The Bloody Rage of Bigfoot

As a big fan of independent B-movie films, horror especially, I enjoyed "The Bloody Rage of BigFoot" a lot. This movie's reach does not exceed its grasp - it knows what it is and does it surprisingly well. Writer/director James Baack obviously knows and respects the genre. Well done.

The actresses (Andrea Hutchison, Tina Boivin) are very good in their lead roles, and mostly the acting was surprisingly effective throughout. Ron Feyereisen plays a couple characters and has great screen presence. BRoBF works best overall in the scenes he is in. I found Feyereisen's (apparent) improvisation in the black-and-white sanitarium scenes especially good. His Knutson character coulda been a little less angry during the Sasquatch hunt at the end, but the character's ambiguity in not shooting and then having empathy for BigFoot gives his character some unexpected depth. Nicely done.

There are a couple eerily surrealistic scenes, one including maniacal clowns inexplicably dubbed "Pus E." (Feyereisen again) and "Slappy" (Baack). Weird, weird stuff but just try and look away. Can't be done.

The film's construction holds up well. Knutson's recalling of events in flashback while in a mental hospital is surprisingly (because it could have come across as clichéd) effective. It is also nice use of the Hitchcockian mechanism in its depiction of "The Man Who No One Believes."

Some interesting cinematography too; menacing/lonely shots of the prison and other sites. I liked a lot of the music cues, with the random piano "plink" especially eerie and effective. Some of the F/X were unnecessary and perhaps overly derivative (I'm thinking specifically of the grainy black and white scenes during the witch sequence), but mostly worked fine.

I laughed a lot, which is a nice balance to the mayhem. The running joke about Knutson's name works, and when the Professor (Baack) inexplicably blurts "I hate bees!" I cracked up. Nods to the Loch Ness monster, Svengoolie, and Jaws (during the mayor scene) were most appreciated! Bob Rogers was really good as the mayor and the whole scene works well. Especially loved the repetitive "I don't think we need to get into details" dialogue. Throwaway lines like "Help yourself to a banana" and correcting of the zoologist's title were also quite humorous.

I also enjoyed the couple political comments, and inclusion of "Wolf News" was a nice touch. Missed opportunity (perhaps) in not including a promo for some type of political nut-job talk show. Coulda been funny.

All that said, the biggest negative of the film is its length. Some judicious editing of the running time would have made the film more clean, efficient, and enjoyable.

But I still loved it, and I'm looking forward to more of Baack's work.

As an individual who watches bad movies constantly, I can say that this movie has no redeeming qualities. It isn't funny. It isn't so-bad-it's-good. There are so many flaws it's nearly impossible to count them all. I'll do my best.

The acting is awful, although this alone isn't anything special.

At a couple points, actors make mistakes. Instead of silently fixing them, or cutting and doing the scene again, they look into the camera (at the cameraman) and make a statement about their screw-up.

A lot of scenes are extremely long with virtually no cuts. Done well, this can be amazing. Done wrong (as it is in this case), the scenes slowly begin to unravel the longer they go on.

There is virtually no plot continuity. It seems as though the writer changed the story every time a scene was done filming.

Dialogue is awful and over-the-top.

Some of the "actors" playing background or secondary characters very clearly don't care in the slightest. They struggle to keep a straight face as they carry out actions or deliver lines.

Cleary very little planning was done for scenes, causing the actors and actresses to constantly repeat the exact same lines of dialogue over and over again.

Last, and quite possibly the most egregious sin of all, the movie is over 2.5 hours long. No horror movie, much less this piece of garbage, deserves that length of a run-time. The last time I was insulted by a movie's length this badly was when I watched the direct sequel to the original I Spit on Your Grave.

Andrea Hutchison II stole my heart in this filum and won't give it back. I reveled in her joy filled role as Satantha, where she exuded strength through her lovely sexual nature as well as a childlike innocence as she murdered her way across the screen. The pure beauty of Miss Hutchison's soul often carried the motion picture, especially when some of the other actors lost their way along the 2 hour and 44 minute trek. Taking her direction from her better angels, Andrea's smile gave life to the goings on around her, a serene beauty among often hectic weeds. Andrea Hutchison II is a rare and wonderful person.

After viewing The Bloody Rage of Bigfoot, I spent a better part of the day confused. I wasn't sure if my brain was able to process such an "overload" of convoluted and distorted storytelling. But I have to admit, It stayed with me for a few days until I couldn't resist but to undergo a second viewing. This time accompanied by my neighbors. In all actuality, this movie unfolds like a novel. It's long(2 1/2 hours)worth of mayhem. But each scene plays like a separate chapter. Bestowing on the unwitting and unsuspecting viewer a bizarre buffet of madness that you can't tear away from. There really is no way to fully describe this little offering unless you see it for yourself. I for one, really enjoyed this though but I'm not really sure why. This is definitely not for everyone although I'm sure with the passing of time this feature will finds its own audience.