Horror Movie Guide: Bigfoot

The next entry in the Guide was Robert R. Slatzer's 1970 movie Bigfoot. I remember the coverbox from my video store, but it wasn't something I would have ever considered watching. To be honest, Slatzer's other film Hellcats sounds like more my speed. But I said I'd watch every movie in the Horror Movie Guide so here we are.

When a tribe of Sasquatches kidnap a few scantily clad ladies (Joi Lansing & Judith Jordan) a biker gang, some hunters and a swindling salesman (John Carradine) looking to cash in on the legend head into the mountains in pursuit.

So I am assuming this movie was the winner of the race to make a Bigfoot film, that famous “actual” footage only having appeared three years earlier. It shows. Bigfoot might be the biggest dud I've seen in the Guide so far. I mean, I wasn't expecting much, but this movie is pretty threadbare. I'd say it's at least fourty-per cent characters walking through the forest, in amongst women screaming and sasquatch grunting. At least there were some banging guitar tracks courtesy of illustrious musician Richard Podolor over all these montages.

At first I had hope because the cast listed at the hop was like thirty characters. I thought perhaps it might be a bodycount slasher, but with a Bigfoot? I was quickly assuaged of that by remembering that beyond H.G Lewis, that genre was yet to be a thing in 1970. This was more like some anemic drive-in biker movie with some creatures in it. But, it's not even drive-in material because nothing really happens. No one dies, threre's no gore as only as much skin as they thought they could get away with.

Joi & Judith; a few reasons to watch.

I think there was one cool scene where one of the Bigfeet(?) fights a bear. At least I think he did, it was kind of just two brown blobs thrashing around in a sea of night. I bet they spent half their budget on that bear and you can't even see it.

Thankfully, John Carradine does what John Carradine does. He spices up his sub-standard material, actually doing more than the walk-ons I often see him play. And for a dude who was in his sixties, he's pretty spry. I am assuming this show didn't have money for stunt doubles so I wager that was him climbing all those hills. He even gets to deliver the King Kong-esque groaners at the end.

Bigfoot is far from great - and certainly no Yeti: Giant of the 21st Century - and the Guide would seem to agree.