There is no doubt that any new found footage film is greeted with a generally negative response from fans and critics alike before the majority of either have even seen the production in question. The problem with these pre-determined opinions is that some of the most interesting entrants into the canon have been released in recent times. Films such as The Borderlands and Evidence have shown there is still plenty of life and originality in a genre that truly began with The Blair Witch Project back in 1999. Now from the possibly unlikely source of Bobcat Goldthwait comes Willow Creek; a film that has the potential to rival that 15 year old standard bearer for shear suspense.
Jim (Bryce Johnson) has been obsessing over the Bigfoot legend since he was 8 years old. Many years later he is taking his non-believing girlfriend Kelly (Alexie Gilmore) on a trip to explore Bigfoot country and to visit the location where the infamous Patterson – Gimlin footage was filmed. Overly exuberant at best and foolhardy at worst Jim ignores warnings from locals and the sceptical Kelly as they venture into the dense woods with little preparation or thought for what they really want to find.
Willow Creek is almost two films. For most of the first and second acts the footage documents a happy couple on an adventure with the Bigfoot hunt as the instigation if not the real reason for the journey. Their relationship is entirely believable and the ease of their banter and familiarity is at the heart of the film. The exchanges between them and wary, and at times aggressive, locals are well executed and this grounding lays the foundations for what is to come.
Anyone who has ever seen a found footage film knows that something bad is going to happen at some point but the amount the viewer has engaged with the characters is key in generating the empathy required when events do take a turn for the worse and Johnson and Gilmore are excellent in their naturality. The real strength in Willow Creek though, and perhaps an element that is often overlooked in the genre, is in Goldthwait’s direction. There is no fussiness or need to over elaborate at any point as he limits the number of edits in the film in order to truly convey the organic nature of the footage.
The real stand out moment though is in an astonishingly tense and uncomfortable single take of more than 15 minutes that focuses simply on the leads and their palpable fear as you are drawn in to such an extent that you might as well be reluctantly holding your breath alongside them in their sleeping bag. This proves to the be the turning point in the film as the relaxed, slightly naive hunt suddenly becomes much more than they could possibly have expected and it is to Goldthwait’s credit how skilfully and insightfully he has created the suspense with seemingly effortless ease. After the “in your face” satire of previous film God Bless America, Willow Creek is a more subtle affair but no less impactful.
OVERALL SUMMARY
There will be few films this year that will cram in as much suspense as Willow Creek does in its final act. Much of what happens has been seen before in previous found footage films but it is the way these genre tropes are put together that makes this film truly different from the majority. This is a tense and uncomfortable journey into the wilderness and the real terror comes from the thought that Bigfoot just might exist. WILLOW CREEK hits cinemas on 2nd May and DVD on 26th May
