Imagine Bigfoot in your mind. Now drop that image and make him as fast and agile as an Olympian with the same taste for revenge as a murderous psychopath. In Bigfoot: Primal Fear, these dreams are realized when campers meet the cryptid face to face.
A group camping trip in the woods turns into their worst nightmare as they soon realize they are not alone out there, and someone or something is hunting them. Every step could be their last as they try to escape their fate.
Bigfoot: Primal Fear, IMDB
Isabelle, Blake, Madison, and Sam all go on a couples camping trip to relax, with Madison and Blake in particular trying to rekindle their relationship after a rough period. As they settle in to their campsite, Sam tells the story of some predatory animal said to be haunting the woods. The group soon after meets the creature in the flesh, prompting them to try and escape with their lives — and bodies — intact. Not even the park rangers and other cryptid hunters can save them, as this Bigfoot is super agile… and super angry.
Bigfoot: Primal Fear grabbed me from the beginning with a fun introduction to the caliber of monster we’ll be seeing in the film (more on that later) and the title sequence. Sometimes with indie films, the opening credits don’t get enough love, instead their focus going towards the main meat of the movie. Understandable. With Bigfoot, though, it felt more put together with grainy images of campsites and close-up — almost medical — shots of fur. It felt raw, like we were going to see some gnarly kills later on.
Those kills were about half and half. Some were full-on arms getting ripped off, and others were quick little neck breaks. Again, understandable for an indie film. Surprisingly, I was way more intrigued by the costuming. The titular character in Bigfoot Primal Fear was definitely someone in a Bigfoot costume, static face and all. While I would knock a few points off for a semi-low effort monster, I’m giving it a bunch more points for making the creature fast. Normally, Bigfoot movies focus on the cryptid’s giant stature and power; here, Bigfoot can run you down and still cause catastrophic damage, never becoming winded in the slightest. We hear his roaring throughout the film, letting the characters know he is nearby, but the Bigfoot is also a sneaky one, easily able to pull up on unsuspecting victims in a second.
Bigfoot: Primal Fear‘s storyline is a rather simple one, bookended by a podcaster determined to release the truth of what’s hiding in the forest. The forest in question was really nice, and I will say that the filmmakers did a good job at making it seem like the cast was really out in the middle of nowhere with no hope for proper help.
I do wish there was a little more blood involved, but seeing a Bigfoot run at insane speeds just to twist someone’s head off was more than enough. Bigfoot: Primal Fear was short, but fun. At just over an hour, we get a tightly-wrapped story with a slightly funny creature, a great movie to watch on a light afternoon or with a couple friends. I would try not to think too hard about it, questions like “How is there a Bigfoot in the UK?” or “He just heard a loud growl, why is he still walking toward it?” Bigfoot: Primal Fear is just meant for fun.
Bigfoot: Primal Fear is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video. For more, follow writer/director Craig Dowsett and CD Productions on Instagram.
