Throwback Thursday: Boggy Creek (2011)

Not In Fouke, Arkansas

When I was nine years old, my parents took me and my siblings to see Boggy Creek II: And The Legend Continues. In a dimly lit theater in Oakdale, LA, I became enthralled with the beast that terrorized the rural town of Fouke, AR and a professor and students intent on discovering the truth about the creature. No matter how bad the film was, it inspired nine year old me to hunt for Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and any other cryptid that may or may not be lurking in the forests of the world.

I haven’t found anything yet, but I’ll always hope that the creature is real.

With that being said, I’ve watched tons of documentaries, read plenty of books, hit a couple of trails with mild intentions of finding something (but not really sure what I’d do IF I did actually find something), did a little web research and viewed countless films, most of which were terrible, about the beast.

Add 2011’s Boggy Creek to the list of terrible films that I’ve watched. While I commend the actors and crew for attempting to make a decent horror film, I can’t say that I have any good memories about this flick. Texas Battle (Final Destination 3, The Bold And The Beautiful) and Stephanie Honore (The Final Destination, Mirrors 2) are probably the best known actors in the film and they feature in supporting roles. Actress Melissa Carnell heads up the cast as the star of the film and is given support from Battle, Honore, and relative unknowns Shavon Kirksey and Damon Lipari.

The film has no connection to the cult classic The Legend of Boggy Creek or any of its sequels. In fact, it doesn’t even take place in Arkansas. It takes place in the fictional northeast Texas rural town of Boggy Creek. It was actually shot in Jefferson, TX and the area around Uncertain, TX, which along with places like Gun Barrel City, Cut And Shoot, and Kermit, only strengthens my argument that Texas has some of the coolest small town names.

The plot was pretty basic, even for Bigfoot horror. Jennifer (Carnell) returns to her deceased father’s camp after it is left to her. With tensions brewing between her and her mother, she decides to take a break with her friend, Maya (Kirksey), and Maya’s stepbrother, Dave (Lipari). Dave brings along his snobby girlfriend, Brooke (Honore), and Maya’s boyfriend, Tommy (Battle), pops up unannounced. Violent deaths and mutilations are on the rise in the area that the group decides to camp in and despite warnings from others in the area, the gang decides to stay at the camp. After a lot of build up, the creature begins its attack on the group, planning to kill the males and kidnap the nubile young ladies for breeding.

For whatever reason (maybe it was just my television), the film seems to be shot entirely in soft focus, which made me believe that this was an attempt at bringing a little Hallmark Channel flair to horror. The acting wasn’t that great and neither were the special effects or music. I will say that the ending of the film had a ton of potential but ultimately flopped like the rest of the film.

So if this film was so terrible, why did I revisit it and blog about it? For the simple reason that I’ve been on a larger than usual Sasquatch kick and I decided to watch this film again. It was perfect fodder for an evening of laundry and Coke Zero. It’s brainless, bad, and somehow a little bit fun.

As always, thanks for reading. I’ll be watching more bad movies as we get closer to Halloween. I’m thinking about attempting Thirty-One Days O’Horror once again. I failed at it a couple of years ago, but considering the fact that I’ve acquired a ton of bills recently, I won’t be leaving home that much because I’m poor. Netflix and meager meals, it is.