The Legend of Boggy Creek

One of my brothers took a girl he really liked to see "The Legend of Boggy Creek" on their first date in 1972. She never went out with him again. Word to the wise.

This is basically a pseudo-documentary with incredibly cheesy music ("Hey there, Travis Crabtree," a local lad is serenaded as he travels to the home of a slackjawed yokel whose name escapes me, but not the fact that he shot off his own foot). As for the "Creature Theme," my brother and I took great delight in parodizing the lyrics:

This is where the creature goes / when he needs to blow his nose

etc. etc. etc. and other preteen humor (?).

But for your basic seventies celebration of Middle American white trash culture, it just doesn't get any better than this. Young girls in curlers, alone in the trailer with a big hairy creature stalking around outside! Cats meeting horrible fates just from espying said creature! Corn-pone accents galore! NOW how much would you pay?

As a youngster growing up in Arkansas this was very much a real experience for me, while we lived about three hours from the area where this is supposed to have happened it was a very exciting time. I can still remember reading the newspaper and watching the local news each night to hear the latest on the "Fouke Creek Monster" as it was called. It was particulary exciting when they reported on the incident where the monster reached through the window. I really enjoyed this movie because of it's homespun quality not in spite of it.

"The Legend of Boggy Creek" deserves a higher rating on the IMDb. Despite a couple of laughable folk songs, the movie is an intriguing docudrama that is at times genuinely creepy. The filmmakers use admirable restraint and never give the audience a clear look at the creature. There are also moments of effective camera work and sound editing that create a close, atmospheric environment where the creature could be lurking behind every tree or bush. This film is what "The Mothman Prophecies" should have been.

Both amusingly dated and chilling, "The Legend of Boggy Creek" is a fun movie that is best enjoyed on a dark autumn night. It's a great scary story and an American folktale that's entertaining to watch safely at home, but may become much more plausible should you find yourself alone in the woods around sundown

Minor drive-in classic from B movie director Charles B. Pierce that's made in the style of a documentary.

For years the folks of Fouke, Arkansas have had encounters with a terrifying Big Foot-type creature that dwells in the local swamps.

Director Pierce well over comes his low-budget limitations on this film by giving it some terrific atmosphere. It's a great narrative documentary that benefits from the use of the raw back woods locations of Arkansas, which gives off a great feeling moodiness and the unknown. It also conveys a nicely authentic look at the rural culture. The movie really has no plot, but there are some truly dark re-enactment sequences that boast some great tension!

The cast is composed of locals who often portray themselves, adding call the more to the documentary feel.

Over all, Ledgend of Boggy Creek is an interesting and occasionally creepy piece of film-making.

*** out of ****

First things first- The Legend of Boggy Creek is in a class of its own, literally. This film is part Documentary, part Drama, part Musical(!) and 100% classic horror/speculation/fantasy, not to mention historical document (if you believe that Bigfoot's for real). But did you know that Bigfoot wasn't just tooling around the Pacific-Northwestern USA? Oh no. Apparently he likes to vacation in a little place called Fouke, Arkansas. At least he did back in the 70's when he was most active and when The Legend of Boggy Creek takes place.

"Boggy Creek" was a runaway low-budget smash hit in the mid 70's. Sequels tried to cash in on its success, but to no avail. Like the Blair Witch much later once the public had had its initial scare the magic was gone. I personally viewed the film at the theater during it's first release, and the kids packing the cinema ate it up, and yucked it up too, as perhaps the greatest genius of this film is that it is not only loaded with scares and suspense, and the famous monster of course, but also is loaded with (sometimes inadvertent) humor, as well as a musical score which lulls you into a sense that you are watching a harmless and serene Disney wildernesss travelogue, that's it! That's what it is. It's like "Charly the Lonesome Cougar" with a blood thirsty monster!

This film is one of the most remembered movies from the 70's because it was so unique and effective. It is funny, and it is pleasant to watch. It is hilariously cheap, but only with the DVD freeze-frame can you really tell that the Bigfoot is actually a guy in an gorilla costume (seriously). And since the people in the cast are purported to be the actual folks who this actually happened to, you can't fault their terrible acting either, but you sure can have a good laugh at their expense.