It’s the new installment in Bigfoot lore. In World War Bigfoot, filmmaker Jason Mills takes our intrepid sasquatch and drops him right into World War II. But what side will he fight on?
Doc (Jason Benson) is a medic on a squad heading into deep enemy territory. Their leader, Sarge, is hush-hush on the details of this mission, and the other men are not happy. Once they land, they engage the enemy in a skirmish. The squad is split, leaving Doc on his own, and as he rests to collect his thoughts, there is something watching him from afar. He soon stumbles on an enemy soldier, his medical instincts kick in, and he saves the soldier’s life just before he runs off.
Meanwhile, one of Sarge’s men realizes that they are not here for a military operation but for something more sinister. Of course, Sarge can’t let this information get loose. Goodbye, fellow soldier.
Just as Doc gets his bearings the following morning, he is confronted by the remaining enemy soldiers. And just before they kill him, a hairy creature attacks the soldiers and kills them all except Doc and the enemy medic. But in the process, the creature is shot. Again, Doc’s medical instincts kick in, and he saves the creature’s life. His euphoria quickly ends when Sarge arrives and reveals the reason his squad is here.
“The squad is split, leaving Doc on his own, and as he rests to collect his thoughts, there is something watching him from afar.”
In making World War Bigfoot, filmmaker Jason Mills wanted to find a new angle on the Bigfoot mythology, and he felt the next logical step was World War II. So he and his friends went into Chilliwack, British Columbia, with a “just go with it” guerrilla filmmaker attitude.
I’m always fascinated when an indie filmmaker is forced to make something out of nothing. With just a few uniforms, a makeshift army truck, and the great outdoors, Jason Mills created the illusion of a forest battlefield as a home base for the action and a computer-generated Bigfoot. There’s no bloat here, no unnecessary spectacle. Seventy-three minutes means Mills had to make every beat count.
It’s not just soldiers running from a monster; Mills explores themes of brotherhood on the field, no matter which side you’re on, and asks, “Who is the real monster?” Sure, a few million would have made it look “authentic,” but what’s the point in that? The reality is that the big studios can’t even pull that off, and they have the millions.
For screening information, visit the World War Bigfoot official website.
