Brian Emond is, or was, a ‘content producer’ from Brooklyn who always badly wanted to rise up through the ranks to real journalism. And, as he tells us early on, journalists are always looking for their exclusive – but don’t always end up telling the story they expected to tell. It’s a premise which guides us through a deeply funny, often considerate and heartfelt mockumentary, one which manages to balance its humour against a worthwhile skewering of the kind of content producers who appear in the film. There’s a certain amount of self-deprecating humour here which plays well against the other strands of humour; perhaps you have to know what you’re sending up to do it well, as well as to meld it with other themes, friendship turning out to be one of them.
We first meet Emond and his producer/cameraman Zach (who play themselves) attempting to get an interview with a hip-hop musician who just loves to cancel, regularly, on journos. But they finally get him to talk to them; this helps them onwards with their career at Compound TV (very clearly a pitch-perfect pastiche of Vice) but they grow disenchanted with the material: a guy who makes artisanal antibiotics; a feature on the craft beer scene in war-torn Ukraine (and as someone who would probably quite happily watch that, I felt seen.) Brian and Zach set about getting a new gig – which turns out to be travelling to Georgia to investigate the ‘Bigfoot Community’, and just maybe to look into any truth behind the claims that the sasquatch is real. So off they go to begin their research, meeting a range of colourful characters ahead of a surprise – to them – field expedition.
To get their story, and to know what to do in the middle of the Georgia woods. they need the help of a guide: Jeff Stephenson (again played by himself) is another content creator and the host of a YouTube channel all about cryptids; he’s an Eagle Scout too, as he keeps on telling them. Jeff’s an eccentric to say the least, and as the trip progresses, Zach and Brian begin to wonder if Jeff may be becoming the de facto subject of the film. But that’s just the start, and their film heads off in a series of quite unexpected directions, taking them with it.
With the exception of a very minor lull around the fifty minute mark, this is a well-paced film and very well-observed throughout, right down to the ‘listicle’ title. Not only does it poke fun at the internet generation and the kind of content which has emerged, providing a low-key but pithy comment on our times, it also presents a range of very well-drawn characters which are a pleasure to watch. Many of the segments and the scenes are genuinely laugh-out-loud and Brian, who is usually on-screen, provides just the right balance of deadpan ennui and mild confusion about what the hell is going on. His weary demeanour is perfect. Another solid decision is to suggest that this is an edited, completed piece of documentary filmmaking, because it fully excuses and allows for the neatly-edited, well-made film, something which has always dogged the verisimilitude of ‘found footage’. 15 Things You Didn’t Know About Bigfoot is very polished, and this is completely plausible; the voiceover works really well, too.
In some respects, as the plot thickens, this mockumentary emulates many of the features of a horror movie with its beautiful landscapes, the ‘getting lost’ shtick, the evidence of something savage in the woods and so on: however, by coming at it with a different perspective, it allows the film to dodge a few of the worst of the horror tropes in favour of just the right balance between action, humour and pathos. This is a succinct, cleverly written and worthwhile indie film: it’s certainly new terrain for director, writer and star Zach Lamplugh given his career to date, but he clearly has skills working as a humourist across a feature-length project and we need directors who can do this – right up until the clever tying-up of loose ends at the end.
15 Things You Didn’t Know About Bigfoot releases to VOD on 7th May 2021.