I finally watched "The Legend of Boggy Creek" today for the first time. I had heard about it on that "Finding Bigfoot" TV show which I sometimes watched and enjoyed. I can see why this film is regarded as seminal and important by some; it is one of the first of its kind, a sort of documentary drama/ horror thriller. Though I must say it is most definitely more documentary than thriller. I am interested in the subject matter so I found it interesting but it's definitely not the most exciting movie nor the most informative. And the 90 minute run-time feels longer, this would be better as a one hour Finding Bigfoot tv show, of which I think they did do an episode at this location. However, I know this is 2022, not 1972. Fifty years ago there were not the same entertainment options and I hear this was a popular Drive-in movie. And today how many Drive-ins are even left? Also, there was a nice song or two in the film to mix it up and the cinematography was good, better than I expected. The whole film seemed more professionally produced than I expected. But as said, not the most thrilling film, so for me today I feel like a 6/10 rating is fair.

This is definitely one of the weirder 70's movies out there, and it's most notable for kicking off a decade of Bigfoot hysteria. It is also notable for the little touches of insanity throughout the movie, especially when the dark, moody first half is replaced by a MUSICAL INTERLUDE of all things (as another user pointed out, one of the songs is dedicated to a character, Travis Crabtree, who paddles around in a canoe for a while, then... leaves, never to be seen again). Although it's painfully dated now, i's still a fun scary movie to show to kids, and anyone who enjoys either Bigfoot lore or 70's hillbilly culture is bound to get a kick out of this. My favorite part: a guy gets so scared that he jumps headfirst through a door (!?) and the narrator explains he went unconscious from "shock." Uh, I'd say breaking a door with his head is more likely why he went unconscious, but whatever.

4/10 stars, or 7/10 if you like bad Americana.

With Charles Pierce's passing, it seemed appropriate that I finally check out his debut feature. And what a slog through the bog it is. Done up as a documentary, the film centers on a Bigfoot lurking in the woods of Fouke, Arkansas. The first scene has a kid running around and catching a glimpse of the monster. A narrator (who is supposed to be the kid grown up) comes on and tells the story of the Fouke monster. The next scene has someone running around and catching a glimpse of the monster. The scene after that has someone else running around and catching a glimpse of the monster. See where this is heading? Repeat for 85 minutes.

This is really pointless but interesting to see for how it paved the way for the the faux horror documentaries years later. Also, the production uses real folks in a majority of the roles, so the documentary quality in regard to the small town is somewhat real with lots of great "Hollywood couldn't make this" real production value. Of course, you can't really see much of it as the DVD is one of the worst transfers I've ever seen. The soundtrack is scratchy and the pan-and-scan (actually, more like lock-and-watch) is awful, which is a shame as Pierce seems to have made an effort to get some great looking shots in there. Perhaps the best thing I can say about it is that if there were no THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, we would never have gotten Aldo Ray in BOG (1983).