Do you love bigfoot? Do you love creature features? Do you love Judd Nelson? Do you love C. Thomas Howell? If you answered yes to more than one of these questions, then Bigfoot Wars is probably the movie for you!
Bigfoot Wars is written by Andrea Doss, Frederic Doss, and Jacob Mauldin and directed by Brian T. Jaynes (Humans vs. Zombies, The Underneath). It’s based on the best selling novel by Eric S. Brown. Cast members include Judd Nelson (Cabin By The Lake, Bad Kids Go To Hell), C. Thomas Howell (E.T., The Hitcher, “Criminal Minds”), Billy Blair (Pot Zombies II, Machete Kills), Taylor Weaver, David Sullivan (Argo), Holt Boggs (The Prodigy, The Underneath), Frederic Doss (Humans vs. Zombies), Jackey Hall (Snow Shark), and many more.
“After the sheriff of the small town of Boggy Creek receives reports of attacks from a vicious beast bearing resemblance to the legendary Sasquatch, he enlists the help of an expert survivalist (The Outsider’s C. Thomas Howell) and sets out to hunt down the creature. However, as they wander into the wilderness they discover that an entire tribe of Sasquatches awaits them. Now the enraged creatures descend from the hills and into the town to declare war upon its citizens.” – Amazon
Obviously the first thing I need to start with is the acting because there’s a lot of noteworthy people here. Judd Helson and C. Thomas Howell have supporting roles in this flick and they’re just as sharp as ever. They play two contrasting characters – Judd as a wacky doctoer and Howell as a bad ass, hillbilly sharpshooter. It’s interesting to see them in new character roles and they do bring a certain level of professionalism and quality to the picture. Holt Boggs, the lead, is quickly becoming a must have in cinema and he flexes his acting shops here in another serious, thrilling character role. And, to his credit, he’s able to keep up with quasi-icons Nelson and Howell. Also, before I move on to the next topic, I want to say that this is the best acting I’ve seen from Jackey Hall. She’s really improved her skills as an actress since the last time I saw her in Patient Zero.
Next, I want to take a moment to really acknowledge the specialty departments that created the bigfoot costumes and blood and guts. Crystal Ruffu, Andrea De Leon, Erin Volkman, Melissa L. Nichols, Phil Nichols – you all did a fantastic job and I think your contributions to this feature is what’s really going to make it succeed. The bigfoot costumes and gore effects look top of the line and don’t contain the slightest bit of hokeyness. This is crucial when it comes to making a creature feature. The department you guys worked in is what will sink the DVD sales or keep them constant, and thanks to you and your skills – the movie is going to sail. I applaud you for your efforts and for not using a ton of CGI tricks.
There were two things that I regarded as negatives and I want to mention those now. First, at times the script is way to wordy, especially once C. Thomas Howell’s character is introduced to the viewers. I think a lot more could have been done or explored if they just toned some of the dialogue at certain times. Next, one of the characters just disappeared…in an unexplained way. I enjoyed Bigfoot Wars and I was very much into it and didn’t notice the character’s death. One minute the men go into the woods, and then he’s gone. He could have stayed behind, I remember him saying, “I’ll protect this town with my life,” or something along those lines…and then he’s just…gone. *side eye* Or maybe…he survived and there will be a sequel based off his character… Hm… Ok… Scratch the two negatives, there’s only one – bad wordiness.
In terms of overall quality, Bigfoot Wars is as good as anything you’d get out of a SyFy Original Movie, but with better bigfoot costumes. Beautiful outdoor settings – most notably the bigfoot cave, fun characters, lots of guns and machete action, a couple scenes with nudity, and a few instances of odd comedy. I think what’s great is that Bigfoot Wars was probably made for half the budget of a SyFy Original Movie, but is of much better quality and content. It goes to show that a cast and crew that know what they’re doing can pull together and make a true independent success story.
I’m going to give Bigfoot Wars a 7.5 out of 10!
This flick was a real disappointment. I had high hopes when I saw it at the video store–in the new features section with recognizable talent–I assumed it would be reminiscent of an actual movie. Instead, it seemed much more like one of those back yard straight to video productions, but with a bigger budget and somewhat better special effects. Seems that when someone is blown to bits by a land mine, the explosion would be louder than a "ping". The acting certainly wasn't convincing; could be reflective of the quality of the script. Some scenes seemed superfluous and led nowhere. The bigfoot head being carried by Zeke seemed to have almost zero weight, although an actual head that size would probably weigh about 15 pounds. The entire effort seemed amateurish.