Category: Cult Classic

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Legend of Boggy Creek and Sequels

The Legend of Boggy Creek – 1972, US, 87m. Director: Charles B. Pierce.

Return to Boggy Creek – 1977, US, 84m. Director: Tom Moore.

Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues – 1983, US, 92m. Director: Charles B. Pierce.

THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK (1972) Independent filmmaker Charles B. Pierce single-handedly created a cottage industry with this mockumentary about a Bigfoot-like creature that stalks the surrounding swamps of a small Arkansas town. The film’s gimmick is its documentary-style presentation, featuring interviews with fishermen, hunters, and other citizens who claim to have encountered the “Fouke Monster.” Many of the stories are recreated quite effectively—the film’s grainy, low-budget quality give these scenes an unnerving detail. Although often hokey, it’s Boggy Creek‘s sense of realism that makes the movie work, and provides an element that would ultimately be influential on the television series In Search Of… as well as the found-footage subgenre revolutionized with The Blair Witch Project. A surprise hit, this was followed by an unauthorized sequel in 1977 (Return to Boggy Creek), and a legitimate one directed by Pierce in 1983, apply titled Boggy Creek II. Ironically, neither subsequent film was made in documentary fashion. B

RETURN TO BOGGY CREEK (1977) Soggy, family-friendly sequel to Charles B. Pierce’s creepy Legend of Boggy Creek (1972) about the adventures of a Sasquatch monster haunting a fishing community. In the Pierce film, the aggressive creature is referred to as the Fouke Monster because of its close proximity to Fouke, Arkansas. In Return to Boggy Creek the creature is called “Big Bay-Ty” and is more of a misunderstood gentle giant that goes out of its way to rescue a trio of kids caught in a storm while on a wilderness excursion. Competently acted—Dawn Wells of Gilligan’s Island and Dana Plato of Diff’rent Strokes play mother and daughter—but about as exciting as watching paint dry. Years later, Pierce himself would make his own sequel with Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues, which completely (and wisely) ignores this movie. D+

BOGGY CREEK II: AND THE LEGEND CONTINUES (1983) An anthropology professor and three students investigate claims of the Boggy Creek monster in this direct sequel to the 1972 cult favorite The Legend of Boggy Creek. The sequel ignores the documentary-style presentation of the earlier film but offers flashback sequences of creature attacks narrated by the professor (director Charles B. Pierce), none of which contain the atmospheric effectiveness of Legend of Boggy Creek—there are so many close-ups of the monster that it’s obvious it’s an actor in a mask. The scenes with the monster have an undeniably cheesy charm, but whenever the beast isn’t on screen the movie plods. And 92 minutes is a lot of Boggy time to fill. Better than Return to Boggy Creek, but not by much. C

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The Alien Dead, The Great Alligator, The Sinister Urge

The Alien Dead – 1980, US, 74m. Director: Fred Olen Ray.

The Great Alligator – 1979, Italy, 89m. Director: Sergio Marinto.

The Sinister Urge – 1960, US, 70m. Director: Edward D. Wood. Jr.

THE ALIEN DEAD (1980) The residents of Deep South swamp country are turned into cannibalistic ghouls after coming into contact with a crashed meteor. The first victims are a couple of twang-talkin’ gator poachers who are pulled into the water and resurface with their faces eaten off. A man chopping wood is ripped apart by a quartet of zombies; his wife later stumbles upon his top half being devoured by the cannibals. She’s bumped off in the movie’s most infamous scene, impaled with a three-pronged pitchfork—as four prongs come out her back. The redneck sheriff (Buster Crabbe) thinks it’s the work of a rogue gator, despite the fact there hasn’t been a gator sighting in weeks—because they’ve been eaten by the zombies! Former Flash Gordon Crabbe flubs his lines; bombshell Linda Lewis emerges from the swamp soaking wet and a few seconds later is bone-dry; several of the alien dead have mutated gray faces, yet their arms and hands retain a normal skin complexion; a victim laughs while being chomped on by a zombie. In other words, it’s a typical Fred Olen Ray production, which is atypical of most other filmmakers. Still, this is an enjoyable slack-jawed blunder that would pair nicely with the similar bargain basement production, Bloodeaters (1980). B–

THE GREAT ALLIGATOR (1979) Tourists at a South Asian resort are gobbled up by a large crocodile in this Italian potpourri of Jaws, Piranha, and many other eco-terrors of the late seventies. Fashion photographer Claudio Cassinelli seeks help from a jungle tribe that worships the massive reptile as a god after one of Cassinelli’s models is eaten by the beast. Mel Ferrer, who plays the Mayor Vaughn-like owner of the resort, dismisses the killer croc theory and ends up turning his customers into croc chow. James Bond beauty Barbara Bach spends most of the film wet and bra-less, making her the perfect sacrificial offering for the great crocodile, the creature effect for which looks like a static, plastic toy. The Great Alligator might not be as bad as the similar Crocodile (1979), but it’s also not nearly as much fun as the gorier Killer Crocodile (1989). C–

THE SINISTER URGE (1960) Before he moved into the world of softcore porn, Z-movie king Edward D. Wood, Jr. took one last stab at “legitimate” filmmaking with this highly moronic “thriller” about a deranged idiot (Dino Fantini in a ridiculous pompadour) whose lust for killing is triggered by smut films. The underground smut racket is run by a tough-talkin’ bombshell (Jean Fontaine) who’s more concerned with her business than the safety of her models, who are being bumped off in record numbers. Narratively feeble and atrociously acted, but not containing any of the campy charm of Wood’s earlier duds. This makes Reefer Madness look good by comparison. A real stinkaroo. F