Director: Chase Dudley
Year: 2021
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
After getting rejected for their pilot, a team of desperate producers trying to get their cryptozoology show off the ground con a group of individuals to travel out into the woods to find a legendary creature only for something more dangerous to affect their show and threaten their lives.
Review:
This was a pretty solid genre effort. Among the films' better qualities come from the enjoyable first half that gives everything a really intriguing and engaging start. Starting with the groups' rejection of their show and the desire to get it filmed as well as the duplicity they use to procure the crew for the shoot is a great way of starting this off, focusing on the desire to get their dream project together but obviously being way out of their element since the obviousness of their sketchy business practices is never noticed or questioned by anyone. The more it carries on with their improper behavior and meltdowns that showcase the incompetent nature of their mission even more and just makes the upcoming encounters that much more fun.
Once the film moves into the final half and their struggles in the forest to get out alive, there's a nice bit of energy that carries this one along quite nicely. Their single-minded determination to keep pressing on deeper into the creatures' hunting zone makes for a fun time as their sense of inexperience and incompetence kills off a group member and turns the action around nicely when a new, unexpected threat emerges which is rather fun. This leads to some intriguing cat-and-mouse chases that are quite surprising and unexpected as the series of confrontations by the various members of the group throughout the area provides some thrills and brutal action in the graphic kills included, making fine use of the forest surroundings. These here give the film some likable qualities.
This one did have some minor issues involved here. The main drawback is the fact that the film spends the majority of the first half on that build-up about their incompetence about filming this kind of show that it never brings the creature into focus. Rather than do something simple like seeing it in the background without their knowledge or seeing it hunt animals or other people in the woods to break up those kinds of sequences can make for a rather dull time if viewers are looking for a straightforward creature feature. This lack of attention to the creature makes this one somewhat underwhelming at the beginning of the film when it matters and impacts our lack of knowledge about the creature overall since there's nothing about what it is, where it's been living, or anything else.
The other slight factor is the somewhat confusing series of actions that carry out through the final half of the film. Regardless of the fun nature involved or the deserving nature of the scenes, the way it twists and turns around on itself comes off rather confusing. The shift in focus from the creature they're tracking to a different killer entirely is a bit out of nowhere with the change being somewhat out-of-nowhere and relies on inference more than anything else to explain what's going on as the series of scenes and chases that emerge here is never really explained. While some might be somewhat turned off by the finale which becomes quite cliched yet doesn't provide the kind of payoff some would want, these here are the main factors that drag this down.
Overview: ***/5
Featuring some likable factors and enough to enjoy which manages to overcome the few drawbacks featured here, this one comes off as a lot better than expected while still featuring enough factors that keep it in the mediocre range. This is mostly for viewers who appreciate this kind of indie genre effort or those who are fans of the creative crew while most others who aren't fans of the style or approach here should heed caution.
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