Normally, a film like Willow Creek would piss me off. Another found footage horror film, and one that "borrows" so much from The Blair Witch Project it could almost be called a remake? Instead of witches, our amateur documentarians are in search of Bigfoot, with the ultimate goal of reaching the location of that famous Bigfoot footage shot in 1967.
But Willow Creek is so well done, I can't hate it. Director Bobcat Goldthwait, being a comedian, smartly injects a lot of humor into the beginning of the film, as his two leads (Alexie Gilmore as Lucy and Bryce Johnson as Jim), interview locals--some real, some actors--and argue amongst themselves about the existence of Sasquatch. Bryce is the true believer, and the director of the doc, while Lucy is a skeptic, and his sometime camera person.
This humor is clever because it throws us off our guard, so when the movie gets scary, we don't know what to believe. A 20-minute, uncut scene in the middle of the film firmly places the film into the horror camp, and it's just masterfully done. It's the only post-Blair Witch found footage film I've seen that has come close to matching, and in some ways, outdoing, what that film did.
Willow Creek is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
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