"Looking for Bigfoot, scares were little"

Title: Willow Creek

Year: 2013

Genre: Adventure, Horror, Mystery

Director: Bodcat Goldthwait

Writer: Bobcat Goldthwait

Runtime: 80min

Cast: Bryce Johnson, Alexie Gilmore, Peter Jason, Tom Yamarone 

Prod: Jerkschool Productions

Willow Creek is another indie found footage, from comedian and filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait.

Jim (Bryce Johnson) and Kelly (Alexie Glmore) are a young couple who, along with their camera, goes after Bigfoot. Jim is actually the one who believes in this creature, while Kelly is just keeping him some company. 

Here as a starting point is used the famous and controversial "Patterson film" as inspirational material. Fake for some, true for others, and supposedly shot in 1967 at Bluff Creek, California, it is said to portray what was seen by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin. 

Overall, what we´ve got is the couple going over there and interviewing the locals. From someone who tells them about her own terrifying experience, to a complete skeptic, passing by a guy who sings to them, or an aggressive resident who asks them to go away. They are people who live where the ape-man is the best product of merchandising, with the shape of its footfalls even present in meals. 

From one interview to another, Jim and Kelly keep getting closer to Bluff Creek, place of the "Patterson case" and where they set up their tent. Till here one assumes that Willow Creek is preparing us the field for what certainly, is coming up next. 

When night falls, propitious moment for a lot of things to happen, is when noises and movements begin, distant at first, but then really close, causing fear to take over them both. Jim has placed his camera in front of them and with its light on, turning the scene into a long, though nothing dense "sequence shot", where every single minute is useful. The tension achieved with the sound off box works very well and is always increasing, although it would have worked to complement it with some shots from outside the tent, if not today, at least another night, something that´s left as a pending matter. 

Unfortunately, the moments that give us scares are summarized to this, plus the subsequent attempt of the couple to retrace their steps. Unlike films like Paranormal Activity, it is not even that the intrigue is to be segmented into several night shifts, with increasingly dangerous approaches. If what we´d wanted was to see the hairy giant, the footprints discovered by Jim or the hair they find on a trunk is the most we´re shown. Being patient we´ll be able to see them running into "something", but that´ll only confuse us. Willow Creek ends up being a little, half finished, found footage.

My rating: 4/10

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