The Legend of Boggy Creek is back.
After 50 years, the iconic nature docudrama highlighting spooky encounters with a Bigfoot-like creature in the swamps of Southwestern Arkansas is being released in a form befitting the film’s massive impact.
It has been remastered in beautiful 4K Ultra HD and now includes Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound for an immersive viewing experience.
“It’s like watching an entirely new movie,” said Pamula Pierce Barcelou, daughter of the film’s late director Charles B. Pierce.
“This format perfectly masks the original Techniscope wide-angle film and really makes it come to life in exciting ways.”
Barcelou has overseen the film’s restoration and said it has been a labor of love for the legions of fans of the film.
“I am constantly blown away with how much this film touched people’s lives and I’m excited for a new generation to be able to see it in such an exciting format,” she said.
One of those people impacted was author and television personality Lyle Blackburn.
Author of The Beast of Boggy Creek and Boggy Creek Casebook, he provides film commentary as one of the bonus features.
Another bonus is original film outtakes edited by Justin Beahm of Reverend Entertainment.
It also features a redesigned package with an o-ring slipcover that highlights legendary Artist Ralph McQuarrie of Star Wars fame’s original movie poster artwork.
The Legend of Boggy Creek when adjusted for inflation is the highest grossing nature film of all time. It has inspired generations of researchers to pursue wildlife mysteries around the world and serves as one of the few films that is genuinely scary but still has a level of innocence.
“I’m so proud this is a true G-rated family-friendly film. But that doesn’t take away the spooky factor. So many people have shared with me the moments that made them jump out of their seats when first they saw it,” Barcelou said.
Get The Legend of Boggy Creek and enjoy the groundbreaking film as it has never been seen at www.legendofboggycreek.com.
My Review
The Legend of Boggy Creek had a huge impact on me growing up.
I wasn’t born quite yet when it was first released but my Dad saw it and told me of the Fouke Monster and it’s terrorizing southwestern Arkansas a few years later.
He always seemed to talk about the scariest parts when we were in the woods.
I didn’t see it until I was about to be wheeled into surgery at Texas Children’s Hospital as it was playing on the local cable station in my room and it blew me away.
The idea of such a mysterious creature potentially living only a few hours away from my East Texas home made my world somehow seem bigger.
So, when I heard about the Ultra 4K 50th Anniversary Edition I was excited.
The restoration is brilliant.
I (like everyone else who loved the film) had various VHS and DVD copies that looked grainy and dark. Now, some of that added to the vibe but I am happy to report the vibe is still there but it looks radically better.
Watching it still feels like your’e traveling through the dim swamps but now with the surround sound it has become an immersive viewing experience.
And it’s the sounds that are probably the scariest things in the movie.
When the creature’s infamous growl sounds off as the little boy is running across the field in the beginning, the narrator speaks one of the best lines.
“I was seven years old when I first heard him scream…it scared me then, it scares me now.”
I was seven when I was first saw it and I must concur.
Director Charles B. Pierce was wise enough to keep the actual creature far enough away from the camera that we didn’t see many details and that still holds up although you can definitely notice a little more detail.
It’s still obscured enough that the viewer can project their own fears onto the shaggy beast. And that air of mystery is part of the genius. of the film.
Bonus tracks include a compilation of outtakes and a commentary by Beast of Boggy Creek and Boggy Creek Casebook author and researcher Lyle Blackburn. Lyle is a great storyteller and his commentary unlike many out there never gets in the way of the film but ads to it.
If you want to get a deeper appreciation of the film get Lyle’s books and turn on the commentary after you watch it the first time. You can get them here.
Although it’s legitimately scary, this is a G-rated film.
You can easily watch this with young children and yes they might have bad dreams but there is no intense violence, blood or sex to be concerned with which are a mainstay in horror.
No, Pierce created a truly iconic film with many of the people who experience the events depicted here, a small budget and a ton of talent.
The Legend of Boggy Creek along with seeing stills from the Patterson/Gimlin film in Argosy magazine made me a lifelong fan of the pursuit of mysterious animals as it did Lyle Blackburn and many others.
I’m happy to see it still holds up after all these years and truly stands out as the greatest film of its kind.
Whether or not there is something unusual roaming the swamps of southwestern Arkansas is up for debate.
But I dare you to watch this and then take a stroll out there after dark.
You can get your copy of the new release here.
Chester Moore
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