Tahoe Joe

TAHOE JOE's title refers to a large humanoid creature which supposedly roams in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and dispatches people who have the misfortune of crossing its path. The film tells the story of two filmmakers who try to find it because the friend of one of them who was looking for Joe disappeared there, and they wish to ascertain what happened.

Despite the fact that this is a bargain basement budget production of a found footage concept that has been done many times, it still manages to squeeze some fun into it. It also breaks a few genre conventions, especially at the end, but what struck me the most was the meta-modernistic approach it took to its subject.

Meta-modernism is a relatively recently identified trend in the arts and in philosophy which can be viewed as the successor to post-modernism and modernism. Its main feature is that it combines elements from these two, sometimes by jumping from one approach to the other in short succession.

The main characters use their real names and elements of their real lives in this film. This has been done in found footage horror before (for example, DASHCAM (2021), SHADOW OF THE MISSING (2018), BE MY CAT (2015), DIGGING UP THE MARROW (2014) ) in order to make the fiction seem more real, and enhance the impact of the horror when it eventually happens. Nevertheless, annihilating the boundary between fiction and reality can also be regarded as a post-modernist technique.

Another such technique pertains to the in-movie found footage of the missing friend, which the director character describes as "exactly how he would set up a horror movie". Since we are actually watching a horror movie, this can be regarded not just as the movie poking fun at itself but also as a deconstruction of a horror trope.

On the other hand, much of the film and especially the chase scenes are played straight, and there is a definite story arc which is more in line with a modernist narrative.

I don't believe that the film-makers set out to make a movie with such theoretical ideas in mind; rather these ideas are meant to summarize certain aspects of cultural trends in the past and the present which inevitably imprint themselves in the output of the times. In short, the movie has these features because the Zeitgeist of a movie like TAHOE JOE reflects the last decade or so, as of this writing.

The movie is entertaining and does the most with its budget. It is not the best example of this particular found-footage sub-genre (that honor goes, in my opinion to EMBEDDED (2012)) but it is decent enough for fans of Sasquatch, found footage or even horror movies in general.

I liked the makers' attempt at keeping almost everything meta, but this found-footage film takes a tad too long in its setup, whereas the payoff is pretty minimal. The acting by the kid was pretty terrible, and they didn't do much with the third character Shane. He is presented as a storehouse of information, but the protagonists never question his sources or intentions. Why would he decisively get drunk when he knows the area is dangerous? It's obvious that all the FF horror movies on Tubi only feature scares (if any) in the final 10-15 minutes, and that's the case here too. The creature effects are not bad, but the stakes felt low. Make a part 2 maybe, with these guys (+ additional crew) returning to the forest to prove a point to the world that they weren't staging it. This felt kind of incomplete.

I generally do not write movie reviews. In fact, this is the first review I've posted on IMDB. The obviously biased 10/10s prompted me to leave a real review.

I love found footage movies and was pretty excited to see that Tahoe Joe had good ratings so I decided to give it a shot.

The acting is not great. Most of the actors are obviously acting with poorly executed emotions. The first footage of bigfoot looks like footage of a man wearing a ghillie suit. Not animal like at all. The footage that prompts the filmmakers to go looking for Bigfoot is laughable.

I wish I was watching this with friends so we could riff on it. I recommend that's how you experience this one.

One thing that the horror genre lacks in, is the inclusion of cryptozoology. But not to worry, Tahoe Joe fills that need to a T! Best of all, this is a horror film that even a younger audience can watch, but not to young! This clever mockumentary is a wild ride and full of twists that will have you on the edge of your seat and pointing at the tv screen. The real life chemistry and friendship between the film's creator, Dillon Brown and actor, Michael Rock really shows and helps build a foundation of the fictional versions of themselves that they play. But it is the legendary Sasquatch known as Tahoe Joe that steals the spotlight in this one. The creature is displayed beautifully terrifying and has a unique look made up of unspeakable monster and natural animal. As an avid horror fan and a believer, I definitely recommend checking this one out.

The Blair Witch Project with Bigfoot was done well for what was put into it. The acting was mostly good and the way it was set up was believable. My favorite parts were the early Bigfoot sightings caught on tape. They did an excellent job making it appear as if there was a creature lurking in the area.

What I didn't love about the movie was, as always with independent films, the length. It's really hard to hold my attention beyond 75 minutes, especially when it's a mockumentary style with almost only handheld footage. I think this film would've been better around 60 minutes just to keep it at typical documentary length.

The actor who played the missing dad wasn't that great, in part because his stuff went on for too long, and the situation of him vlogging and being alone wasn't really great storytelling. Towards the end, when things get chaotic, the acting suffers a little because the characters are not being tense as they probably should be in the situation. I also think they showed too much creature, specifically the teeth. There's a cool homage still frame to Jaws & Texas Chainsaw in the credits that totally worked for me, and would've been enough on its own. Less is more. But overall, a great job. Well done.