Dir. James Chick (2024)
A ranger investigating the death of a social media influencer begins to believe that Bigfoot may have been responsible.
Look, I'm a science guy. I tend to not believe things without proof, and my field of work requires intense critical thinking and the reliance on the critical thinking of others (as well as being able to determine if their thinking is, indeed, critical). All that said... I tend to lean a bit more than you'd expect into the belief of cryptids such as Sasquatch, the Chupacabra, and the like. It's difficult for me to believe that thousands of years of legends could be entirely wrong, especially given the wide swaths of unexplored wilderness even in the more populated locations in America. If we can't find a missing hiker desperate to be rescued in the expansive wilderness, why would we be able to find one "monster" that doesn't want to be found?
Such is the dilemma of Chris Dixon (Eric Berger), a YouTuber who has made his way to a small town with a series of unexplained deaths that he believes are caused by the mythical Bigfoot. When Dixon himself almost immediately dies, it's up to damaged forest ranger Jason Easterly (Andrew Jacob Brown) and Sheriff Ken Clark (Jack Vanover) to find out what's really killing members of their community. Could it be the legendary cryptid, or is it just local fauna that are offing residents?
Feet of Death goes much more for dramatic mystery than it does horror, which naturally leads to a much slower film than you'd expect for a movie exploring the Bigfoot story. It's a bit overly long, at almost two hours, and it's a lot more serious than I expected from a film called Feet of Death. Director James Chick's film takes itself completely seriously, with not even a whiff of the humor films like this usually aim for. Thankfully, the actors involved are good enough to carry this through. Each character is believably done, lending an air of authenticity to a film that is far beyond what ensemble indie horror films usually manage.
The downside of the choice to place the film within the mystery genre, and to make it as slow as it is, is that the majority of the film isn't particularly exciting. It's not until the last twenty five minutes or so of the film that things really begin to kick off, and the wait feels like an eternity in an almost two-hour film. Feet of Death is not actually a horror film after all, even though it teases around the edges of the genre and seems to want to be one at times. It's a film that subverts your expectations, and while the twist of the film is actually a pretty good one, it's going to fall short of making people watching because of a cryptid fascination happy.
For what it is, however, Feet of Death is well done. The actors are good, it's well-made, and it's set up like a standard mystery and, for that part, it's better than average. The horror themes make it more enjoyable than a standard mystery film, at least for a site like this, and as long as you're not looking for anything that's actually scary, you may well enjoy it. If you're only watching it for the Bigfoot of it all, however, it's going to be a long wait until you get to what you're looking for. It could've used a little runtime shaving, but other than that it's a decently enjoyable film.
Who this movie is for: Indie horror fans, Mystery/drama lovers, Cryptid believers
Bottom line: Feet of Death is not at all what I expected but is pretty good for what it is. It's not a horror movie nearly as much as it's a mystery/drama, and it's decent in that regards, but there are little to no scares to be found throughout. The actors are great, though, and the direction is capable and quality. Just don't expect to find too many horror elements if that's what you're looking for.
