The Sighting

source: Travis

Saw 'The Sighting' being fond of horror/thriller regardless of budget (even if not my favourite genre) and being intrigued somewhat by the idea. Despite there being a lot of bad Bigfoot/Sasquatch films, examples of the worst being from SyFy, it is always interesting to have a film involving them and there are the odd entertaining ones too. 'The Sighting' is yet another example of how not to do it and is an awful film on its own. There are definitely far worse Bigfoot/Sasquatch films, but that is hardly an endorsement and the film lives up to its taglines and not in a good way at all. Everything that makes the worst Bigfoot/Sasquatch films bad is present here, appreciate its attempts at bringing a more psychological element to the story but very little is done with it and certainly not in a way that is illuminating or interesting. Adam Pitman fares the least badly. Not just in the otherwise terrible acting (Kent Harper is dull and histrionic and David Blair overdoes it to annoyance, much of it is badly over-acted) but he is also the best thing about the film. It's a poor looking film, especially in the excessively nausea-inducing camera work that gives amateurishness a bad thing. The obvious, cheap and badly balanced sound editing really cheapens the mood. The titular creature is utilised poorly, with repetitive, tension-free and borderline cheesy attacks in far too infrequent and brief appearances, as well as the terribly goofy look. Nothing to fear here. Dialogue is stilted and cheesy, with far too many misplaced jokes that misfire catastrophically, and the story is dull, predictable, dumb and devoid of any kind of sense or logic let alone tension or suspense. Characters are both underdeveloped and annoying stereotypes, with stupid character behaviours. The actors struggle with little to do, the direction is pedestrian and it's all tension and fun free with nothing new or interesting to say. The ending is a non-event and the film even throws in gratuitous nudity at hardly appropriate times. Overall, unbelievably awful and best left unseen. 1/10 Bethany Cox

The film is a psychological thriller that will have you wondering but will be answered IF you watch and listen to the end credits... don't turn it off until the end credits are finished rolling for the final answer to what happened. The film is has a question mark over it during viewing: Are there really Sasquatch or has Travis just lost his mind and murdered his friends? Not a bad film at all - I did enjoy watching it until the very end. If you like films about the Sasquatch then you might like this one. BTW, please don't upset the professor by calling it Bigfoot. lol ;) 7/10

I saw this originally at a festival in 2008 and had been searching for years, I'm so thrilled to have found it on amazon prime albeit under a different title. The Paper Dolls that I remembered was still just as good under the title Black Forest, a refreshing take on the theory of Sasquatch with some really well developed plot twists and red herrings. For a low budget film this should worry Hollywood, thouroghly enjoyed this and highly recommend.

The Sighting is about Bigfoot attacks in the Montana woods. In this story, there is a tribe of Bigfoots rather than one. Two guys are trying to cross the border at night when they first see them. Some exposition is piped in and the attacks continue for several more scenes. The main character survives and the police suspect that he faked the attacks and killed the other people he was with. It seems like it's heading towards one of those endings where everything we were seeing was the delusions of the murderer, killing without realizing it. However, they give an open-ended finish in which the main character sets up a camera and waits by the woods. The idea is that he's so distraught that people don't believe him that he's willing to die to prove the creatures are real. That's actually a more clever ending than anyone would expect from everything that came before. It seemed like everything would be complete clichés and reused tropes. They actually go so far as to throw in a visual homage to the Psycho shower scene, replicating some the quick-cut shots. As far as the acting, I didn't think it was bad so much as strange. People spoke with such unusual timing and cadence that something just felt off. Overall, I would say this is one to skip. Not goofy enough to be enjoyed for its ineptitude, and no clear shots of the creatures, who look like dudes with strips of fur hanging off of them.

I think I may have seen most of the Sasquatch/Bigfoot horrors ever made- I've even ordered the most obscure titles in search of more. They are almost uniformly terrible, but I don't regret watching a single one of them. I place "Travis (aka The Sighting)" in the middle of the pack in terms of a specialized "Sasquatch rating system." It's nowhere near as good as Willow Creek, Exists, or any Sasquatch film starring the great Lance Henriksen (and there are several). But it's much, much better than the lower end of the Sasquatch spectrum. The first half of "Travis" is appealing, largely because of the good acting by Nathaniel Peterson, who plays the protagonist's best friend and road trip buddy. I enjoyed this film quite a bit up until the first sighting- the special effects are poor, but that's to be expected in a low budget outing. The second half of the film suffers from poor acting in the "scientist scenes," although a novel and interesting theory of the Sasquatch is offered. Sasquatch maniacs may enjoy this film- I did- but I doubt anyone else would.

Canada's a terrifying place. From poutine to ketchup flavored potato chips the country's a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Case in point, the basement-dwelling gas station attendants who lure unsuspecting road-trippers into taking quasi-legal border crossing routes in hopes of getting them accosted by..... Oh, wait. That guy was American. Whatever. Stay out of Canada, man. Because Bigfoots. Bigfeet? Sasquatches. Sasquatchi? C'mon, you know what I mean! Canada kills. Yes, this is a low budget movie. The acting is sub-par, the story requires a healthy dose of Suspension of Disbelief and/or plain ol' Just Roll With It, and the "special effects" consist of carpet suits and Karo syrup, but this one's got something special. Admittedly, I was thoroughly irritated with the leading man right from the start. "To all that's holy in Canada, please let Bigfoot eat him first," I prayed. But he grows on ya. I suspect he may have Micheal Ironside Disease. It only works if he's a bad guy? In any case, just suck it up and pretend he's Rutger Hauer or something. I'm not going to lie. The majority of this film is laughable. They spend 15 minutes before the credits roll setting up stuff that the rest of the film barely acknowledges. I mean, it tries. But it's like one of the writers' little brothers wanted to play, too, so their Big Bro said "You've got 15 minutes, go for it." BUT (and that's a big but), don't let the low rating and terrible reviews scare you off. This film (and I still use the term lightly) has the potential to grow beyond itself. I'm legitimately shocked that nobody's referenced the wonderful Psycho shower scene homage. Not to mention the clever, split-screen 911 scene -- just to name a couple highlights. And of course the flip from creature feature to psychological thriller and back! Yes. Absolutely. This is a terrible movie. You'll probably hate the main character and you'll probably wonder where everyone else went. That being said, though, grab a few beers, sit down with your B-Movie Crüe, and watch it. You won't be sorry.

I didn't even make it five minutes into the movie. I should have read the reviews before renting it. If you are the type of person who does not like the home movie effect, or found footage style movie, then this movie is a waist of your time. It really isn't even a class B movie. It is more like a class fail, that is why there was only one copy for rent at Family Video. It looks like 5th graders put it together. If 5th graders had actually directed and edited this movie, I could have given it 4 stars for effort. I would not recommend this movie to anyone. If you try watching, "The Sighting" don't hope for much. This movie was a desperate attempt that failed.

Alright, so yes this is another "B" grade horror flick. Yes the scripting could have been better, yes there's over acting, yes it might look a little like someone rubbed onion juice in the lead actors eyes. And yes, the monsters do look somewhat like extras dressed up in beige off cuts, from the local carpet factory. That said, if you can put these perceived shortcomings aside, this is not a bad little "B"igfoot horror flick. The acting from the lead actor, if you can put the teary eyed thing aside, is actually pretty good. He hands in an above average performance, as in fact, do most of the cast. The scripting is patchy but there's enough creativity on offer here, to make this flick quite watchable. Some of the jokes are pretty darn good too. Where this film really shines though, is it does manage to pull off some reasonable scares. Its not terrifying but in the opening and closing scenes its actually does give you goose bumps and raise a few hairs on the back of the neck. There's a couple of good jump scares on offer too. So once again little B-movie-ville manages to do better than its Hollyweed, oops I mean Hollywood, counterparts. Well done guys. I hope you make a sequel! Seven out of ten from me.

Not going to lie, I enjoyed this. I actually liked the concept of 2 guys getting lost, and stumble upon something grave, and dangerous that is hidden. It is handled VERY well imo. Nothing too terrible. It isn't a SCARY horror. It made me care about the main character(s) a lot, which was well done. There wasn't any real jump scares but the concepts were well done well . Sure their is SOME bad acting, but it is a well made small budget movie that is never boring. Solid 8 1/2 out of 10 from me.