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There's a lot going on in Max Tzannes' Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project. A faux-documentary comedy about an indie film crew shooting a found footage movie becomes a “real” supernatural horror setup. It's a meta-horror Gobstopper, but the transition between layers can be jarring. With minimal resources and a tight ninety minutes, Found Footage tries to be an all-encompassing and scary industry satire—it's just soft, safe, and baseline amusing.

Brennan Keel Cook stars as an uber-confident filmmaker (Chase) with dreams of producing the world's greatest found footage horror novelty. The subtitle "Patterson Project" references Roger Patterson's now-infamous footage of Bigfoot, also known as the Patterson-Gimlin tape. Chase's foolproof idea is to shoot a handheld-style Bigfoot movie and get noticed by Blumhouse, as many indie horror filmmakers have foolishly fantasized. Instead, Chase's crew unknowingly unleashes a haunting in his partner Natalie's (Erika Vetter) family timeshare...

Since the dawn of man, there have been anthropomorphic recreations of the lives of primates. And since the legend of the Sasquatch was first told, there have been numerous recorded sightings of the elusive “Bigfoot,” albeit with most footage deemed a hoax carried out by opportunistic fraudsters in possession of hairy full-body suits. The most infamous came in 1967 in the form of footage shot by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin in Northern California—fleeting frames that, depending on whom you ask, could either be easily debunked or serve as ineffable proof of the […]

The post “A Lifetime of Loving Ape Movies and Primate Documentaries and Bigfoot-Adjacent Things”: David and Nathan Zellner on Sasquatch Sunset first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Since the dawn of man, there have been anthropomorphic recreations of the lives of primates. And since the legend of the Sasquatch was first told, there have been numerous recorded sightings of the elusive “Bigfoot,” albeit with most footage deemed a hoax carried out by opportunistic fraudsters in possession of hairy full-body suits. The most infamous came in 1967 in the form of footage shot by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin in Northern California—fleeting frames that, depending on whom you ask, could either be easily debunked or serve as ineffable proof of the […]

The post “A Lifetime of Loving Ape Movies and Primate Documentaries and Bigfoot-Adjacent Things”: David and Nathan Zellner on Sasquatch Sunset first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Jesse Eisenberg and Christophe Zajac-Denek Photo: Bleeker Street Sasquatch Sunset has more in common with a nature documentary than a narrative film: 89 minutes of wordless, but not silent, footage of a bigfoot family, which, at first, is only discernable by height. Even Sunset’s most recognizable star, Jesse Eisenberg, is...

Jesse Eisenberg and Christophe Zajac-DenekPhoto: Bleeker Street

Sasquatch Sunset has more in common with a nature documentary than a narrative film: 89 minutes of wordless, but not silent, footage of a bigfoot family, which, at first, is only discernable by height. Even Sunset’s most recognizable star, Jesse Eisenberg, is lost...

Joe Cornish, the writer-director of "Attack the Block" and showrunner behind the upcoming Netflix series "Lockwood & Co.," has a hankering to make a Bigfoot movie. It turns out that Cornish, a self-described "Bigfoot obsessive," is itching to do right by a genre that may not even be fully formed in everyone's eyes. Think about it: can you name five great Bigfoot movies ... or even one? How about 47 of them, ranked?

It's a sad state of affairs when the most well-known Sasquatch onscreen may be Harry from "Harry and the Hendersons." Not that there's anything wrong with Harry, who went on to star in his own sitcom and whose makeup design won Rick Baker an Oscar in the interim. But here's a fun fact about Harry: he was played by Kevin Peter Hall the same year Hall played the original "Predator."

It feels like we're owed a movie where Bigfoot,...

On Oct. 20, 1967, Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin were riding horseback along the banks of Bluff Creek, in Northern California’s Six Rivers National Forest when they filmed just under a minute of what looks to be a large, hair-covered female bipedal figure walking into the frame from the left, glancing over its right shoulder, and continuing until it exits on the right. The footage is the most famous, most debated—but never definitively debunked—video capture of a supposed sasquatch.

Now, 55 years later, it remains a popular topic of conversation among Bigfoot believers as well as skeptics. And the profile of the apelike form taken from the clip—with its domed head and large swaying arms—has become an immediately recognizable symbol for a ‘squatch and is emblazoned on an endless supply of merchandise.

Today is the 55th anniversary of the Patterson-Gimlin footage. Regardless of your feelings as to whether...

West Wing Studios

When Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin claimed to have shot footage of the creature known as Bigfoot in 1967, they unwittingly inspired a clutch of dirt-cheap docudramas where the line between fact and fiction was kept deliberately blurry. One of the most popular was Charles B Pierce’s The Legend Of Boggy Creek (1972), which purported to be an investigation into monster sightings in Arkansas swamp country.

Years later, filmmakers Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, searching for a story they could film cheaply and quickly, took inspiration from those movies to create The Blair Witch Project. They may also have been familiar with the Mondo Cane school of exploitation documentaries – where events were staged or manipulated – a technique that also inspired Cannibal Holocaust (1980).

Then there was Man Bites Dog (1992), where a film crew follows a killer around Brussels as he randomly murders people. The film ends with a shot...

The Patterson-Gimlin film is the holy grail of cryptozoology. It's just that simple. For those of you unfamiliar with the film, it goes like this: In fall 1967 Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin were out looking for Bigfoot.

Patterson had rented a 16mm camera to both hunt for Bigfoot and search out locations for a potential fictional film about the beast.

As Gimlin and Patterson rounded a corner in a dry creekbed, they and their horses spotted what can only be described as a Bigfoot. Larger than a man, covered in fur, with a loping, strange gait, the creature walks away from the men. Patterson gets his horse under control, grabs his camera, and begins shooting. The result is the most compelling evidence of large primates in North America that has ever been collected.

Everyone has seen the film or stills from it. Now, on YouTube, from user Greenwave2010fb, we...

Deviating from caustic comedies, Bobcat Goldthwait reaches into his toolbox and delivers a surprising foray into found-footage horror. "Willow Creek" embraces the limitations of this now-tired genre and breathes new life into it—it's not a true original but certainly a memorable rumination. Effectively a two-hander with our leads Jim (Bryce Johnson) and Kelly (Alexie Gilmore) dominating the frame for the majority of the running time, "Willow Creek" does a commendable job in fleshing out the ill-fated couple. Presented as a malformed Bigfoot documentary, Jim, steeped in cryptid mythology, strikes out to retrace the steps once taken by Roger Patterson and Bob Gilmin, whose footage, though largely dismissed as a probable hoax, remains hotly debated and cited. Along for the ride is his skeptical partner, Kelly, who embarks on the venture to support the idealistic Jim, enveloped by the Bigfoot legend and reveling at the townsfolk who've made a living out of marketing it.

Being a huge fan of Bobcat Goldthwait since his 1987 standup show “Share The Warmth,” I’ve seen him go from actor to comedian to writer-director. Huey Lewis, Barnacle scrapers, and Top Gun were never thought of the same way again after his concert.

There was nothing like him when he first came on the scene and almost thirty years later, the man is still a genius.

Described by Jimmy Kimmel as “Scary and the Hendersons” and by Bobcat himself as “The Blair-Squatch Project,” found footage movie Willow Creek is a radical departure in Goldthwait’s career after directing a string of black comedies (World’S Greatest Dad, God Bless America).

In the great American tradition of people venturing into the woods and encountering absolutely pants-wetting terror, what starts as two dorks with a video camera having a lark in a national park metastasizes into something much deeper, darker, and queasier.

Mpi/Dark Sky Films has released the first trailer and poster for the upcoming found footage thriller Willow Creek, debuting on VOD formats and in theaters June 6. Bryce Johnson and Alexie Gilmore star as Jim and Kelly, who take a vacation in Humboldt County, California, where Jim tries to capture Bigfoot on camera at the site of the famous Patterson-Gimlin film from 1967. Writer-director Bobcat Goldthwait's new film debuts in theaters and on VOD formats June 6.

Described by Jimmy Kimmel as "Scary and the Hendersons" and by writer-director Bobcat Goldthwait himself as "The Blair-Squatch Project," found footage movie Willow Creek is a radical departure in Goldthwait's career after directing a string of black comedies (World's Greatest Dad, God Bless America). In the great American tradition of people venturing into the woods and encountering absolutely pants-wetting terror, what starts as two dorks with a video camera having a lark in a...

Chicago – The legend of Bigfoot, the half ape and half human that had its heyday in the 1970s, is kept alive gratefully in the new film “Willow Creek,” directed by comedian and filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait. The stand-up comic icon was in Chicago last week to present his film at the 2014 Chicago Critics Film Festival.

“Willow Creek” is done in the style of “found video footage,” and involves a couple (Bryce Johnson and Alexis Gilmore) who are seeking the remote area in California where the famous film of Bigfoot was shot in 1967 by Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin. As events surrounding their journey get stranger and stranger, the pair find that they bit off more than they can chew.

Bobcat Goldthwait Mugs it Up at the Chicago Critics Film Festival, May 14th, 2014

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

The horror comedy theme is par for the filmmaking course of Bobcat Goldthwait.

We told you that the sliver of sasquatchploitation from Bobcat Goldthwait known as Willow Creek (review) has scored itself some domestic distribution via Dark Sky Films, and now we have some release details for ya!

Mpi will release the flick in NYC on June 6th at the IFC Center with a theatrical rollout to follow.

Described by Jimmy Kimmel as “Scary and the Hendersons” and by writer-director Bobcat Goldthwait himself as “The Blair-Squatch Project,” found footage movie Willow Creek is a radical departure in Goldthwait’s career after directing a string of black comedies (World’s Greatest Dad, God Bless America).

In the great American tradition of people venturing into the woods and encountering absolutely pants-wetting terror, what starts as two dorks with a video camera having a lark in a national park metastasizes into something much deeper, darker, and queasier.

Set in Humboldt County, California, Willow Creek centers on Jim (Bryce Johnson,...

Year: 2011

Directors: Kenneth Cran

Writers: Kenneth Cran

IMDb: link

Trailer: link

Review by: agentorange

Rating: 6 out of 10

The ethos of new company No CGI Films is something I can really get behind. Not that I don't like computer generated images, or digital FX or anything. I just get a total nerdgasm from seeing amazing practical work on the screen - particularly when it's pushed to a point that the movie starts to look like a bizarro version of earth (Evil Dead gets there for example).

So if you're like me and you dig on old Corman creature features (warts and all), you'll be happy to know that there are enough cool, geeky old-school filmmaker tricks in Millennium Bug to make you drool. We're talking insane miniature work, a ton of forced perspective and buckets of liquid blood to go along with all the prosthetic make-up work. For their first big (read: small) release,...