Willow Creek (2013)

Directed by: Bobcat Goldthwait
Country: USA

Movie Review: American actor, comedian, screenwriter and film director, Bobcat Goldthwait, makes an incursion into found-footage horror film with “Willow Creek”. The story is centered on a young couple in love, Jim (Bryce Johnson) and Kelly (Alexie Gilmore), who set out to the woods near Willow Creek, the Californian place where the mysterious creature got famous, in searching for Big Foot. While Jim is a believer, Kelly makes fun of Big Foot saying there’s no possibility for it to be real. For their report/investigation, they start shooting short interviews with experts on the matter as well as witnesses of unexplainable happenings involving a strange creature. Despite the warnings to stay away from the woods where the famous Patterson-Grimlin film was shot in 1967, the couple decides to camp exactly on that site. Uneventful until reaching this part, Goldthwait embarks in a different posture to create fear – a very long shot of the protagonists inside a tent in the middle of the night, with the outside noises becoming more and more intense. Jim tries to stay strong, expecting something to happen, while Kelly has a panic attack, which is intensified in the morning when they try to leave the place but start walking in circles. The dialogues, despite dull in many ways, seemed pretty natural, and both the steady and hand-held camera shots were decent enough. The problem here was the totally expected outcomes after a long-wait where nothing special happens. I found Alexie Gilmore’s performance convincing, but regarding this Big Foot, I’m definitely a non-believer. “Willow Creek” was not so scary and is recommended only for fans of the genre.