BIG LEGEND

Film Review by FIORE

I normally avoid movies about Big Foot.  The thought of a large ape-like creature living in a secluded woodlands is as exciting as watching a grandmotherly Joan Crawford in TROG.  BIG LEGEND is the exception.  This is a well thought out and provoking set up film, that could do something for monster movies that Universal Pictures could not.  Allow me to explain.

Universal had grandiose concepts of rebooting all it’s classic monsters – Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolfman, the Phantom, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Mummy.  Each would have its own stand alone film, and the series, dubbed the Dark Universe, would culminate in a monster battle royale.



The first film in the franchise was Tom Cruise’s THE MUMMY, a movie I enjoyed (check my original review in earlier posts or on the Outtakes with Fiore blog).  Costing $125 million, the movie garnered $485 million, and the studio deemed it a failure.  Not sure how that math works, but as of this moment, Universal has the entire Dark Universe program on hold.
 
Big Octopus Productions, teaming with distributor Vegas Baby is releasing BIG LEGEND as a set up film for its planned MONSTER CHRONICLES series.  This first installment appears more solid than THE MUMMY for achieving its goal.

Kevin Makely is Tyler Laird, an ex-Army Ranger who takes his girlfriend Natalie, played by Summer Spiro, to a secluded woodland to propose.  During their celebration, they are attacked by Big Foot.  Natalie is taken by the creature and Tyler is left battered in the woods in need of both medical and psychological help.

One year later, Ty, encouraged by his mom, the still alluring Adrienne Barbeau, reenters the woods seeking answers to what happened to Natalie.  While on his quest, he meets Eli, played by Todd Robinson, a fellow hunter also in search of the monster.  Together, they launch a two man assault against the seemingly indestructible creature.  Veteran horror film star Lance Henriksen appears in the final reel to launch the franchise.

Obviously, BIG LEGEND does not have the production values of THE MUMMY.  It fits nicely into the SyFy Saturday Night category of B-Schlock Horror.  But, it is still well done.  Realizing a limited budget, the monster is seldom seen and only in brief glimpses.  More of the budget is spent on attack and injury effects.  It is a wise move by Writer – Director Justin Lee.  He paces the film well, save for two set up opening reel segments.  The technical issues emanate from Editor Michael Tang.  He splices segments together that cross the 180 horizon line and depict different times of day and weather conditions.  It is a bit distracting, but not enough to prevent you from enjoying the story.

BIG LEGEND is a good monster movie, and one of the better Big Foot films.  It is currently available on VOD and home video.  If it successfully launches the MONSTER CHRONICLES franchise, Papa Octopus will have succeeded where Universal failed.  Epic.