Greetings, all. Ambush Bug here with another AICN HORROR: ZOMBIES & SHARKS column. As elusive as the creature itself, it’s damn hard to find a good Bigfoot movie. Being a firm believer that something is out there in the woods with some feet that would fill clown shoes and then some, I try to catch just about every Bigfoot film I can, no matter how good or bad. Right around this time last year, I checked out a whole Foot Locker full of Bigfoot films, so I figured I’d make it a yearly tradition. We’re grading these films by FOOTS and TOES with 5 FOOTS being the best of the best. So enjoy the Sasquatchonian cinema below and remember that giant shape roaming around in the woods might not be your Aunt Trudy. It might just be BIGFOOT!!!!
(Click title to go directly to the feature)
NIGHT OF THE DEMON (1980)
CURSE OF THE BIGFOOT (1978)
HOWLS (2011)
TROMA’S BIGFOOT (2006)
SWEET PRUDENCE & THE EROTIC ADVENTURE OF BIGFOOT (2012)
DRAWING FLIES (1996)
LOST WOODS (2012)
And finally…DEATH OF A DREAM!


NIGHT OF THE DEMON (1980)
aka BIGFOOT SANGRIENTODirected by James C. Wasson
Written by Jim L. Ball, Mike Williams
Starring Michael Cutt, Joy Allen, Bob Collins, Jodi Lazarus. Michael Lang, Richard Fields, Maria Kanellis, and Shane Dixon as the Bigfoot!
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
I’ve been searching for a good Bigfoot film for so long, I was about to give up hope…that is, until I feasted my bloodshot eyes on NIGHT OF THE DEMON. While the film may not be the best acted or directed, it takes the cake at being the most bugshit, batnuts crazy Bigfoot film ever made in terms of gore and violence. And that gets a lot of credence here at AICN HORROR.

And he’s super fuckin’ pissed.
Though the entire film is told via flashback from Nugent’s bedside, the film’s most enjoyable moments happen as these idiot anthropologists begin interviewing the townies and sharing their own second-hand stories of encounters with the big hairy one. In these flashbacks, you will be privy to the most heinous and vicious Bigfoot attacks you will ever see in a film.

Just to name some of the standout sequences, we’ve got Bigfoot stealing an axe from a lumberjack and using it on him. Though the scene may strike you as something Jason Voorhees would do rather than America’s Yeti, you’ll lose your shit as one of the hockey masked one’s most famous kills (the sleeping bag kill) happens in NIGHT OF THE DEMON first as Bigfoot nabs a dude in a sleeping bag, swings him over his head numerous times, then impales him on a tree branch.

But nothing can prepare you for the kill this film is best known for as Bigfoot, for no apparent reason, rips a biker’s penis off while he’s taking a leak. And every painful moment is shown on camera as Bigfoot reaches up from the bushes, grabs the bikers’ nethers, and tears it off. As the biker screams “OHHH NOOO!!!”, streams of blood pour out all over his chopper. It most definitely gets the award for most toe-curlingest gore kill of the film.

Most of the others serve to highlight the gore, but there is a jaw-droppingly choreographed in slo mo sequence during the finale that will have you roaring right along with Bigfoot as he disposes of six campers at once a la Savini’s awesome hedge-clipper sequence from THE BURNING. The use of Bigfoot vision is also utilized hilariously, as through POV cam bordered by red filter we see Bigfoot stalk his prey.
Shane Dixon plays Bigfoot himself and does a fantastic job of balancing the man vs ape feel of the creature. The costume is surprisingly good with his front half bare and his back and limbs covered with coarse hair. There are even some nice facial appliances that allow for the monster to use expressions that you don’t normally see in most Bigfoot films.

You’ll never forget NIGHT OF THE DEMON. For all of its faults, I fear, it’s most definitely the best, goriest, most gut-bustingly sick Bigfoot film ever made! It doesn’t get any better than this.
NIGHT OF THE DEMON = 5 FOOTS!!!
CURSE OF BIGFOOT (1978)
aka TEENAGERS BATTLE THE THINGDirected by Don Fields/David Flocker
Written by James T. Fields
Starring Bob Clymire, Jan Swihart, Bill Somonsen, & Dennis Kottmeier as the Bigfoot Mummy!
Retro-reviewed by Ambush Bug
You have to give this one points for originality. CURSE OF THE BIGFOOT isn’t your typical Bigfoot movie. This one has a mummified Bigfoot on a rampage!

CURSE OF BIGFOOT = 2 FOOTS, 2 TOES!

HOWLS (2011)
Directed and written by Jamie TraceyStarring Joseph Gallo Jr., Nick Smyth, Jamie Tracey, and Andrew Hill, Kyle Fisher, & Kyle Everson as the Bigfeet!
Find out when and where you can see this film here and on the Facebook page!
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
HOWLS is one of those low budget gems that knows exactly the limitations it has and maximizes everything else about it to make it a fully enjoyable experience. While some horror films reach well beyond their means and show it obviously and amateurishly, HOWLS is able to convey an engrossing story with likable characters who just happen to be in a pretty scary story.

HOWLS is not one of those films that kicks in the door and announces it’s here, but it will creep up behind you and give you a good jolt.
HOWLS = 4 FOOTS!
TROMA’S BIGFOOT (2006)
Directed by Bob GrayWritten by Bob Gray
Starring Todd Cox, Liza Foster, Bob Gray, & Shawn Kipp as the Bigfoot!
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
Surely the twisted minds at Troma would be able to deliver a half-way decent Bigfoot film.
TROMA’S BIGFOOT = 2 FOOTS, 1 TOE!

SWEET PRUDENCE & THE EROTIC ADVENTURE OF BIGFOOT (2012)
Directed by William BurkeWritten by William Burke
Starring Angie Bates, Albina Hussain, Michael Slade, Lynzey Patterson, Luke Gallo, Heather O'Donnell, Bianca Gross, and Daniel Moshe Johnson as the Bigfoot!
Find out more about this film here!
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
So yeah, SWEET PRUDENCE & THE EROTIC ADVENTURES OF BIGFOOT is one of those flicks you "happen upon" late at night on cable. One of the films that earned Cinemax the nom de plume Skinemax. It's a lo fi T&A film with lots of sex, a bare bones plot, and acting that consists of plasticine models whose faces seem to be stuck with a doe-eyed wonder look and buff dudes who like to walk around with their shirts unbuttoned. It's also got Bigfoot in it and since this is a Bigfoot column, I felt it was my duty to watch it and report back to you guys about it.
I know, it's a tough job.

No one's going to be winning any academy awards in this film, but it sure looks like they are genuinely enjoying themselves having all of that sex. There actually is a lot of humor here and most of the time it actually hits its mark. Though of the lowbrow flavor, most of the jokes involve the same type of potty humor one might find in an AMERICAN PIE film. It's harmless jokes about bodily fluids. And though one of the jokes was lifted from TRADING PLACES involving a monkey suit and a real ape (you know the one), the reaction from the actor involved in this joke pulls it off pretty hilariously.

The babes are gorgeous in this film. But that's a given in this type of film. It's definitely not something a lot of folks will admit that they sawt, but I have a feeling a lot of folks will check it out given the fact that the film is on heavy rotation on Cinemax at the moment. Sure, there are those who will get all haughty, hollering "How dare you review a skin flick on such a highbrow site as AICN?" But the fact is that as far as skin flicks go, at least this one is funny most of the time, has gorgeous babes doing naughty things, opens with a well made cartoon/comic book montage, and stars Bigfoot, which elevates it to the upper echelon as far as skin flicks go in my book.
SWEET PRUDENCE & THE EROTIC ADVENTURES OF BIGFOOT = 2 FOOTS 4 TOES!!!
This trailer is most definitely not safe for work!!!!!
SWEET PRUDENCE: TRAILER by SweetPrudence

DRAWING FLIES (1996)
Directed by Matthew Gissing, Malcolm IngramWritten by Matthew Gissing, Malcolm Ingram
Starring Jason Lee, Renée Humphrey, Jason Mewes, Carmen Llywelyn, Martin Brooks, Joey Lauren Adams, and Kevin Smith as the Bigfoo—I mean, as Silent Bob, & Rob Glancy as the Bigfoot!
Reviewed by Ambush Bug


DRAWING FLIES = 3 FOOTS!
Part II
Part III
Part IV

LOST WOODS (2012)
Directed by Nathan Ellering & Phillip ElleringWritten by Joey Brown, Nathan Ellering & Phillip Ellering
Starring Joey Brown, Garrett Vander Leun, Nina Brissey, Phillip Ellering, Nathan Ellering, and Tosh Matteis as the Bigfoot!
Find out more about this film here and on Facebook here!
Reviewed by Ambush Bug
I really dug this lo fi Bigfoot wilderness tale. When I posted the clip from LOST WOODS a couple of weeks ago, some got their rage on in the Talkbacks. Though the budget is on the smaller side, the acting is hit and miss, and the Bigfoot is an obvious man-in-suit, directors Phillip & Nathan Ellering have put together a thoroughly entertaining film about male bonding, the great outdoors, and age-old legends.

LOST WOODS focuses on a quartet of guys and a girl who go out into the middle of the woods for a "man-cation". The four men are middle-aged and not in their prime anymore. Some have become successful, some have retreated from reality, while others have barely evolved past high school and are in a perpetual state of adolescence. The most engaging parts of this film are the smaller scenes of male bonding of singing a song they all know or ragging on one another incessantly (which, for those of you women who don't know, is the male equivalent of women saying "I love those shoes" to one another). The group of actors do this convincingly and comfortably, as if these guys really did grow up together, and given the low budget, this is probably the case. The strength of LOST WOODS lies in the successful establishment of the connection between these characters. It makes all of the dire things that happen once Bigfoot appears all the more effective.

Regarding the mystical elements of LOST WOODS, without revealing too much, it does touch upon both elements from HIGHLANDER and the Native American legend of the Wendigo. While this isn't particularly new in folklore, there aren't too many Bigfoot films dealing with the reason why Bigfoot has always been characterized as a nomadic wanderer of the forest. Here is makes sense and adds an element of cool that comes into play late in the film.
I don't want to oversell this film. It is low budget. The actors involved are capable, but not the best. But LOST WOODS succeeds in being an effective character study of male bonding as well as a pretty fine wilderness adventure film. The clunky suit and less than effective gait of Bigfoot aside, the beast is a formidable one and shades of PREDATOR are definitely at play in the latter half as most of the cast is whittled down by that time and it's just man, nature, and Sasquatch battling it out. LOST WOODS may not be the best, but it is a worthy addition to the Bigfoot subgenre.
LOST WOODS = 3 FOOTS 4 TOES!
And finally…possibly the best song ever written in the history of songs ever written…about Sasquatch. Take it away, Kyle and JB!
See ya next week, folks!



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