Willow Creek (2013)

Pretty Good

As Good As It Gets

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

I've never made any secret of the fact that I'm a big fan of the "found-footage" genre. I really enjoy almost every film that is made this way. It just makes sense as a story-telling style to me. For the most part though it seems to me that people are sick of the concept and no longer have any time for it. 'Willow Creek' was made back in 2013 when the genre was basically in its dying stages (films are still made in this style, but less and less frequently). So did 'Willow Creek' breed fresh life into the concept, or was it simply another nail in the coffin? The answer lies somewhere in the middle.The film is very simple in its premise. Basically a documentary is being made about Bigfoot by a young couple and they head to a small town, do some interviews with the locals, and then head into the forest to see if they can find Bigfoot for themselves. Sounds simple? It is. Probably too simple. I understand films like 'The Blair Witch Project' pulled it off with basically exactly that formula, but the problem is that was 20 years ago which implies the genre has gone absolutely nowhere in that time. That's simply not true.The film isn't bad though I wouldn't say. There's a quite incredible 18 minute long one-take scene (according to the IMDb trivia section at least) that is surprisingly well done. The main couple have enough chemistry and charisma to carry things and there is enough creepiness in the atmosphere to keep it interesting. This is a middle of the road horror film.

This is just a rip off of all the other "pretending to be real" documentaries like Blair Witch, Paranormal Activities, etc.I couldn't even get past the first 15 minutes. The acting is unbelievably bad! I was surprised, I thought Bobcat was better than this, but it's just awful!

The reason for the score of 7,(higher then I would of given it) is for the most part, the two main characters. They were absolutely flawless in their roles. So VERY believable and realistic. Like other reviewers I agree that the first part of the movie did drag and would of benefited the film drastically had the build up been cut by at least half. Now the quality of the rest of this cinematic attempt is by and large very good. But as I am an avid camper and outdoors person, the tent scene did not scare me. Much of the non verbal sounds were in reality, what I have heard out in the woods. (Some wild cats sound like a baby crying, and racoons are notorious trouble makers) And the verbal sounds were just too obviously man-made. (my thoughts kept going to the crew off scene, and the many thousands of times as a kid that my friends, me included, did stuff exactly like that to try and scare each other while out camping) I suppose if camping and being in the wilderness and tent is something you don't do, this could be scary for you. It just made me laugh.

There is a good, even great movie hidden within this interesting little flick, which unfortunately turned out to be just okay. Unlike a few other reviewers, I actually much preffered the first half to the second. I enjoyed how much humor and satire was scattered throughout the whole thing, and I thought it was written and acted quite well, even if not all of the dialogue was 100% funny or at all realistic. However, for the most part the movie felt very organic and real while still also being very interesting and surprisingly unique.While the second half has plenty of good things in it, it unfortunately morphs into cliché found footage movie territory and becomes boring. The 20 minute long tent scene is original and has its moments, but its just too tedious for me to hail as intense and masterful horrorI would give this little comedy-horror movie a mild recommendation to those interested, but be warned: the final half hour is likely to disappoint.