HOAX (2019)
Label: Epic Pictures/Dread
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 89 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Matt Allen
Cast: Adrienne Barbeau, Brian Thompson, Ben Browder, Cheryl Texiera, Shoshana Bush, Hutch Dano, Matt Reidy, Anthony Ray Parker, Christopher Soren Kelly, Ryan Lee, Max Decker, Brian Landis Folkins, Karen Slack, Shawn Rickel
Synopsis: An investigative team travels deep into the remote Colorado wilderness after a group of young campers are viciously murdered by what may be Bigfoot. While the highly specialized crew searches for evidence, they find themselves in a fight for survival against the legendary beast. What they encounter turns out to be more unexpected and dangerous than anything they could have ever imagined.
Hoax (2019) opens with that grandest of backwoods horror tropes, the campfire tale, with a group of college kids sitting around the campfire telling the tale of a killer Sasquatch said to roam the nearby forests. There's a goofy scare perpetrated by one of the group before they retire into their tents for some night-time fornication, only to be interrupted by what seems to be a hairy beast ripping open their tents and killing them.
Weeks later a down-on-his-luck reality TV show producer named Rick Paxton (Ben Browder, Farscape) pitches an idea for a reality show exploring the Bigfoot myth following the unsolved massacre of those teens in the Colorado wilderness. He sets up a research team, comprised of ex-military (Brian Thompson, Cobra), primate scientists (Cheryl Texiera), cryptozoologist (Schuyler Denham), vapid reality TV show host (Shoshana Bush), plus the father of a missing girl (Max Decker) and Paxton's cameraman Justin (Hutch Dano, of Zombeavers, and grandson of Royal Dano!).
The crew head into the Colorado wilderness and it soon becomes clear that producer Paxton is a scumbag who will do anything to revive his ailing career, while the possibility of a real Bigfoot presents itself, along with other more backwoods-type threats which present themselves toward the end of the film with a twist that turns back around on itself, with the film dipping it's toes into the realm of cannibalism with some fun, pan-frying torture scenes.
i thought the film is a fun indie Bigfoot adventure, while it sort of lays it's cards on the table with the title, it also manages to subvert some of those expectation with it's genre-mixing and a final stinger that turns the initial twist on it's head. A really good Bigfoot film is about as elusive as the Sasquatch itself these days, but this one has something to offer that I think goes above the usual indie Bigfoot fare, though it's not exactly perfection in a hair-suit either.
It's a bit long-winded in the middle after an opening that has a lot of what I want from a horror flick, that being horny teens, hairy beasts, carnage, but then it settles into reality TV crew venturing into the woods with in-fighting among the annoying characters - which is all of them, before settling into the proper backwoods horror with a twist.
The bloodshed seen here is a bit of a letdown for me, I wanted way more ferocious Bigfoot carnage, and on that level it is a bit disappointing, but I was a huge fan of Brian Thompson as the military vet who joins the group as a security detail, he's hilarious and by far the best part of the film for me.
That director Matt Allen was able to get Alan Howarth to do the score is pretty cool, the composer provides a moody and atmospheric score, plus his participation pulled in actress Adrienne Barbeau (The Fog) who appears in a very small cameo, a cameo with numerous references to her previous horror films. The film is heavy with nods to horror classics, which is not always a move that agrees with me, but I found the references here to be quite bit of fun. We even get a Sasquatch-suit designed by FX artist William Munns, who worked on Swamp Thing (1982) with Adrienne Barbeau, and it looks pretty good, though it's seen mostly in fleeting glimpses, which is probably for the best.
Audio/Video: Hoax (2019) arrives on Blu-ray from Epic Pictures/Dread framed in 2.35:1 widescreen in 1080p HD. The image generally looks good, the exterior shots in bright daylight looks wonderful and crisp, the greenery of the outdoors and mountainous areas are very pleasing, though some of the darker shots suffer a bit with compression and loss of fine detail in the shadows, but overall I found it a rather attractive looking indie feature.
Audio comes by way of en English Dolby Digital 5.1 mix which sounds good, but I am surprised we do not get a lossless audio option, especially considering we get a score from Alan Howarth (Christine). That said, the mix does have it's share of favorable atmospherics, dialogue is crisp and the minimalist synth score sounds terrific, optional English subtitles are provided.
The single-disc release arrives in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, the a-side being a riff on the iconic Friday the 13th (1980) silhouette movie poster.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Director of Photography and Co-Writer, Scott Park, Production Designer, Chris Canfield, Director and Co-Writer, Matt Allen
- Audio Commentary with Cast Members, Ben Browder and Cheryl Texiera
Featurettes:
- Hoax Overview (7 min) HD
- Bigfoot (11 min) HD
- Cheryl Texiera (3 min) HD
- Ben Browder (3 min) HD
- Brian Thompson (6 min) HD
- Shoshana Bush (5 min) HD
- Hutch Dano (2 min) HD
- Max Decker (3 min) HD
- Made in Colorado (11 min) HD
- Adrienne Barbeau (3 min) HD
- Hoax Composer Alan Howarth (6 min) HD
- Hoax Trailer #1 (1 min) HD
- Hoax Trailer #2 (1 min) HD
Hoax (2019) is a fun hybrid Bigfoot film, it suffers a bit because the tone is uneven, but it largely succeeds in doing the usual Sasquatch things with a bit of an interesting twist. It's also dampened by the fact that the Bigfoot carnage takes a bit to get going after an initially strong opening, but it finishes strong with some cannibal clan weirdness and a stinger that is a bit of u-turn. A definite recommend for connoisseurs
of Bigfoot-cinema, for all others it might be an acquired taste, but I dug it.
