The Legendary Bigfoot Movie That People Thought Was 100% Real

While there were certainly predecessors in the form of pseudo-documentaries, Charles B Pierce’s The Legend of Boggy Creek really has all the hallmarks of the found footage genre as we know it today. The movie is fifty years old at this point, but it doesn’t change the fact that the film was a massive hit at the time and truly capitalized on the fact-vs-fiction nature of found footage movies. So much so that people didn’t know whether the film was real or fake.

The Legend of Boggy Creek is inspired by the infamous Patterson-Gimlin film that reportedly caught a Sasquatch on film in the California trend. Charles B. Pierce was a salesman and decided to capitalize on the cryptid craze by making a monster movie from a $100,000 trucking company loan. The film drew from local legends of the Fouke Monster in the Arkansas countryside, depicting a realistic and grounded approach that made the film all the more believable.

In The Legend of Boggy Creek, we see interviews and re-enactments that claim to use real survivors and witnesses instead of actors. Pierce put together a new genre without even knowing it, and the film works in a way that even he likely didn’t expect it to. The low-budget production ended up captivating audiences, as they actually believed that this Bigfoot-like monster might be real.To be fair to audiences, The Legend of Boggy Creek brought the found footage genre into the mainstream like nothing before. With really nothing else to compare it to, it’s no wonder that people couldn’t tell if the film was real or fake. If a found footage film is convincing enough and you market it well, it’s certainly possible to get the audience to come along for the ride.

Even in 1999, when found footage was an established genre, The Blair Witch Project was able to pull off its own The Legend of Boggy Creek-style release and convince people the film was possibly real rather than fiction. Since then, plenty of found footage films like Cloverfield, Chronicle, and the Paranormal Activity series have been able to make found footage into box office blockbusters. Of course, The Legend of Boggy Creek was no slouch at the box office, making millions and bringing people to the theaters in droves.

The Legend of Boggy Creek has since been remastered in 2019 after Pierce’s daughter, Pamula Pierce Barcelou, obtained the rights. If you’re expecting it to be of the same quality of modern found footage films, you’ll be disappointed. But, if you like B movies and want to see where the genre began to find its (big)footing, then this is the film to check out.