The found footage sub-genre has covered everything at this point. Filmmakers have ‘captured’ ghosts, trolls, and even Frankenstein’s monster on film, but no material seems more fitting to be captured by a film crew than the legend of bigfoot. Justin Steeley explores this topic in his 2013 found footage film, Hunting the Legend.
When Chris Copeland was a young boy, his father was abducted by the legendary bigfoot, when the two went on a hunting trip. Authorities gave up on the case, stating it was all caused by a wild boar. It is now five years later and Chris has recruited the help of his girlfriend Hannah, his best friend Jeff, and a hired film crew to take matters into their own hands and capture the truth of the mystery monster.
I don’t like comparing found footage films to The Blair Witch Project because I feel that is exactly what everyone else does. There have been tons of films created in this style since, and many have been much better, but for some reason Hunting the Legend has that Blair Witch feel to it. Maybe it’s because of the fact that there are two guys and one girl in the woods filming everything, but there is more to it than just that. I am not sure if Steeley was going for this directly, but that is how it seems to have ended up either way.
I think the actors in the film did a wonderful job capturing the mood of exactly what they were doing — trying to find the truth of a legend that almost everyone has a story about. The subject matter is so great for a horror film, yet I don’t think I’ve seen one that can pull it off just right. Hell, The Frankenstein Theory is the best bigfoot movie I’ve seen and it’s not even about bigfoot!
Justin Steeley had an opportunity to take the Sasquatch lore and turn it into something great, but there just wasn’t that final payoff that there needed to be. I was hoping for some more clear glimpses of the beast, but perhaps it is better off this way. Just like in real life, we still don’t know what the real monster looks like…
If you like found footage movies and are into the bigfoot mythology as much as I am, I think Hunting the Legend is still worth the watch. Pick up a copy today from RLJ Entertainment and Image Entertainment and let me know what you think in the comments below.
I give this film 2 skinned rabbits out of 5.
