Willow Creek

PLOT:
For amateur film maker Jim (played by Bryce Johnson) going up to the woods of Six Rivers National Forest in Northern California is going to be a game changer for him. He's been obessed with the mystery of Bigfoot and now he's taking that obsession and his girlfriend Kelly (played by Alexie Gilmore) on a search for the mythical creature. While the two go on the search for Bigfoot, Jim brings along his camera equipment to film it all. His plan is to discover the creature while making a documentary along the way but his plans quickly change when he and Kelly are warned not to go into the woods. While getting interviews with some of the locals, everything seems to be going great for the young couple. Laughs are being had, jokes are being made, but when they finally make the drive into the deep woods, the two start to discover that they might have made the wrong choice. The horror and terror quickly starts on the first night camping in the woods when the two hear some odd sounds that could either be Bigfoot or some of the locals playing around with them. Tracing the steps of the men who first discovered what might be Bigfoot, Jim and Kelly learn that they should have listened to the locals.

ORIGINALITY:
Alright, so this is really not original at all for a story. Willow Creek is another movie that's a found footage film of something going wrong with the people making the film. Which of course something went wrong cause otherwise how else would it be a found footage movie? Anyways, this movie was wrote and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait so there is actually a bit of humor being put in the film along with the tension and horror. One thing that is different about this movie is how it's been shot. It still keeps the style of being a movie that's being filmed and is later found, but it's the quality of the supposed found footage that makes it different. With some of the past movies of this style, the look of the movie is also like someone using low grade consumer camera but Willow Creek looks nothing like that. It's shot in the manner of someone amateur doing the filming but the way the picture is always clear, the focus is sharp, and the subjects are always in frame, it's a more professional movie that's been made to look like it's amateur.

STORY/EDITING/FORMAT:
I got to admit that I found the movie somewhat interesting, at least the story and how it was going to end was what I found interesting. How it's shot, that whole found footage, the movement of the camera, and just being this movie that's shot like it's a home video, that's annoying to me. I don't like this style of shooting, it gets annoying quickly because when I watch a movie I want to watch something that's steady and sure, I want to know that I'm watching a real movie not something that looks like a friend made. Granted Willow Creek does do better than most in this area as Bobcat Goldthwait uses a better look to the picture and the shots are more professional, that helped keep me interested in the movie, but in the end it's still a found footage movie and that turned me off some.

Though the way it's been edited is yet another way to tell that this one is a little different because it flows well from on scene to the next. A lot of work was put in to making this movie look like it's a found footage movie but there's also a lot of work to make it have a solid flow to it. The story moves along at a steady pace where it's not dragging along, I wasn't forced to watch 90% of the movie of the characters wondering around the woods before something happens and the last 10% of them looking into the camera going on no what's happening. It has it's moments that make Willow Creek better than most found footage movies, so good job Mr. Bobcat Goldthwait in knowing not to make this movie just a bunch of useless camera movements and people crying into the lens.

BLU RAY AND FEATURES:
I mentioned it above that this movie was shot with equipment that makes it anything but amateur consumer brand cameras being used and it shows really well on Blu Ray. The picture quality is really sharp, the colors are clear and bright, and even though there are some moments that the blacks have some noise in it, that actually works for this style of movie. I was also impressed with the audio as it's levels are even and clear where I wasn't fiddling with the remote. Now with other movies when the low screaming/explosions happen then the dialog, having even volume levels is good, but Willow Creek is a little different in the audio department. This movie has the sounds of nature being a big part of the movie along with having that amateur audio quality that has to be put in it but also do it where I was able to hear the sounds of nature and the wind on the microphone without it being too low or the dialog being too loud. My disappointment in the Blu Ray comes with the bonus features with there being so few of them. Having the trailer and commentary is almost a given for movies, what I want to see are deleted scenes, which there is one on here, but where is the bloopers, the gags, the featurettes? There's a making of the movie with Bryce Johnson, but it's too little to make the bound features as good as they could have been.