The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972)

good back-story, and good acting

Best movie ever!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK is one of the famous drive-in movies of the 1970s and a film that spawned a whole miniwave of 'Bigfoot' hunting movies. This one's a quasi-documentary in much the same way as THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, depicting the events on screen as having occurred for real, and was undoubtedly an influence on that horror favourite. As a film it feels largely dated and unremarkable these days, too cheap and indifferently-acted to make much of an impact. Some of the scene-setting is appropriately eerie and the locations are more than a little disquieting, but the actual man-in-a-furry-suit action provokes mirth rather than fear.

The Legend of Boggy Creek - like so many 'cult classics' - is a great example of how a film can carry a low critical rating and still be awesome.I remember seeing this film in Roger's Theater in the (then little) town of Poplar Bluff, Missouri - the nearest town to where I grew up, in very wooded, lakeside, Wappapello. So, I actually DID live in the same sort of woodsy, lakeside spookiness setting the film. Where I grew up, the word 'neighbor' meant the 'nearest house' and often you couldn't see their lights - or they may even be a nervous flashlight-trek through the pitch-black woods and along lonely, moonlit, gravel roads - and if the Fouke Monster happened to be tearing you apart out behind your place, they MIGHT hear your loudest screams. Probably not - and definitely not, if he got INSIDE.My pal and I got brought into town by my Grandma and dropped off outside the Roger's that night. Having been lured-in by the short, terrifying trailers on TV, we anxiously bought our tickets and headed for the center-front seats, shoving and prodding each other over our mutual certainty that the other would get a scare that would make him pee his pants.I can still remember ourselves - along with many others - cringing and ducking through several parts of this movie. As far as me and Bruce were concerned, to our eleven-year-old brains, the (then novel) documentary-like presentation and 'I-Sweah-Befo'-Gawd-Awmitey' testimony just seemed ALL too plausible - and real. We both KNEW people like those!Leaving the theater in shudders from flashes of snarling memories - and a new and real dread of returning to the remoteness of where we both lived - we climbed into the big, crimson-velor back seat my Grandma's Delta 88, wordless and white. To us, that Fouke Monster was REAL - and not only that, but it - or one just like it - could easily be living in the endless woods behind our very own houses!This film is a treasure for several reasons, not the least of which is the nostalgia it will hold for those of us to who got to see it at that perfect, naive age when it hits a kid exactly the way it was intended to - it's the perfect 'scary movie' for preteen sleepovers.I can watch it now and roll my eyes, of course, but, when I reminisce back to that darkened, all-enveloping theater, so many of us gasping, crying out, grabbing our armrests and jumping in unison - and the nighttime nervousness for a week, afterward... it still makes me smile. :}

This effective docudrama about a legendary swamp monster from Fouke, Arkansas, was a surprise box-office hit in its day; with clever narration from the perspective of a man who lived through that time as a boy, and has gone back to his old house to reminisce.Recreates the look and feel of the people and their experiences of the monster, which range from skeptical amusement, to terrifying close encounters. The monster is speculated to be quite lonely and lost in their world, and this aura of melancholy permeates this film like a sad old fireside guitar song.Heavily atmospheric and genuinely eerie; only negative is that sometimes it does get goofy(the Crabtree song) and amateurish, but oddly, that just adds to the authenticity(though that monster costume is best kept in the shadows!)May have influenced "In Search Of...", which profiled similar cases.

"The Legend Of Boggy Creek" is a very unique and interesting film. It was marketed as a documentary about the bigfoot of Fouke, Arkansas, and was filmed on location. While it is comprised of scripted scenes and actors, some of the characters are played by themselves, and recount their own experiences with the creature in real life. This adds a very personal touch to the film and makes it all the better.The entire production is very low budget and grainy, and you can almost feel, smell and touch the scenery. Everything has a foggy, damp coat to it, and all the characters are extremely realistic and relatable (of course, some are simply recounting anecdotes and are not acting at all). I can not stress how much atmosphere the lo-fi production gives this film, it seriously feels like you are trekking through the woods yourself looking for the monster. To touch on something I read in a lot of other reviews, the folk songs do not detract from the movie for me, they add another touch of the locale. As much as this is an examination of the creature and the landscape, it is likewise a look into the lives of lower class, backwoods people of Arkansas in the 1970s.Many aspects are touched upon in this movie, and the narrator shows the assumed progression of the creature from solitary careful beast to reckless predator once attacked by humans. By not ever showing a clear or full on shot of the Fouke monster, it adds even more of an air of mystery. Parts are very tense all things considered, and it is a very well done horror film besides it's documentary overtones."The Legend Of Boggy Creek" truly is unique, and I would encourage any real film buff to take a look at this one. You'll never look at a walk through the woods the same again.