Jimmy Tupper vs. The Goatman of Bowie (2010)
Jimmy Tupper is a no one, he's nothing. He spends his days working at a Starbucks in Suburban Maryland and spends his nights drinking and playing Rock Band. His friends see him as the resident stoner and waste of space. One night they decide to pull a prank on poor Jimmy, and while he is passed out drunk they leave him in the middle of the woods. The next day Jimmy is nowhere to be found. When he finally emerges from the woods he is beaten and bloodied and making outlandish claims. He claims to have seen a monster, the famed "Goatman" of Bowie. His friends believe this to be the drunken ramblings of an over excited nitwit, but Jimmy knows better. He heads to the woods determined to capture footage of the elusive creature. Was Jimmy only dreaming? Did he really see a monster? Only time, and Jimmy's video camera, will tell.
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The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
First things first, if you don't like horror films that employ the use of hand-held cameras (Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, Cloverfield etc.) then don't even bother with this one. As matter of fact, you can stop reading my review right now.Now, for those of you who are still with me and are looking for the next big handy cam horror film this is not it. That's not to say that Jimmy Tupper is a bad film, quite the contrary. In fact, what makes this film stand out above the others is that I truly believed that the camcorder footage was authentic, whereas in films such as REC:, Cloverfield etc., the application of the hand held is a stylized choice and the actors are pretending not to act.Jimmy Tupper is effective because I truly believed that the footage – at least for the first half of the film – was real footage of kids goofing off, partying and of course being mean to their so called "friend" Jimmy Tupper. It's in the second half of the film in where it starts to lose me, not in the stories revelation – which I will not spoil for you – but in the changing from shaky handy cam to a more stylized digital camera with smoother more professional transitions.In summation, it's too bad Jimmy Tupper couldn't stick to its guns that it starting shooting with and winds up firing nothing but blanks.