The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972)

Hybrid

August 1, 1972 (US) • Adventure, Mystery, Horror, Thriller • 87m

Overview

A documentary-style drama based on true accounts of the Fouke Monster in Arkansas.

Director

Vern Stierman

Keywords

swamp arkansas based on true story bigfoot monsters of the wild cryptozoology docudrama swamp monster fake documentary found footage southern sasquatch fouke monster sasquatch cryptid pseudo-documentary fouke faux documentary found footage adjacent

Where to watch

Rent

Buy

Top Billed Cast

Crew

Collection

Boggy Creek Collection

The Legend of Boggy Creek

Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues

Return to Boggy Creek

Boggy Creek

The Legacy of Boggy Creek

Reviews

FOUND FOOTAGE HORROR

September 8, 2024

Is It Worth Watching?
If you want to experience one of the original found footage movies and are up for some oddness and quirkiness then give it a watch as it has an oddball charm. If you aren’t up for that, then give it a miss. [Read the full review]

Wuchak

⭐ 5/10

March 18, 2021

_**The Bigfoot of southwest Arkansas**_

"The Legend of Boggy Creek" (1972) is docudrama with horror elements about the supposedly true sightings of the Fouke Monster, a three-toed Sasquatch-like creature that was seen in the Fouke region of southwest Arkansas from the 40s onward. Several locals recount their stories, often played by themselves.

The modest film only cost $100,000, but unexpectedly became the 10th highest-grossing movie of 1972, raking in a whopping $20 million at the box office and another $4.8 million in 1975 with a North American rerelease. It was director Charles B. Pierce’s breakthrough. He went on to do respectable B-flicks like “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” (1976), which addressed the real-life Texarkana Moonlight Murders of 1946, and “Grayeagle” (1977), a colorful Western that took “The Searchers” plot and made a more entertaining movie.

He later did a sequel to this film in 1984 called “Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues.” There are also a couple of unofficial sequels made by different directors which eschew the docudrama approach: “Return to Boggy Creek” (1977) and “Boggy Creek,” aka “Boggy Creek: The Legend Is True” (2011). In addition, there’s a documentary about various skunkape encounters in the Midwest called “The Legacy of Boggy Creek” (2011).

Obviously something about this film clicked with audiences back in its day. It features some nice nature photography with a spooky bent, a (wisely) vague creature, some quaint narrations and a few old-fashioned folk songs. Some people find it effectively creepy in an understated way while others find it so dull it’s worthless. I’m in the middle. I can enjoy it for what it is and respect its notable history, but it’s also admittedly tedious. It would play better to modern viewers if the runtime was cut in half.

The film runs 1 hour, 26 minutes, and was shot in the Fouke, Arkansas, region.

GRADE: C

show less

Recommended Movies

Shrek

Cannibal Holocaust

Hungry

Annihilation

Status

Released

Original Language

Budget

$160,000

Revenue

$22,000,000

Loading…