.png)
Runtime: 86 mins
Directed by: Bruce Wemple
Starring: Anna Shields, Rachel Finninger, Grant Schumacher, Hannah McKechnie, Catharine Daddario
Grimmfest Feature by: Darren Tilby
Synopsis: A young woman goes searching for answers after her friend mysteriously vanishes in Whitehall, NY, an Adirondack town known for its Bigfoot sightings. She quickly learns that hiding in the woods is an evil more sinister than she could ever imagine.
Grimmfest Say: Prepare to be wrong-footed by Bigfoot, in a cunning creature feature that constantly confounds expectations; setting up its various genre scenarios, only to spin off into unexpected territory. Subtly played by Rachel Finninger and Anna Shields, who also wrote the screenplay, this is as much a tentative, wary romance, a sour, slow-burning study in the slippery, shifting, increasingly suspicion-blighted relationship between two people who barely know one another, as it is a marauding monster movie. But that's not to say there isn't a monster... And as the feral creature in the woods circles ever nearer to the two women, it casts a dark shadow, and animal instincts begin to assert themselves, with truly savage results, as the reality of the situation becomes increasingly, disturbingly clear. Beautifully shot, making striking use of some stunning Adirondack mountain locations, this is a consistently unpredictable, off-kilter, and ultimately surprisingly brutal film, all the more effective for the time it takes to develop its characters and explore their relationship, before tearing everything apart.
What I'm Expecting: On first consideration, I would expect this to be a very traditional creature-feature, something akin to the, largely, American monster movies of the late 50s and 60s. But, Grimmfest have suggested this may be more of a character study at heart? Immediately, my mind is drawn to movies like The Descent, The Babadook and The Monster. This, of course, calls for both excellent character acting and development to be successful. Either way, I'd hope for (and I know I say this a lot) heavy use of practical effects, with CGI used very, very sparingly.
.png)
