BIGFOOT VS D.B COOPER (2014) directed by David DeCoteau

As a child of the 1970s, tales of Bigfoot and the search for D.B. Cooper were among my earliest pop culture memories, sparking lifelong interests in cryptozoology, urban legends and true crime tales. So, it would be only natural for me to zero in on the awesome-sounding BIGFOOT VS. D.B. COOPER while trawling for a quick watch while I made dinner. Plus, Eric Roberts!!

Set on the day before Thanksgiving in November of 1971, BIGFOOT VS... relates the tale of Bernie (Jordan Rodriguez), a young hunter who heads off into the woods to bag some turkeys for the family holiday feast. It must have been a hot November day as Bernie, decked out in shorts and little else, hikes through the Pacific Northwest, his chiseled features and tight abs glistening in the late autumn sun.

And he hikes... and hikes... and glistens... and hikes. As a hairy figure shadows his movements through the woods, Bernie eventually arrives at a "hunting lodge" he assumes will be abandoned, only to encounter a half-dozen or so shirtless dudes sitting around hoisting beers, toasting one pal's impending marriage. (Right.) And cue the "Directed by David DeCoteau" credit as Bernie gets invited in for a beer before they all head off for some shirtless turkey hunting.

It's at this point that you are more than welcome to fast forward through the next 45 minutes as the shirtless, shorts-clad dudes go to their respective rooms (complete with the flat screen TVs that were so popular in 1971), strip down to their boxer briefs and pose in front of the mirror with their guns, both the bicep and bang-bang variety.

Remembering that the name "D.B. Cooper" is in the title, DeCoteau occasionally weaves in details from Cooper's true tale of airline piracy, complete with the note to the stewardess (voiced by Linnea Quigley), a briefcase bomb and even the pilot informing the hijacker that the route from Seattle-Tacoma Airport toward Mexico City would require an additional fueling stop. (In other words, somebody read the Wikipedia page.) Alas, these dramatic retellings are but brief moments of exposition between more showering, hiking and talk of 'Nam from our barely-clad bachelors who appear to have traveled back in time from 2014 thanks to the "who gives a f**k?" attempts at wardrobe and, well, pretty much everything.

Eventually, our titular characters do collide, with DeCoteau and screenwriter Harvey Shaiman providing a wonderfully hysterical solution to both the riddle of Bigfoot and the mystery surrounding the disappearance of DB Cooper. If you like your exploitation flicks light on blood but heavy on boxer-clad hunks toting around rifles and doing sit-ups, well, head to Amazon posthaste. Personally, I demand a Jim Wynorski-lensed remake entitled HOT TUB BIGFOOT VS DOUBLE-D BEA COOPER.

As for the top-billed Roberts, his role is limited to narrating the tale as "Older Bernie", which I can only assume was done during catering breaks while filming DeCoteau's vastly superior MAGIC PUPPY (2012) aka THE GREAT HALLOWEEN PUPPY ADVENTURE. – Dan Taylor

Dan Taylor is the editor/publisher of Exploitation Retrospect: The Journal of Junk Culture and Fringe Media. Check out our 130-page 30th Anniversary Issue featuring horror anthologies, mens action novels, video store oddity THE JAR and much more. Available at Amazon, CreateSpace, ebay and the ER website.

BIGFOOT VS DB COOPER is available from Amazon.

31 DAYS OF FRIGHT: Childhood Trauma and Potato Sack Headgear

A week or two ago I discovered Kindertrauma.com, a horror blog with a unique perspective – contributors weigh in on the stuff that scared the crap out of them when they were kids. It's fascinating to read what scared or freaked people out and it really makes you wonder why we gravitate towards the genre when it clearly was the stuff of nightmares during our formative years.

I'm no different. My mother still tells the story about how I was freaked out by my brothers watching THE NUTTY PROFESSOR and I ran from the house, but I think that has more to do with the fact that Jerry Lewis is scary, no matter how old I get!

Frankly, the most terrifying film from my childhood was something I didn't see until more than a dozen years after its release.

In 1977 American International released THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN, a fact-based drama about a hooded killer stalking lover's lane in Texarcana, Arkansas. Much to my dismay, the flick's ad campaign hammered home the fact that the killer was never caught and the posters and ads depicting a gun-toting madman prowling the streets wearing a potato sack over his head caused more than a few restless nights.

While time lessened a bit of the film's impact – and the fact that a post-World War II killer was probably not as spry in the early 1990s when I finally worked up the guts to rent the flick – SUNDOWN remains a vital bridge between the thriller-oriented flicks of the early 70s and the slasher genre that would explode a few years later with the success of HALLOWEEN and FRIDAY THE 13TH. (Jason even sports eerily similar potato sack headgear in FRIDAY THE 13: PART 2.)

The film takes place eight months after the end of WWII and details the events surrounding the unsolved case. After two attacks, the first of which is rendered in surprisingly vicious fashion by director Charles B. Pierce (who also helmed the BOGGY CREEK films), local police turn to the most famous Ranger in Texas history, J.D. "The Lone Wolf" Morales (played by legendary character actor Ben Johnson). While Morales pledges to either capture or kill "The Phantom" (as the local media dubs him), even he admits that the odds are stacked against the cops nabbing the sadistic killer.

More attacks follow, including the bizarre use of a trombone as a murder weapon and an assault on Mary Anne from GILLIGAN'S ISLAND (Dawn Wells), and then the killer disappears into the woods, never to be brought to justice.

Despite the fact that I knew the killer had never been caught (probably the most troubling aspect of the film's campaign all those years ago), I remember feeling let down by the non-ending. As a consumer of a dramatic medium, we almost demand a satisfactory conclusion to a story, but SUNDOWN avoids any tacked on wrap-up designed to make 10-year-olds sleep more soundly. The film never deviates from the fact-based nature of the tale. Narration informs us that the authorities involved with the case were haunted by it till their deaths and the script by Earl E. Smith never resorts to taking guesses at the killer's identity or playing analyst beyond the belief that The Phantom was "a sadist motivated by a strong sexual desire."

By keeping the film focused on the law enforcement officials and their quest to find The Phantom, SUNDOWN enhances the mystery and power of this killer. There are no scenes of him retreating to his lair to read porn or worship at a shrine devoted to his mother. No attempts at pretending to know more than was known about him three decades before the film was made.

The slasher genre would flip this idea on its head in the years to come, with law enforcement authorities largely filling the role as more bodies for Jason, Michael, Freddy and their ilk to slice and dice as they stalked more horny teens.

Supported by a solid, no nonsense script and an able cast (which also features trash film star Andrew Prine as one of the deputies), THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN is a underappreciated slice of pre-slasher horror/thriller cinema.

Sadly, SUNDOWN is not available on legit DVD and the VHS tapes that I avoided like the plague now go for $20+ on the collector's market.

DB Cooper Mystery Still Fascinates After 37 Years

I've always been fascinated by true crime tales and unsolved mysteries. Just ask my wife, who has had to endure more episodes of '48 Hours Mystery' than any woman should have to.

One of those unsolved tales that has always sparked my interest is the story of hijacker DB Cooper, whose daring airplane hijacking and escape (?) via parachute is the kind of tale you'd find unbelievable if it was made up for a movie.

Apparently, I'm not the only one who still thrills to tales of Cooper's hijacking and disappearance. The most popular story on CNN.com this morning is one about the possible discovery of the parachute Cooper used when he bailed from a plane bound for Mexico City. It has long been speculated that Cooper ditched somewhere near the Oregon border and died during the attempted getaway, but investigators have never located any remains and only a small amount of the ransom has ever turned up.

Stay tuned...