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Boggy Creek II
(Swamp/Bigfoot/Myth) 7*******skulls
*Blood* *Not Violent* *No Strong Language* *No Nudity* *No Sexual Situations*
1983/Color/93 Min./Media Home Entertainment, Inc.
& Howco International Pictures & Heron Communications, Inc.
& Charles B. Pierce Pictures, Inc./Rated PG
Director...........Charles B. Pierce (Legend of Boggy Creek,The Evictors)
Screenplay.....Charles B. Pierce (The Town that Dreaded Sundown)
Music..............Frank McKelvey
Producer.... ...Charles B. Pierce (Grayeagle, The Norseman, Sacred Ground)
Creature Costumes by Bill Khopler
Dramatis Personae
Leslie Ann Walker.....Cindy Butler
Tim Thorton..............Chuck Pierce
Tanya........................Serene Hedin (Sacred Ground, Windwalker)
Old Man Crenshaw...Jimmy Clem
Dr. Lockhart..............Charles B. Pierce
Deputy Williams.......Rick (Rock) Hildreth
Otis Tucker................Don Atkins
Store Keeper............James Tennison
Oscar Culpotter........Charles Potter
Myrtle Culpotter........Pat Waggner
W.L. Slogan.............Charles Vanderburg
Boat Renter..............Mack Pierce
Critique: Charles B. Pierce heads back to Boggy Creek for another stab at Bigfoot hunting, only this time he's got a PC, a good Jeep, and a crew of reluctant anthropology students. Don't be afraid to show this one to children unless they are impatient. Not a heck of a lot happens in this amusingly bad sequel -search for Bigfoot outside of a lot of yakking by the painfully unscientific scientist, Dr. Lockhart. The stories the professor tells of the history of confrontations with the creature are alarmingly inconclusive. None of these tales even testifies to the siting of the creature, much less supports its existence. The tale of Oscar Culpotter who gets surprised in the outhouse is a truly bizarre scene which will thrill Blazing Saddles fans as will the sneak flatulence of Hermit Crenshaw. In the same vein, the scariest scene involves a rabid dog that appears from nowhere, but not the creature. The script is hilariously bad. The professor uses subject pronouns where objects are needed and the dialog is at times delightfully inconsistent, as is the technology used to track the monster--how does it work? After the seriousness of a Bigfoot documentary-style beginning, all this madness is twice as funny. Also amusing is the size of the team's rented outboard motor. Good thing they didn't have to save the guy on the jet-ski from the monster! He would have drowned before they got there. Director Pierce (Legend of Boggy Creek) pulls quadruple duty in this one (screenplay, producer, and star) which enlists his entire family, which may explain his delightfully tight-lipped performance. We would like to see Pierce direct still more Bigfoot movies, indeed, the film is well-directed as were his Indian movies! Listen for the variation on the Jaws theme in the swimming hole scene. This troubled film is truly worthy of its insanely bad predecessor.
Typically snappy lines: "He's known from time to time to have had a drinking problem" "The creature a d m i t s a foul odor."
Plot Summary: South of Texarkana, in the swamps and Cypress trees of Southern Arkansas, legend persists of a huge hairy creature over eight feet tall, weighing some 300 pounds. Experienced hunters and fishermen have reported sighting the creature and people want to know the truth. The monster gets a deer. Dr. Brian C. Lockhart, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arkansas, receives a call from the Miller County Sheriff's department, but the doctor is at the Arkansas vs. Tulsa football game. Microphone, sensors, computer, Jeep, and other gear are organized and the Dr. and his crew, freshman Tim Thorne, star student Tanya Yahti, and her uncooperative friend Leslie Ann Walker leave the hills of Northern Arkansas for the swamps of the Southwest. They stop for a case of 30-30 shells, and the locals, apparently unaware of the immanent danger, heckle them when the Professor mentions the purpose of the trip. The first research stop is Slogan's farm where the creature was sighted in the barn (Fall 1964), which Slogan, for fear skeptics would laugh, didn't report until years later when his brother saw it in the woods. When the team passes the Sulfur River, they find a decapitated deer on the roadside and surmise that the creature can't be far. The professor hypothesizes that high water drives it out of the swamp and there's been a lot of rain this year. While investigating the abandoned farm, the party is set upon by a rabid Doberman which nearly gets Doc before Tim shoots it dead. The crew sets up the microphone, sensors, and computer. While running a test, the monitor shows "something" moving towards Tanya. When it registers at over 350 pounds, Doc runs out to help but the creature leaves. That night the monitor shows that the creature is circling the camp and suddenly they lose power. Doc loads a tranquilizer dart into his rifle and gets a dart in the creature's chest, but the monster pulls it out and flees. The next day Doc meets with deputy Williams who was recently attacked by a pair of monsters that wanted his stringer of fish. Williams also tells Doc to interview Old Man Crenshaw, who's lived on the creek all his life. Crenshaw reports that the creature is an incredible runner and a great swimmer. While the men go on their daily search for the monster, the women mutiny, steal the jeep, and get lost and stuck in a swamp. As night falls, the women struggle to winch the truck out of the muck and the stranded men are grumbling when the women are suddenly chased from the Jeep by the monster and return to camp safely. It becomes apparent that bringing Leslie along was a mistake as her constant whining is demoralizing the crew. The team rents a boat with a tiny outboard motor and heads for hermit Crenshaw's cabin. After a none too productive interview, the gigantic, flatulent, swamp rat Crenshaw advises them not to head back tonight, for an electrical storm is coming. As Crenshaw burns the brush around his house, Doc suspects that he is hiding something. Crenshaw privately shows Doc a baby creature he caught in a trap several days ago. Although Doc wants to get a physician immediately, the worsening storm makes this impossible. Crenshaw struggles desperately to keep his fires burning in order to scare away the adult creature. When the storm extinguishes the fires, it isn't long before the creature busts in the door in search of the smaller one. Despite Crenshaw's veto, Doc hands the injured creature to the raging intruder, and the creatures retreat.
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