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DVD Review- Hunting the Legend (2014)

Genre:
Horror, Thriller
Distributor:
Image Entertainment
Rating: 15
DVD Release Date:
21st July 2014 (UK)
Director:
Justin Steeley
Cast:
Christopher Copeland, Hannah Wallace, Jeff Causey
Buy:Hunting The Legend [DVD]
Bigfoot, Yeti, and Sasquatch, all different variations of the same age-old terror: a gargantuan primate thought to roam the wilds of Earth’s mountain ranges and forests. Of course, little evidence exists, but a quick google search can prove that plenty people claim to have seen these elusive terrors. In fact, so many people claim to have seen them, it seems ignorant to totally dispel the rumours. Where Bobcat Goldthwait’s recent Willow Creek is an enthusiastic venture into the mysterious territory, and 2012’s The Lost Coast Tapes plays with what the legend might be hiding, Justin Steeley’s debut feature Hunting the Legend is every bit a gonzo bigfoot film.

Christopher Copeland plays himself (as do the rest of the cast), a young man out to discover the mystery behind his father’s mysterious disappearance on a hunting trip. Setting off into the woods with his best friend, girlfriend and two camera technicians he hopes that he can once and for all prove the existence of the legendary Bigfoot.

The film successfully sets up a kind of road movie vibe, having the group collect weapons and even a defensive dog before their venture. The early parts of the film superbly relay the effect bigfoot has on local communities, splitting them into believers and non-believers whilst glazing the whole community with an ominous kind of deniability. Steeley expertly manoeuvres his crew into a similar structure throughout the film, slowly toppling each character into a state of disbelieving belief. Special mention goes to the townsfolk who seem to be genuine locals with genuine stories. Half way through, Stan Copeland’s threatening forest hermit appears and delivers a much needed breath of gusto and menace to the laggy first half.

Though the film spends too much time running wildly about in the woods with hysterical people, it works because Steeley is so stingy with what he actually shows, but even then your still failry spooked. In those moments when he might actually present us with a Bigfoot (we are told there are many) your brain kind of scrabbles to make sense of the sheer size. There’s a density to these beasts that lets them drift out from hearsay, but enough shadow to keep everything veiled.

In the end, Hunting the Legend has perhaps too much reliance on the viewer’s own innate discomfort with a camera pointed into darkness. Other than that there’s plenty suspense and enjoyment to be found in one of the most rounded and terrifying Bigfoot features of recent years.

★★★☆☆
Scott Clark

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Blu-Ray Review - Too Late Blues (1961)

Genre: Drama
Distributor: Eureka
BD Release Date: 21st July 2014 (UK)
Rating: 15
Running Time: 101 Minutes
Director: John Cassavetes
Cast: Bobby Darin, Stella Stevens, Seymour Cassel
Buy: Too Late Blues (1961) Blu-Ray

Too Late Blues is a fascinating film from the filmography of John Cassavetes. It was his second directorial effort after his pioneering independent Shadows; Paramount hired him with the idea of making him the American art house answer to the numerous European auteurs of the early 60s. In many ways he was, and it showed incredible foresight by Paramount, but things weren’t quite as hunky dory for Cassavetes.

Too Late Blues is about a leader of a jazz band played by Bobby Darin. He meets a young singer (Stella Stevens) who he becomes infatuated with, she joins his band but his ego is too strong and everything falls apart for both of them. The film’s main theme is the idea of selling out, which for a film in the early 1960s is quite startling; Bobby Darin’s bandleader is forever being asking to compromise his music for commercial success. It’s not hard to see the parallel between this and Cassavetes himself.

Casssavetes dismissed the film as a commercial experiment but his singular personality certainly shines though the film. It has enough interesting aesthetic choices akin to that of his later more independently minded films. The drain shot near the end, for example, doesn’t quite work but it is beautiful in its faults. It also contains a subject matter close to his heart: commerciality vs. art and the world of jazz. 

The performances are the film’s biggest strong points; both Bobby Darin and Stella Stevens are electrifying. It’s a shame Darin died so young because he could have easily had the film career Sinatra had, if not more so. The rest of the cast is mostly Cassavetes’ stock cast- most notably Seymour Cassel as one of the band members who is still working in films today.  

Overall it’s a fascinating attempt by Cassavetes at more commercial filmmaking so early in his career, but it doesn’t quite work. The first half is far superior to the second, although the performances and interesting stylistic approaches Cassavetes takes makes it’s far from being a failure.

★★★1/2

Ian Schultz