By Geno McGahee
In 1999, the face of horror changed. An independent and original film was unleashed on the public that captured the imagination of every horror fan and created a buzz that has rarely been seen. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, a film written and directed by Eduardo Sanchez, brought the idea of “found footage” and a local urban legend into play and the public wasn’t accustomed to it. It was new and exciting, but here we are fifteen years later and found footage has been beaten to death, but when you hear that Eduardo Sanchez has returned to the sub-genre that he launched into the public eye so many years ago, it gets exciting again. That’s what we got in EXISTS.
EXISTS is being released in select theaters and On Demand on Friday, October 24th, by Lionsgate. The story surrounds five friends going for a weekend of camping in Texas. There they encounter the typically peaceful man-ape known as “Bigfoot.” I guess he was in a bad mood this week. The film is found footage, although it was never really explained. You just have to make assumptions, but since we have THE BLAIR WITCH guy involved, I’m just guessing that this was also found in the woods. Although he is known for this style, it really didn’t seem to fit this story.
Held up in a cabin, there is a lot of waiting for the monster to reveal and the characters are not that distinguishable. This movie fell into the FRIDAY THE 13TH approach. We have a monster and we have victims and their jobs are to be victims.
We have everything you’d expect from a group, huddled together, fighting off Bigfoot. There is infighting, blame, fear, and a loud monster trying to get in. I have to say that out of all the recent Bigfoot horror movies I’ve seen, EXISTS has the coolest looking monster, and once he really gets into the mix, the film begins to really move along. At one point, the Bigfoot is chasing a camper on a bike and some of the shots of the Sasquatch running are incredibly cool looking. The attacks are cool and it gets suspenseful.
Every time that Bigfoot is on the screen, it’s fun. Every time that he isn’t, the film is sort of empty. The character development isn’t there. I found myself waiting patiently for the Bigfoot to show back up and then rejoicing when he did and then waiting again. To the film’s credit, the Bigfoot is worth the wait, but this could have been really special had the writing been better. It had a lot going for it and the little things are going to make this a forgettable, but enjoyable at times, horror entry.
EXISTS isn’t the return film that Sanchez probably hopes it’s going to be. He wasn’t able to capture lightning in a bottle twice and he may have shown his limitations here. As a die-hard Bigfoot fan, I found enjoyment in this film, but I was also disappointed. It had a great look and the Sasquatch looked fantastic, but the ball was dropped with the writing and the fact that they insisted this being found footage when it really didn’t need to be. I think the decision had to be made when Sanchez was brought in to shoot it in this fashion because of his history with THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT but that time has passed. This could have been a new start for him but we end up in a mediocrity. I really wanted to like this film…damn.
I recommend this film for all horror fans for two reasons. One, if you don’t love Bigfoot, you are not a horror fan, in my estimation. Secondly, Sanchez, good or bad, is horror history and I found it interesting to see where he was at after 15 years. Apparently, he hasn’t moved too much, but EXISTS does have its moments and you could find a worse Bigfoot movie.
Rating: 5/10
