As un film de Bobcat Goldthwait, the former comedian co-star of Police Academy films turned cult auteur, Willow Creek is a mild disappointment, lacking as it does in the out-there wackitude of Shakes the Clown or the scrappy satirical vigour of World's Greatest Dad or God Bless America. But as a horror film using that now-tired device, "found footage" supposedly shot by the characters themselves,, it's quite passable. Alexie Gilmore and Bryce Johnson star as a semi-likable, semi-obnoxious hipster couple who venture into the woods of northern California to shoot a YouTube documentary about the legend of Bigfoot, aka Sasquatch. (Goldthwait has described the film as The Blair Squatch Project.) In town, they snark at the tacky Bigfoot merchandising and wryly interview the locals (played by real people), but once in the woods things get properly creepy. A 19-minute static shot that just holds on the couple's freaked-out faces deploys sound beautifully and also works as a meta-level reflection of the audience itself. What a shame the last few minutes are such a cop-out.

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