In the early 1970s, Charles B. Pierce, who worked in television and lived in Texarkana at the time, decided to independently make a movie about the legendary "Fouke Monster", a southern Bigfoot creature that had supposedly been sighted numerous times in and around Fouke, Arkansas. Pierce used friends, family and locals for his docudrama that consisted of interviews with people who claimed to have seen the creature, as well as reenactments of sightings of the beast. The movie even contains a song about the creature entitled Lonely Cry. This all may sound silly, but guess what? The Legend of Boggy Creek gets under your skin and is really able to creep you out. It's one of those horror movies that keeps you up at night after you watch it.
This film was a huge box office hit becoming the 10th highest grossing movie of 1972, and it was a major inspiration to the filmmakers behind The Blair Witch Project (1999). However, Boggy Creek never received a proper widescreen home video release. For years you could get washed out, pan and scan VHS copies as well as crappy bootleg DVDs on Ebay, and that was it...until now.
Spearheaded by the late director's daughter, Pamula Pierce Barcelou, The Legend of Boggy Creek has received a meticulous 4K restoration by the George Eastman Museum. I have the new Blu-ray and it looks immaculate. Besides the Blu-ray/DVD combo, the restored and remastered Boggy Creek is available to stream on iTunes and Amazon.
View the trailer here.
