Ok, ya’ll know I’m just a sucker for bigfoot flicks. Hell, I’m one of the only people I know who absolutely fuckin’ LOVE THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK. So, of course, I watch just about every movie made about the big, hairy bastard (even the piece of shit flicks that dominate the genre these days…poor Lance Henriksen). That being said, I’m looking forward to another one, this time about the legendary Grassman, Ohio’s Bigfoot legend (on which there was an episode for the show Monster Quest). Obviously a heavily independent flick, I look forward to giving it a shot. So far, I don’t have much information on the flick, but check out the production blog HERE.
Written, Directed, & Edited By: DUANE GRAVES and JUSTIN MEEKS Based On The Journals Of: DALE S. ROGERS
Produced By: JUSTIN MEEKS, KIM HENKEL, and DUANE GRAVES Starring: JUSTIN MEEKS, ALEX GARCIA, CHARLIE HURTIN, EDMOND GEYER, STACY MEEKS, KIM HENKEL, MAC McBRIDE, BOB WOOD, JAMES BARGSLEY, PATRICK HEWLETT, and TONY WOLFORD as THE WILD MAN
A BRIEF SYNOPSIS: From Greeks Productions and the producer of the original 70’s horror classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre comes The Wild Man of the Navidad. This vintage horror tale is based on the real-life journals of Dale S. Rogers. Shot in a 70’s style B-movie aesthetic, Mr. Roger’s veracious accounts are brought to vivid, chilling life in this intelligent retelling of an old rural legend involving a small Texas community terrified for years by a mysterious creature inhabiting the nearby woods.
I first became aware of Independent Filmmakers Duane Graves and Justin Meeks when I picked up, years ago, a DVD in MediaPlay called FREAK, a film now discontinued by the distributor. I became aware of this flick whenever I read about a short film included on the disc over at TexasChainsawMassacre.net called HEAD CHEESE, an early, very strange film, from the two Texans that took place at a few of the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE locations. Though HEAD CHEESE could be considered very “art school” in nature, present throughout the film were genuinely eerie. and disturbing scenes. Aided by a very odd, sparse, musical score, and a mashup of 8mm and 16mm film stock, the short carried with it the look and psychological feel of perhaps the only remaining scrap of stock from some obscure exploitation film from the late 60’s or 70’s with washed out colors and a heavy grain, along with the requisite pops and scratches we’ve come to recognize with such films.
I eagerly anticipated a feature length work within the horror genre after seeing HEAD CHEESE, something I was certain could only be a matter of time. Then, last year, news came down the line about a new film the two had been working on called THE WILD MAN OF THE NAVIDAD. In fact, my very first post here at BACKWOODS HORROR was about the film (to be followed by more as my excitement and anticipation grew with every new little bit of news that came along).
Following in the footsteps of two of my all-time favorite films (THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE & THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK), adding that bit of, what I’ve often refered to on the site as, “DIRTY SOUTH” (or Southern Gothic if you will, I like my name better) atmosphere, the realistic, if sometimes dark atmosphere of the true South, I couldn’t help, even with its few flaws, but fall in love with this fantastic independent film masterpiece.
I’ll get into those flaws first, and go ahead and get them out of the way to make room for the main course, just how fucking fantastic this film is…how easily you can forget, while watching, that this film was just made, and lose yourself in the nostalgia of it, as if you’d just found a long lost drive-in treasure. A film Joe Bob Briggs should’ve written about those years ago but never did.
The only flaw in this film is the special effects makeup, and that isn’t too heavy a flaw when you come down to it. The problem is that the film, being released in the here and now, is compared to other films, all kinds of films, from the here and now with money. MONEY, boils ‘n ghouls, and imagination is what it takes to make those effects pop. With just imagination, you can generally get the point across, sometimes well, but that blood starts to really look like red paint. Now, if WMOTN were released in the late 60’s or early 70’s, then we wouldn’t have a problem with it because even WITH money, effects were limited by technology and materials. It was still a fairly new science. H.G. Lewis’s films, we can all be assured, are fantastically, ludicrously, wonderfully gory, but the effects look like play-dough and red paint. Though he was the godfather of the modern gore film, the gore and effects just don’t hold up. (I’m sure I’ll receive hate mail from nostaligic fans, but hey, take a critical, objective eye and look again). Thankfully, the gore is very light in this film, so the gripe isn’t really all that big. The only BIG gripe I have is the WILD MAN creature makeup/costume. One of the reasons THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK worked then and still, in a way, works now, is that the monster was always kept just out of focus and slightly in the shadows. You never really got a good look at the creature. We today, thanks to high-priced hollywood effects, are spoiled, always able to see the monster in our multi-screened movie houses, but NOT always satisfied with what we see. As in literature (and yes, the horror genre IS literature…if you think otherwise, get the hell outta my shack!), in film, it is often, for the most part, best to leave the monster to our imaginations when money isn’t high on the resource list. Hell, even when money’s coming out of the director’s ears, in some cases, it’s better to leave the monster in the shadows because the creature we see in our minds will almost always be far more hideous and terrible. Why? Because everyone’s conception of what scares THEM is different, thus, when the monster is shown to us, some will, invariably, scream, some will laugh, and some will just be pissed off with a look on their face screaming “what the fuck? Is that it?”
Unfortunately, that’s just the sort of look I probably had stamped all over my face when the WILD MAN was revealed as a sort of man-boar with crazy lower teeth, or tusks, who happens to be a giant of a man covered in deer skins with antler hands. What the fuck? Of course, if the monster hadn’t been shown, many jaded-ass filmgoers and critics who’ve been spoon-fed their creature-features for years where the monster is ALWAYS shown will say “HEY, where’s my MONSTER!” and that might just be why the filmmakers here decided to show it. Unfortunate, I say, for I subscribe to the school where what is not shown, when set up properly, is often invariably far scarier than what is. Never underestimate the fucked up imagination of the general audience. An audience whose life experiences and nightmares are often far worse than what any filmmaker could dream up or create. The only reason this was such a big problem with me is because I loved the rest of the film so damn much. If it were a giant, flaming piece of shit, then that monster wouldn’t have come off as such a disappointment because I was already disappointed by the rest of the film. Not the case here, shitty monster makeup aside, I fucking LOVED this flick!
As is the case when one is attempting to express love, however, I’m having a difficult time formulating it into words. (Maybe that’s why we often only see critics bashing films, because they just aren’t talented enough writers to say anything positive if they truly enjoyed a film. Perhaps it’s unfashionable. Luckily, I have terrible fashion sense). The overall atmosphere of WMOTN is really what won me over. With skillfull camerawork (including a few tricks I won’t give away that have us thinking the entire time that these guys found some stash of fast filmstock from the 70’s, perhaps reels of Kodak 800 left over from AIP’s glory days, and then fed it through an ancient ARRI), fantastic editing, spot-on direction, and glorious writing, Meeks and Graves have perfectly transported the viewer into their dream world. A world of rusty, worn out cars, always in some state of repair or disrepair. A world of the corner bar, a cement cube with a worn neon sign the owner’s probably exceedingly proud of, with an interior of mismatched tables and chairs, wooden bar, and cold beer from a cooler that says Coca-Cola on the side of it and would’ve looked at home in any country gas station from the early 60’s to mid 80’s (or, if you grew up where I did, it looks at home in the corner store now, still sitting there with the coldest cokes and nehi’s in bottles you ever had). The small, Southern town, where everyone seems to know each other. Where important meetings are often held at that cement, dusty watering hole. Where the sun always seems to cast more of an orange-brown hue over everything than the bright white we often see in movies. That small town where the locals take care of their own, where myths and legends are often spoken of in hushed tones, winks, and nods. Everyone knows, but no one’s saying a damn thing, and all hell to outsiders who want to come poking around, stirring things up. A place where things are the way they are, as they’ve always been, and you’ll be damned if you try and change it now.
Though there is an obvious exploitive bit throughout the film in regard to the moonshine sub-subplot, these boys are from Texas and they didn’t go too overboard like someone who’d never been around that sort of crowd would, and thus, the exploitation in that regard is kept at a minimum, thankfully. But that isn’t to say this couldn’t be classified as an exploitation film in the highest regard. If WMOTN had been released during the bigfoot craze of the 70’s that started with THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, and included BIGFOOT, SASQUATCH, NIGHT OF THE DEMON(1980, towards the end of the craze), and CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE, among other, lesser flicks, it would’ve no doubt been a hit at the drive-in, and perhaps the grindhouse circuit. For that, I love it, it’s MY kind of movie. I think the kids who love the torture-porn flicks today might not view it in such a gloriously dusty light, but you know what? Fuck ‘em, because their idea of a good movie is comparable to watching flies struggle till they die on flypaper, their wings beating furiously, trying in vain to escape this sticky, terrible hell they’ve unwittingly wandered into. There’s no story, no atmosphere, no real characters you can care about or relate to, it’s just gore and death for their sake alone and it’s BORING AS ALL FUCK! WMOTN has story, it has atmosphere in spades, and it has genuine, down to earth characters every man and woman can relate to. It is a finely woven tapestry of small town life and small town people, their concerns, fears, triumphs, all blending together to create a living, breathing picture of that life all brought to a critical mass as it starts to unravel when people start dying due to an old legend that is more than a legend, THE WILD MAN OF THE NAVIDAD is on the loose, he’s pissed as hell, and he’s out for blood.
If you dream of a time where films actually took you out of your life for a while and put you, ever so slowly and craftfully into the life of the story onscreen, films that made you think, made you wonder, and offered story, atmosphere, and character over simple, bland gore and violence alone (though, don’t get me wrong, WMOTN has plenty of violence, but when it happens, you CARE that it’s happening, you’re INVESTED in the story, you care about what’s happening), you’ll love this movie. If you love films like THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, and all of the other films I’ve mentioned already, then WILD MAN OF THE NAVIDAD is for you. I can’t recommend this film enough. MEEKS and GRAVES are a pair of talented filmmakers and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us next. When this film hits DVD August 11th, 2009, show your support for some damn talented independent horror filmmakers and buy it. You’ll be supporting a couple of guys who have the potential to make the next TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, the next great independent film that, unlike the torture-porn trash we keep getting so often today, will live on. These are the kind of filmmakers we want making the kind of movies we want, the kind of movies people will still be talking about in hushed tones saying “have you SEEN this?” I remember, growing up, how it was something of a right of passage to have seen films like THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and THE EVIL DEAD…independent films that changed the face of horror. While WMOTN isn’t quite it, I can see the edge of the storm and I say, let it rain blood!
Ok boils ‘n ghouls, let me know what you think. I’m thinking about starting a new bit called “Crypto Corner.” (That title is tentative). It’ll be about cryptids such as Bigfoot, the Jersey Devil, Monstrous Snakes, etc. The monsters of the cryptid world, not your newly discovered bird from guatemala. What do you think? Cryptozoology (look it up) is very near and dear to me (yes, even the little finds like that mentioned above) and I think it could be fun. Let me know!
Ok everyone, sorry I haven’t updated in a few days. Might have something to do with the fact that I was HOSPITALIZED after having a seizure. Seems your friendly neighbourhood horrormaniac has some health problems, but I’m back (sort of) and I plan on getting back on my regular updating schedule again soon. In the meantime, here’s a few snippets:
Turns out the bigfoot hoopla I’ve been following down in Georgia was, as I thought it might be, a bunch of bullshit. A rubber suit in a freezer. Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait till the next big bigfoot craze comes around to get excited again. Until then, pop in a copy of The Legend Of Boggy Creek and drift off to sleep.
In some news that’s FREAKING AWESOME, DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW, only one of the greatest TV Horror flicks of all time, is finally getting the DVD treatment it deserves. So go ahead and sell your prized, expensive as fuck, VHS copy now, as it won’t be worth diddly shit when the DVD comes out.
And that’s really the only interesting news to hit me so far. Expect a review or two up in the near future, along with all the horror news that anyone would really give a shit about. ALSO: Keep checking out the site as I have a plan to try my fiendish hand at audio (and perhaps video) podcasting very soon.
Ok, the other day I mentioned a news article or two about how these hunters found a bigfoot body. Well, they’ve released a picture and they’re supposedly going to have a press conference today at 12 noon Pacific Standard Time. Ok, this is a short post, so here’s the Pic:
I’m calling bullshit. That thing looks fake as hell. But hey, I’d love to be proven wrong. Publicity stunt? Maybe. We’ll see. Stay tuned right here boils and ghouls for more information.
These are the guys who found the body. Can they be trusted? We’ll see.
I don’t really have a lot of time to make a post right now, so I’m going to post a little Horror News Roundup…yeehaw.
Ok, although it’s been in the horror news for a few days now, Fangoria just picked up the news that Billy Bob Thornton is rumoured to be the next Freddy Krueger. Seems the rumour was started by the man himself, Robert Englund. Englund was quoted as saying that Thornton would be “an excellent choice.” You might remember Thornton in such fright flicks as Chopper Chicks In Zombie Town and he was a voiceless, redneck in a crowd of rednecks that later fell out of a truck in Hunter’s Blood (at least I THINK that was him).
In other news, Horror Movies.ca reports that the Megan Fox topless/nude scene we’ve all been watering at the mouth about has been cut from the upcoming Jennifer’s Body. I would say that this pretty much takes the movie out of the running of flicks to watch, but the lesbian makeout scene she’s in is still in the movie, so now it’s a “maybe I’ll watch it, but maybe I’ll just wait for the UNRATED DVD to come out that has everything” movie.
Fox News, CNN, and others have been reporting that two ‘ol boys in Georgia have a Bigfoot body! Normally I’d call bullshit on something like this, because even though I believe in the big, hairy guy, there are way too many hoaxes and whenever someone in the past has said they have a body, it’s been, well, bullshit. However, they say they’ve sent DNA off to be tested and are going to hold a press conference for the world to see on Friday, August 15th. They also said that they plan to hand the body over to science for further study. This could be interesting, and if it proves out, HA! to all you assholes that said I was just a crazy fucker.
Looks like my favourite movie monster, the werewolf, may be coming back into vogue. With the Wolfman Remake, another Underworld piece of shit, and the upcoming LOBO: “Lobo follows a man who receives a letter and some photos from his mother’s will, and decides to travel to the Amazon to find out his true roots. What he discovers is a clan of lycanthropes whom he eventually helps in their battle for survival.” (Dread Central) I’m worried that it’ll suck though. Unfortunately, most horror movies, well, no, all werewolf movies made today suck total donkey dong.
Finally, a little eye candy. Shock Till You Drop released the cover art for the release of Friday The 13th: The Series, which some of you may be interested in, even though the show was a complete piece of shit and didn’t have Jason in it. Freddy’s Nightmares was much better. Here ya go:
The boys over at Shock Till You Drop came across some news that Steve Niles (of 30 Days of Night fame) and company have created a new comic entitled SAVAGE. The premise of the comic is as follows: BIGFOOT vs. A PACK OF WEREWOLVES. And if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a healthy dose of murderers and madmen. This sounds like a pretty damn awesome project and I can’t wait to read it. The book streets October 29th with the first in a four part series. Check out the first issue’s cover art below:
During the 70’s, after the release of Legend Of Boggy Creek, we found ourselves with a burgeoning sub-genre that continues today (note the many Lance Henrickson sasquatch/bigfoot movies). I have to admit that I’m a sucker for these, particularly the older ones. The first horror movie I can remember watching was Night Of The Demon (1980), a movie which, at the time, scared the ever-lovin’ shit out of me and, at the same time, sparked my interest in both the bigfoot horror sub-genre and horror in general.
Creature From Black Lake finds itself sitting firmly within the bigfoot sub-genre of horror. The movie begins as we follow two trappers (including Jack Elam, playing Joe Canton “The Trapper!”) as they go around checking their traps and finding that something’s been cleanin’ ‘em out. Intertwined with this, we are also privy to an anthropology class where the professor is talking about Bigfoot (covered extensively in Anthro 101, obviously). Just as the professor talks about no one ever being harmed by a sasquatch, one of the trappers is dragged into the bayou, never to be seen again.
After that, the plot follows two anthropology students (Dennis Fimple as Pahoo, and John David Carson as Rives) as they travel south (to Oil City, Louisiana) to find evidence of “a bipedal primate…it’s a scientific term.” They don’t really get much in the way of help in town and are told to leave by Sheriff Billy Carter (played by Bill Thurman). One of the townsfolk, Orville (Jim McCullough Jr. who also wrote the screenplay), however decides to run after them as they’re leaving and, catching a ride home, tells them his story of how the creature inadvertently caused the deaths of his parents.
There’s an encounter at Orville’s farm, followed by some more time spent in town, meeting a couple of love interests (one of them being the sheriff’s daughter), followed by them getting arrested, and then we get to the exciting finale/standoff where Pahoo and Rives face off against the Creature From Black Lake. I won’t ruin how it ends for those of you out there who haven’t seen it and suddenly find yourselves in the mood to watch it.
What can I say about this flick. It definitely rips bits and pieces from Legend of Boggy Creek. They even got the same guy to do the music. Unless you’re into the Bigfoot-run-amok movies, it might not be your cup of ’shine. I kind of like the whole “laid back” nature of it, and I love how the DVD isn’t crisp and clear. We get the lines and pops that came off the print they dug up for it. I suppose they cleaned it up about the best they could, but, I mean, it’s not Star Wars, so I doubt they spent a ton of money getting it as clean as they could. Overall though, the picture and sound quality is ok. I like the washed out look of everything. It just SCREAMS 70’s, which I find perfectly swell. There’s not much in the way of gore or nudity, but plenty in the way of bell bottom jeans, boots, and 70’s nostalgia. It’s definitely one to add to the collection if the bigfoot horror sub-genre is your thing. If it’s not, this more than likely just won’t cut it. I’d say check it out at least once though. It’s particularly good after you’ve tossed back a few. Hell, now I need to make a Creature From Black Lake drinking game. I seriously need to get some sort of rating system. In the meantime, I’ll give Creature From Black Lake a 7 out of 10. Check it out…if you DARE!
Duane Graves and Justin Meeks, the same guys who did the independent flick HEADCHEESE, along with one of the writers and producers of the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, Kim Henkel, have created a new film along the same line as THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, AND CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE. THE WILD MAN OF THE NAVIDAD. From the trailer alone, the film seems to have an aesthetic quality we haven’t seen since the drive-in era. The colors appear a little washed out, the picture grainy with pops and scratches. This is perfect if you ask me. The look of films like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Eaten Alive, and The Legend of Boggy Creek among many others only adds to that gritty, grimy feeling I love. Wild Man is also set in the south (Texas, I believe), which puts it up there on my list. Any horror movie set in the south is a horror movie worth watching (even if they suck, I mean, you have to see it at least that ONE time).
You can find out more about the film by clicking on the cool poster below.
![](http://backwoodshorror.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/creature-from-black-lake-11.jpg "\")
