In Search Of Bigfoot/Cry Wildness — In Search Of Bigfoot/Cry Wildness(DVD)
The DVD case artwork features the house style of the Drive In Series- taking in on the front both releases poster artwork, and on the back a picture a piece from each film & a small write up on each. Extras wise there is nothing really- but both films have had 2k transfers from their original negatives- so both look fairly good by DVD standards.
First up we have 1976’s In Search Of Bigfoot. This 75-minute documentary follows Robert Morgan - shaved headed & goateed bigfoot expect, and his band of helpers, as they spend a few weeks in Pacific Northwest wilderness of Washington state looking for Bigfoot. The film features a fairly typical 70’s wildlife doc male voice over -firstly discussing the big foot in general, then charting much of the group's exploits. We get a soundtrack primal focusing in an on fairly buoyantly melodic central musically theme- which brings together guitar & harmonica in a bluegrass setting. As you expect you get some nice shots of the vast forest lands, and on the whole, the film passes by pleasantly enough- with Morgan and his fairly hippy bound team. The whole doc does have a fairly light & bright feel to it, and in a way, I do miss the more foreboding undercurrents of say The Legend Of Boggy Creek, or 1975’s The Legend Of Bigfoot. Also at times, the central music theme does get overplayed, so by the end of the doc, you do feel a little bit tired of it. But on the plus side, I found a few new titbits of info on the Bigfoot. I enjoyed the 70’s doc vibe and the whole thing flows by nicely enough. In conclusion, it’s not one of the best BF docs I’ve seen, but if you’re a fan of the genre- it’s worth a look.
Next up we have 1986’s Cry Wildness- which is best described as kooky, unintentionally amusing, often illogical, and at times down right bizarre family film. The films lead characters are Paul- a young, slightly annoying private school student (with a bowl haircut). And his father Will (who also has a bowl hair cut)- a ranger in a large forest. The film opens with Paul getting told off by his tutor; for talking about Bigfoot, who he claims is his friend from the forest where his father works. Next, we see Paul in his boarding room at night- he looks out the window, and Bigfoot is standing on a roof across from his window!. and it’s saying he must come home to the forest to help his dad. Next, we see Paul hitching a lift in the snow with a lorry driver, and next shot he’s back in the snow less woodland with his father…with no explanation how he escapes his school, got a lift, and managed to get back home…and this is only the first few minutes of the film. From here on we get a large selection of animals tied to trees (trying to look like they're in their natural habituate), extremely wooden acting, overlong scenes of actors laughing together with buoyant & bright music playing, badly inter-cut animal footage from other sources, a escaped tiger, a terrible clichéd nasty hunter. And lastly a Indian mystic & his spirit animals- who hides away in a hidden glade. Though in the films write-up Bigfoot is painted as one of the main features in the film- he barely turns up at all, instead, we get a mish-mash of a bad family film in a woodland setting. So summing up this second film it’s a prime slice of 1980’s ‘bad movie’ making, and if you’re a fan of so-bad-there-good films you’ll have fun with this, just don’t expect too much BF action!.
So all in all this is an enjoyable pairing of these two Bigfoot related films, and it would be neat to see Vinegar Syndrome do more of these double feature releases related to folklore creatures. As I’m sure there are loads of obscure docs/ films they could find on subjects like vampires, werewolf’s, zombies, etc.