Poor old Sasquatch – he’s become a figure of fun. Between beef jerky commercials that celebrate screwing with the big guy’s head, and bad television shows about idiots who think they can hunt him down, Sasquatch just doesn’t get much respect any more. Now, however, he’s going to be taking some righteous vengeance in his very own found-footage horror film, Exists.
Judging by this newly released trailer, the film pushes all the usual generic buttons: a group of 20-somethings hit the road with a camera for some alone time in a creepy cabin in the woods. There is puerile sex (isn’t it funny when two girls kiss?), and some old-fashioned jiggly camera thrown in for good measure. Then, of course, all hell breaks loose when Mr. Squatch himself puts in an appearance and ruins the party.
Exists was directed by Eduardo Sanchez, part of the team who made The Blair Witch Project and helped give rise to the contemporary version of the found-footage genre. I might be willing to forgive him for that, if Exists looked even like a halfway decent entry into a tired genre. I’d even applaud the attempt to turn an overdone monster into something legitimately scary, but this doesn’t look all that scary. It looks just like every other found footage film ever, but with even more annoying characters.
That being said, Exists did take away the Midnighters Audience Award from SXSW this year, which means there must be something to be said for it – even if it’s just that it’s so bad it’s good. Maybe the trailer is not doing it justice and it is actually scary; or maybe it’s supposed to be funny. There must be some reason this movie got made.
Exists will hit theaters and iTunes on October 24. You can check out the trailer below.
