Welcome to Fouke, Arkansas, where the population apparently hasn't grown in twenty years. Where people fish a lot and freak out at handprints in the mud. Where kittens die without warning and flowerpots are constantly knocked over. Where girls scream ceaselessly and half the town carries the last name of Crabtree.
It's not the residents' fault, of course. Each one of these unfortunate events is the direct result of Bigfoot living in their backyard. How do I know this? Well, the people of Fouke, no doubt fed up with people asking them about their last names and broken flowerpots, have put all widespread public rumors to rest with their 1972 documentary entitled The Legend of Boggy Creek.
Complete with needless zooms, brilliant reenactments, and (of course) actual footage of Sasquatch, you know you're in for something that really should have been Oscar nominated. Be warned: this movie is terrifying. Those with weak stomachs should not continue to read after the jump.
"This is a true story" proclaims the first shot. Interviews are with actual people...many of them conducted on the actual location. Well, that's good to know. I'd hate to think that a movie about Sasquatch was lying to me. You know, if they didn't have that title shot, I might have thought that all the interviews were filmed on the actual location. I'm so glad that these filmmakers are honest with me.
So, onward then. I'm shown a ton of shots of generic foresty-things with generic animals in generic place, probably to trigger my guilt complex and make me donate a ton of money to the generic environmental protection organization of my choice. After almost five minutes of just that, I finally get a narrator telling me about the monster, who's apparently "drawn to civilization like a moth to flame" and causes "waves of terror" throughout the town. All right, so my interest is peaked. Let's see these moths and waves, already!
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Actually, I hear it first. It's the most frightening sound I've ever heard, and it makes my heart bleed with sorrow and terror. Yes, you've guessed it. Someone has mercilessly destroyed their 70s synthesizer with a hammer. Each discordant, dying-animal sound sends shots of pain through my body and almost brings tears to my eyes, but bravely I wipe them away and continue on. It's my duty, after all, to watch. If I didn't, I would still spread these terrible rumors about the many good people of Fouke--both the Crabtrees and those doomed to the lowly names of Jones and Smith.
One interviewer describes how he first knew something was wrong. There he was, walking loudly through the forest, carrying a gun, when suddenly he noticed that the animals were scarce. Truly a mystery. Bigfoot must be the answer. But where is Bigfoot? I haven't seen him all movie! He must be there, though. After all, I've already seen a townsperson's kitten stricken dead of fear, and I've heard the screams of the Fouke residents as they reenact their terror with thrilling dialogue such as "it's just the wind...I hope." Creature, show yourself!
Wait...what is that scary looking stump that may or may not be a man covered in fur? Could it be...? Perhaps, but there's never a clear shot. Well, let's just hope that the boy we see next will run into the monster. The dogs bark. There's no doubt about it! The dogs are chasing a deer in that direction! Quick, boy! Run after them! Never mind the fact that they're invisible dogs, damnit! You have a deer to shoot! (On a side note, I'm very intrigued by these invisible dogs of Fouke. What do they eat? Can they still fetch the newspaper?) But wait! I've no time for that! There's Sasquatch! The boy shoots it and then runs away. As I'm told later, no one thought to get a blood sample in all of the excitement later, when they tried to track the wounded creature down.
For some time after, we don't see the creature again. Instead, we hear a few folk songs. One is, of course, about Bigfoot. The other is about Travis Crabtree camping in the forest. These are accompanied by more scenery shots. This is boring. I demand more Bigfoot!
I'm sad to say that I don't get more Bigfoot. What I do get is someone pretending to be Bigfoot, complete with mask and fake paws. In stature and other clothing, he sort of looks like Denard Robinson dressed as a Jedi. He causes havoc by knocking over flowerpots and making the residents so frightened that they can no longer open a door properly--preferring instead to jump through the glass in a dramatic fashion. I'm not sure what to make of this. Nor am I sure what to make of newly-introduced Herb Jones, a man who lives out in the wilderness of boggy creek and limps because he shot his foot in a boating accident. Perhaps he's actually Bigfoot, and he just wants more tobacco. I may never know the truth.
The residents may never know, either. Though they quickly credit Bigfoot at the end of the film as "himself" (probably because they want to keep their flowerpots intact and their door-opening abilities functioning), it was revealed that few of the residents even know what a Sasquatch is. When asked by authorities, they admitted that they just weren't sure of what they saw. I feel very much the same way about this movie. Despite all of this, I have learned an important lesson. Much like Sasquatch itself, the people of Fouke, Arkansas have a desperate need to be understood and accepted by society--even if their basic cognitive abilities are in question.
