a weekend warrior then someone making an actual documentary.  For this adventure he drags his girlfriend Alexie along for the ride.  Alexie does not share her boyfriend's beliefs in Bigfoot, but she loves him and is supportive enough to go along for the ride.  Their first stop is Willow Creek, the Bigfoot capital of the world.  They stay at the Bigfoot Motel, they eat the Bigfoot Burger, they take pics in front of the Bigfoot statues and they interview some of the local yocals.  This all takes up probably 45 minute or so of an only 80 minute movie.  It goes on a little long, it does establish the characters more, but we are ready to enter the deep forest already.

Upon their entry into the woods to begin their excursion they are met with a warning from a man who sternly warns them to turn back, go back to town, buy their little souvenirs and get the fuck out of here.  But Bryce is not intimidated and knows another entry way into the forest.  Eventually they get as far as the road will take them and the rest is on foot.  Through the wilderness they go, lighthearted as they have been throughout as usual, they set up camp, go take a walk to a creek, take a swim and come back to find their camp ravaged through.  Could have been a bear, could have been a person, could have been a Bigfoot.  Either way that would have been enough to set me packing my way home.  But they reset up the tent and turn in for the night.

Sometime in the middle of the night Bryce turns on the camera and light because he heard a knocking noise.  The light wakes up Alexie and in a bold cinematic move, the camera stays stationary on the two characters huddled in a small claustrophobic tent for the next twenty straight minutes.  No cuts, no movements.  We just sit and listen to the sounds in the forests.  To silence.  Then, is something out there?  There are sounds, there are noises and some are unexplainable.  Is it a bear or a mountain lion?  Is it a person trying to fuck with them, scare them into leaving?  Or is it indeed Bigfoot?  I have to admit I actually jumped a little at one point in this scene.  Fuck camping, fuck being outside at night, nothing is more scary then the unknown.  They seem very unprepared, and not just in the sense that they are two people alone in the vast wilderness, but Bryce is so anxious to get footage of Bigfoot, did he ever stop and wonder what would happen if he did in fact meet him?  Once we can put a face to fear, it is no longer as frightening, but what we don't know or can't see is ten times worse.

Once dawn hits thankfully Bryce and Alexie decide after last night, they are getting the hell out of there.  But after wandering around all day hearing some of the same noises they heard last night, something is following them.  After hours of getting no where and being lost, night falls.  Running, a quick flash of something, growling and the film abruptly ends leaving us wanting more.

This film is certainly not for everyone.  If you need a story explained out to you, constantly need to see something happen, hate found footage stuff and want a pay off at the end?  This is not the movie for you.  Personally I really enjoyed this film, I am sucker for Bigfoot movies and the found footage was done in a believable way that it did not annoy me.  It was very convincing, as if you were watching someone's vacation movie and the actors did a great job.  You learned enough back story in the back and forth casual talk that you had an investment in the characters and cared for them.  They were likable.

Bobcat's other movies are definitely off kilter dark comedies in a sense, but Willow Creek is anything but funny.  I feel that comedy is very similar to horror in the sense that you are trying to bring out an emotion in someone that is not very easy to do.  Both are all about timing, and Bobcat knows timing through his years of comedy and when things get tense, he pounces on you perfectly.  Willow Creek surprised me with its abrupt ending, but impressed me with making an incredibly tense and scary scene with nothing but two actors, a stationary camera, silence and a unexplainable noises.  I was really curious about the making of this movie afterward.  Was it filmed at the actual location of the Paterson-Gimlin site?  Was this movie all improvised like Blair Witch?  Did the actors know what was going to happen?  Here is a link to a great interview with Bobcat about this movie if you want to check it out after you see the film.
http://www.indiewire.com/2013/07/bobcat-goldthwait-discusses-his-found-footage-bigfoot-thriller-willow-creek-36239/
Bottom line, Fuck Nature.