Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Willow Creek - Chicago Critics Film Festival Review

by Patrick Bromley
In which Bobcat Goldthwait proves that found footage isn't dead. It just needs to be used the right way.

First, a confession: I'm as guilty as anyone of saying I'm tired of the found footage genre. But what I -- and most others -- forget is that found footage is not a genre at all; it's an aesthetic tool. Used properly, it can recontextualize the story being told and force the audience to question their relationship to the material by positioning it from their point of view. Used incorrectly -- like, say, to save money or (even worse) to cash in on a popular trend -- and found footage feels like a tired, obvious cheat.

Willow Creek, the fifth and latest feature from Bobcat Goldthwait, mostly does found footage right. Bryce Johnson and Alexie Gilmore are Jim and Kelly, twentysomethings in a long-term relationship on a pilgrimage to see the elusive Bigfoot. They travel to the woods in upstate California to find the monster, documenting everything that happens to them on a video camera. They interview some of the locals, eat at a Bigfoot-themed restaurant (home of the Bigfoot burger) and then ignore the warnings of some angry townies to go in search of the site where the Patterson-Gimlin footage was shot in the late '60s. And then shit gets weird.
That's the structure of the movie. For the first half, it's a pretty lighthearted mock-doc with a young couple goofing around and enjoying a bunch of Bigfoot kitsch; for the second, it's a really effective horror movie (what is often referred to as a "gearshift" movie). It allows us to like and get invested in the characters before things go bad for them, which isn't usually the case with horror movies -- especially found footage movies, which tend to embrace some of the most obnoxiously shrill and stupid characters in the genre. Jim and Kelly aren't perfect and there are undoubtedly some who will still find them irritating, but they feel real. Their intentions are good and they care about one another; it isn't just the same lot of bickering and "yeah, yeah, whatever honey" dismissals that ruined the Micah/Katie relationship in Paranormal Activity. We are able to invest in these people. We care about what happens to them, even (especially) when they clearly aren't thinking things through.

What will make Willow Creek famous -- what horror fans will still be talking about years from now -- is a 19-minute unbroken take halfway through during which the movie turns to horror. Kelly and Jim are sleeping in their tent when they begin to hear noises...and then the noises become something else...and I don't want to say more. The way that Goldthwait ratchets up the terror in that sequence is something to behold; I don't scare easily in movies, but even I was caught up in being freaked out at the same time I was standing outside of the moment, marveling at the audaciousness of what he was pulling off. Played only with sound, the occasional movement and loooong stretches of anticipatory silence, the sequence segues effortlessly from uneasy laughter to genuine terror. Goldthwait gives James Wan a run for his money in the "things that go bump/less is more" school of horror filmmaking. It's an incredible sequence.
If Willow Creek falls short of greatness, it's because it fails to stick the landing after that bravura set piece. The last minutes are even more important in any found footage movie, as it's usually the point at which they stop the tease (the foundation upon which nearly all FF movies are built) and spell things out. We still talk about The Blair Witch Project 15 years later not just because of its novelty but because of its haunting final image, a shot so clever and well-staged that it pulls the entire movie into focus and leaves us thinking it's a lot scarier than it might actually be. While a better film in the buildup, Willow Creek doesn't manage to close out as strongly, resulting in a film that feels like two acts of a great movie that just sort of stops. Yes, some of that is deliberate -- what Jim and Kelly find in the woods interrupts their story in a very real and abrupt way -- but it also dulls the overall impact. Willow Creek gives up just as it's really getting scary.

It's good to see Goldthwait take such a sharp turn in his career; after a series of satirical dark comedies (to call God Bless America "dark" is a gross understatement) in which horrifying real-world things happen but are played for either laughs or pathos, Goldthwait's shift to horror feels well-earned. While it shares some of the same thematic concerns as his past work -- the folly of man's belief that he is the center of his own universe and that his actions will have only the consequence he can predict -- it works better as an interesting departure. He does a good job of marrying the two halves of Willow Creek, but I'd be lying if I didn't say the "horror" sequences (specifically that long take in the middle) show that he's skilled enough with the genre that I wish he would go ahead and make a full-on, balls-out horror movie. The best moments of Willow Creek prove that he's got the chops. Of course, they're also scary enough that I'm not sure I could take it if he did.

8 comments:

  1. Glad to hear the positive result. Been looking forward to this one ever since watching God Bless and Worlds Greatest Dad back to back last year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, Patrick, you have me intrigued to see this now. Will it be getting a wider release?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it's getting a limited release (and possibly VOD/iTunes) this summer.

      Delete
  3. I've really been wanting to see this since I listened to Bobcat on the F This Movie-endorsed podcast, The Movie Crypt. If anyone still thinks of Bobcat as the sweaty, manic freak we saw on stage in the 80s/early 90s, you should really give it a listen (or watch his other movies) - he's so much more than that.

    I had a good feeling about this one - glad to have that more or less confirmed - here's hoping for a wider release!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was at the screening with Patrick and Bobcat gave a great Q&A. He had a comment about an overarching challenge with found footage that was awesome. It was basically "sorry your friend died but this footage is so great, do you mind if we edit it together and make it into a movie?"

      Delete
    2. Yeah really! Sigh...so jealous of you Chicagolems and your cool movie-related opportunities. I'd probably trade my free healthcare for a Q&A with Bobcat.

      Delete
    3. You should move. The Portage just reopened. There's no reason not to be in Chicago anymore.

      Delete