The most notable film icon from Arkansas appears in actor/writer/director Billy Bob Thornton and Charles B. Pierce's 1972 pseudo-horror documentary The Legend of Boggy Creek You could say it's a big, hairy monster called Sasquatch.
I want to talk about the latter not only because I recently saw the Hollywood Bigfoot movie Sasquatch Sunset, directed by David and Nathan Zellner, but also because a few weeks ago I was in Fork, a small town in southwestern Arkansas. It's also because “Boggy Creek” was filmed there. We held our annual Bigfoot Tournament.
I've been looking forward to the Zellner brothers' movie ever since it was announced. I have a long history with the Hook Monster and have been on many Bigfoot expeditions in Northwest Arkansas. So whenever a new Bigfoot movie comes out, whether it's a subtle arthouse production or a cheap straight-to-DVD horror movie, I'm immediately drawn to them. “Sasquatch Sunset” falls into the former category, and is a relatively low-budget film about his family of four Bigfoots living an isolated daily life in the woods of the Pacific Northwest.
After leaving the theater, I called my old friend and Sasquatch researcher Dr. Gabe McKean to discuss the film. Here are some things you should know about Gabe. I'm pretty sure that's not his real name. That's an alias he uses for reasons unknown to me. Second, I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a PhD, or at least not from any accredited university. Because he claims his PhD is in cryptozoology, the study of fake animals. But what he lacks in proper education he makes up for with years of field research. He is one of the most knowledgeable people I know about Bigfoot and has taken me to some of the wildest places here in Arkansas to hunt the fleeing beast.
“Sasquatch Sunset” stars Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough in heavy, anatomically correct Sasquatch makeup. There is no dialogue in the movie, only the Bigfoot character appears. The focus is on the social and family structure of the creatures, but occasionally they come across some man-made structures that confuse them. The film seemed really well researched, with some techniques that Gabe taught me over the years being incorporated into the film. Bigfoot communicates by making loud noises and banging the sides of trees with giant sticks. I've seen Gabe do the exact same knock on wood technique.
At some point the film loses its focus and ceases to be a pseudo-nature documentary as it delves into lame scatological humor. For example, Squatch's team comes across a patch of psychedelic mushrooms. This leads to an extended scene in which Alpha Scutch goes on a trip and outstays his welcome for an extended period of time. These gory gags become repetitive and create a tonal mess that really hurts the movie. It goes from a film with a lot of potential to a mediocre, forgettable comedy that's not worth watching twice.
I was so disappointed in this movie that I asked Gabe about Sasquatch's accomplishments in Hollywood and what the movie got wrong about this creature.
“There are a lot of things,” he says. “The problem is that the fictional depictions of Sasquatch in movies are not rooted in current data. Sasquatch is most often a savage, opportunistic creature that wanders around campgrounds or the cabins that teenagers rent for the weekend. It is depicted as a man-eating animal.
I then explained Sasquatch Sunset's semi-realistic approach and asked if any other films had attempted a more grounded portrayal of this creature.
“Christopher Munch directed the film Letters from Great Men in 2011. Here, Sasquatch displays a level of intelligence and elusiveness that matches his research, and most impressively, this creature… This creature from the famous 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film bears a striking resemblance in behavior and appearance to what thousands of eyewitnesses have reported seeing over the years. Aside from that, the film also tackles controversies that often occur within the Bigfoot community, such as deforestation and Bigfoot as a protected species.
Cryptozoologists spend a good portion of their lives studying animals they never meet in person, so I was curious to see what Gabe thought was the best Bigfoot movie of all time.
“As someone whose research focuses primarily on eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas, I have always loved Charlie Pierce's The Legend of Boggy Creek. The film has become something of a cult classic over the years. Although it must be understood that this was not necessarily the case, the film recreates society's misconceptions of Arkansans in the 1970s, a sentiment that locals and the Crabtree family themselves were fed up with. But in recent years, Fork residents have embraced the film's cult status at festivals and screenings. Yes, I'm obsessed with Boggy Creek.
Whether you want to check out the various movie depictions of Bigfoot or travel to Fuuk to visit the now iconic Monster Mart, remember that Sasquatch has always been a part of this state. And who knows, maybe someday you'll catch a glimpse of the furry vest as you gaze out into the distance into the Arkansas wilderness…or maybe he'll be staring at you.
