Manbeast! Myth or Monster?

Manbeast! Myth or Monster? (1978)

** (out of 4)

This here is a rather cheaply produced documentary that takes a look at the various Bigfoot legends and tries to prove whether they are just a myth or if perhaps there's a real monster out there that has yet to be captured. If you're a fan of Bigfoot like I am then you probably know that the Golden Era for films and documentaries were the 1970's. With the success of THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK we were given all sorts of documentaries and other television episodes that took a look at the legendary creature. This one here isn't nearly one of the best as there's really nothing here that we haven't seen in previous films. Like previous films, this one here tries to work as a teaching tool but there are also some re-enactments. I will say that I thought the Bigfoot costumes looked good but the direction just isn't all that impressive and none of the re-enactments really come to life.

Bigfoot, along with UFO's, The Bermuda Triangle and The Loch Ness Monster were super popular subjects throughout the 1970's. There were tons of movies, books and TV shows dedicated to these and other stupid, easily-explainable mysteries but I suppose those were different times when people wanted to believe in the existence of scary monsters and magical beings like Evel Kneivel for example. This made for TV documentary about Bigfoot (here called the Manbeast!) is basically just an overlong version of the 70's TV show IN SEARCH OF... without the Leonard Nimoy narration(this one is narrated by professional animal and monster hunter Peter Byrne). In fact this thing was based on a book titled IN SEARCH OF MYTHS AND MONSTERS so there ya go. Directed by Nicholas Webster, who is best known for the holiday gem SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS, all the actual "encounters' with the Manbeast are recreated here with people in cheesy costumes(by Rob Bottin who would go on to do the much superior FX work on THE THING among other big films) and told in such an earnest way that makes everything seem so silly. Check it out if you dig 70's TV or just Bigfootsploitation in general covered in lots of unintentional cheese.