Hoax: Bigfoot, Bad TV, and an Even Worse Movie
There’s a special corner of horror hell reserved for movies that manage to waste both a fun premise and Bigfoot. Hoax(a.k.a. Bigfoot if you want the spoiler right in the title) is one of those: a 2019 creature feature that desperately wants to be an 80s throwback splatterfest, a media satire, and a Sasquatch shocker all at once—and ends up feeling like a Syfy Original that got lost on the way to 2 a.m. cable. Wikipedia+1
It’s technically the feature debut of writer-director Matt Allen, which is kind of fitting, because the movie itself feels like a rough draft someone accidentally exported as “final.” KILLER HORROR CRITIC+1
The Premise: Bigfoot, But Make It Content
On paper, the setup actually sounds great: a group of college campers are massacred in the wilderness, one survivor goes missing, and a sleazy TV producer, Rick Paxton, decides to turn this tragedy into a Bigfoot-centric reality show. He drags a mismatched crew into the woods—primate specialist Dr. Ellen, vlogger Brigette, crusty security guy Singer, a sasquatch “expert,” a pilot, a grieving father, a cameraman, and his assistant—to chase clout and maybe a monster. Wikipedia+1
That’s a decent hook: Bigfoot meets Network by way of The Blair Witch Project. You could skewer exploitative media, build tension, and then unleash glorious creature chaos. Instead, Hoax plays like a very long cold open to a better movie that never shows up.
Reality Show from the Dollar Store
Ben Browder’s Rick Paxton is an opportunistic bottom-feeder whose moral compass was clearly left back at the craft services table. That part works; he’s the kind of guy who would monetize a funeral if the wifi signal was strong enough. But the script keeps mistaking “unlikable” for “interesting.” His big character arc is:
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Be sleazy.
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Make terrible decisions.
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Get people killed.
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Completely lose it and start shooting his own crew.
That’s not an arc; that’s LinkedIn for sociopaths.
The rest of the team is a buffet of types:
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Dr. Ellen Freese (Cheryl Texiera), the primate specialist who radiates “I have student loans” energy as the only remotely sane person there.
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Brigette, the social media vlogger, whose main function is to complain, panic, and then get doused in pheromones like a human chew toy.
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John Singer (Brian Thompson), the security muscle who is so clearly doomed he might as well be named “Exposition Bait.”
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Justin the cameraman, Danny the assistant, Cooper the grieving dad—each introduced with just enough personality that you feel a faint twinge of “oh, right, that guy” when they die. Wikipedia+2Horror News | HNN+2
The film thinks it’s doing an ensemble 80s-style “everybody’s fodder” thing. In practice, it’s more like a roll call for people you’ll forget existed the second they exit frame, usually in chunks.
Bigfoot, Bait-and-Switch, and Backwoods Cannibals
Here’s where Hoax steps on its own very large feet: it can’t decide what movie it wants to be. You sign up for Bigfoot carnage. You get a little of that—some off-screen mauling here, a bloody paw print there, the occasional hulking shape in the trees. Wikipedia
But then, halfway through, the film swerves into “surprise, it was actually people!” territory with the Beauchamp family: Charlotte and her two deranged sons, Luc and Gage, who’ve been posing as monsters and butchering hikers for fun and snacks. They’re cannibalistic serial killers with a rustic murder cabin, complete with hanging intestines, bear traps, and a long-dead corpse Gage slow-dances with like it’s prom night at Ed Gein High.
On its own, this could be a wild twist—if you hadn’t already seen a million “backwoods cannibal clan” movies and if Hoax didn’t still kind of want to be a Bigfoot flick. So it tries to do both: the human monsters and the real Sasquatch. The result is like mixing two half-finished movies together in a blender and hitting “meh.”
Yes, there is a “real” Bigfoot in the finale. Yes, it finally shows up to maul Rick. By that point, though, it’s less “Oh my God, Bigfoot!” and more “Oh right, you were supposed to be in this.”
Gore, Guts, and Absolutely No Shame
To its credit, Hoax does not hold back on the violence. People are clawed open, flayed, gutted, shot, bashed, torn, and generally reduced to meat with real enthusiasm. Charlotte slowly skinning Cooper while explaining her family’s murder traditions is deeply unpleasant in a way that suggests someone on set had too much fun designing that scene. Wikipedia+2Horror News | HNN+2
The problem isn’t the gore itself—it’s that it’s doing all the emotional heavy lifting. You’re not scared; you’re just waiting to see what body part gets shredded next. It’s like watching a very committed effects reel held together with the loose suggestion of a plot.
By the time Dr. Ellen is beating Gage to death with a frying pan and running over Luc with a car, you’ve left “horror” and wandered into “grim slapstick.” Then the film tries to claw back some sincerity with a 911 call and a last-minute survival struggle, but it’s too late. We’re already in exploitation cartoon territory.
Characters: Now with 30% More Bad Decisions
The script has a special hatred for logic. People wander off alone after gruesome deaths, ignore obvious danger signs, and generally treat “serial-killer Bigfoot woods” like a mildly inconvenient Airbnb.
Rick secretly coating Brigette’s coat with pheromones so the creature will attack her on camera is such a cartoonishly evil move that you expect him to twist an invisible mustache. When he later panics, grabs his bag (also soaked in pheromones), and accidentally paints himself as walking bait, you almost admire the karmic symmetry. Almost.
Ellen, ostensibly the smart one, still does the old “run into the creepy cabin for help” move. Justin steps in a bear trap. Singer goes off hunting monsters at night because… reasons. Cooper manages to get captured, skinned, and stabbed in front of his missing daughter’s corpse, because this script has absolutely no time for your emotional well-being.
It’s not that horror characters need to be geniuses; they just shouldn’t all behave like they’re competing for a Darwin Award.
Style, Tone, and the 80s That Weren’t
Several reviewers have noted that Hoax wants to be a love letter to 80s horror: big casts, big kills, big creature, bigger stupidity. KILLER HORROR CRITIC+1 And you can see that intention—right down to the synth-adjacent score from genre veteran Alan Howarth. Wikipedia+1
But where the best 80s slashers and creature features had personality—sleazy charm, outrageous villains, quotable lines—Hoax mostly has length. At 96 minutes, it feels every bit like a first-time filmmaker trying to cram in all his favorite tropes, with no one around to say, “Maybe pick one climax and commit to it.”
The tonal whiplash is real. One minute you’re in found-footage-adjacent reality TV hell, the next you’re in cannibal family torture porn, then finally a Bigfoot boss fight. The movie is like a horror sampler platter where everything was fried in the same sad oil.
Performances: Better Than This Movie Deserves
The cast honestly isn’t the problem.
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Cheryl Texiera does her best Final Girl impression as Ellen, selling panic and toughness in equal measure.
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Ben Browder leans into Rick’s sleazebag producer vibes with gusto—you absolutely believe this man has pitched at least three shows involving infidelity and night-vision cameras.
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Veteran genre faces like Brian Thompson and Adrienne Barbeau show up and instantly give the film more credibility than it earns anywhere else. Horror News | HNN+2PopHorror+2
If anything, the decent acting makes the messy script stand out more. You keep seeing glimpses of the sharper, meaner movie this could’ve been if anyone had trimmed the fat (and maybe half the Beauchamp scenes).
Final Verdict: A Hoax on the Audience
Hoax is the kind of movie that Bigfoot skeptics can point to and say, “See? Nothing good ever comes from believing.” It squanders a juicy premise, underuses its titular creature, and then tries to make up for it by dumping a truckload of gore and torture on the viewer like that’s the same thing as tension.
Some critics found it watchable but flawed; others called it one of the weaker Bigfoot entries out there, which, given the state of the Bigfoot subgenre, is an achievement in itself. CULTURE CRYPT+2Ready Steady Cut+2
If you absolutely must see every Bigfoot movie ever made, sure, add Hoax to your cryptid homework. For everyone else, here’s the real survival tip: if you hear there’s a reality TV crew, a cannibal family, and Bigfoot all in one movie, turn around. It’s probably a trap.
