A highlight of the most recent "snowpocalypse" coverage (for me, at least) was the image of a local prankster wandering the streets of Somerville in a Yeti costume during the storm. You can read The Boston Yeti's Twitter feed here.
I don't know if The Boston Yeti is related to his Massachusetts neighbors, Winterbeast or Sasqua, but he bares more than a passing resemblance to some of our other favorite regional horror cryptids. See below.
Whether they came from the swamps of Florida, the pastoral forests of New England, or the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, regional horror filmmakers all had one thing in common: they liked making movies about Bigfoot. Next to the slasher subgenre, the Bigfoot/Yeti/Sasquatch film was one of the most trodden paths to regional horror immortality. In honor of the recent publication of Dave Coleman's The Bigfoot Filmography, we present a visual tribute to cryptid cinema.
In honor of the record snowfall here in the midwest, here is a selection of winter-themed regional horror film trailers:
First, from the wilds of Massachusetts and New Hampshire comes Winterbeast, filmed in 1986 and released on video in 1992 by Ohio-based Tempe Entertainment:
Next, coming at you from the snowy climes of upstate New York, the fevered imagination of the screenwriter of Invasion of the Blood Farmers (1972) and the warped cinematic sensibilities of pornographers Michael and Roberta Findlay, I present Shriek of the Mutilated (1974). In addition to a fluffy white yeti mauling college students, it has a funny song about bigfoot, a lengthy party sequence set to the song "Popcorn" by Hot Butter, and the best non-sequitor-death-by-electric-carving-knife sequence ever. Ever.
Finally, we have Bill Rebane's Wisconsin-set The Capture of Bigfoot (1979). Like almost every other entry in the short-lived but memorable sub-genre of albino bigfoot movies, this one features a ridiculous dance sequence. Ladies and gentlemen, feast your ears on the haunting strains of "Sensuous Tiger" by "The Friends."
I was sad to learn (via threads over at the AvManiacs and Classic Horror Film Board) of the passing of Ed Ragozzino, who directed one of the better regional Bigfoot docu-dramas, Sasquatch, the Legend of Bigfoot (1976). Rather than rehash what's already been posted elsewhere about the film and Ragozzino, I've collected some links that you can peruse on your own:
You can see CryptoMundo’s announcement here, and see the official obit in The Register-Guard here.
Dave Coleman interviewed Ragozzino about the film a few years ago, and you can see that article over at Bijou Café.
Ragozzino was also a prolific voice talent on radio and TV, and you can hear some samples at his Web page.
Sasquatch was written and produced by Bigfoot researcher and Eugene, Oregon, resident Ronald D. Olson, who four-walled the film (there was even a soundtrack released). I plan to post some more info on Olson in the future, but for now I’ve pasted a short news item about the film’s premiere below, along with the original intro.
From: The Bulletin, Bend County, Oregon, Feb. 2, 1976
Bend theater schedules four-day run for Bigfoot
“Sasquatch, the Legend of Bigfoot,” a movie which was filmed in the Todd Lake area southwest of Bend last summer, opens Wednesday evening for a four-day run at the Bend Tower theater.
The film’s plot involves a seven-man, modern-day expedition team and its search for the legendary Bigfoot in northern British Columbia. A real expedition much like the movie version is being planned this spring, according to Ron Olson, author of the screenplay and executive producer of the movie.
Sasquatch is an old Indian word for giant. The creature, also called Bigfoot, has been sighted by hundreds of person throughout the Northwest starting about 200 years ago.
Sasquatch has been described as gorilla-like. It reportedly walks upright, leaves huge footprints and is from seven to ten feet tall. It has been sighted in Central Oregon as well as in many other parts of the Northwest.
In 1942, for instance, a man and his wife who were visiting Todd Lake in late summer reported seeing a tall, upright figure running with giant strides across a meadow into the trees. The man reported the incident to the Sisters Ranger Station.
In the movie, Sasquatch will appear in the only film footage that has ever been taken of him-her. The footage, shot by Roger Patterson in Northern California in 1967, has been spliced into the film. It shows a hairy, heavy-set creature walking upright.
In addition to the Patterson footage, the film includes scenes of a human in Bigfoot makeup and costume.
North American Productions of Eugene made the movie at a cost of about $300,000 put up by 134 investors, primarily from Eugene.
The producer is John Fabian and the director is Ed Ragozzino, both of Eugene. Ragozzino is head of the theater department at Lane Community College, and “Sasquatch” is his first movie.
The Dead Next Door is a blog about regional or "backyard" horror and science fiction films made from the late 1950s to the earlyl 1990s (and beyond). These films were released during the peak years of independent film production, created by a motley crew of seasoned pros, gifted amateurs, and enthusiastic genre fans, along with dozens of eccentric dreamers -- doctors, lawyers, insurance salesmen, publishers, commercial filmmakers, TV production crews and moonlighting pornographers -- all looking for their big break or a fast buck or both.
