Hoax (2019) | Film Review

Creature features are fun. Whether giant animals, aliens, or kaiju (Oh, my!), they are inherent in these films, tapping into our childhood fears founded when the world used to be a much bigger place. Given that we still possess the ability to suspend disbelief and dive headfirst into a world where a giant shark is looking for revenge, or the Loch Ness monster is out there and ready to take us down to her cold dwelling of death, how terrified we find ourselves is up to the storytellers. Have they given us a group of protagonists that we can cheer for? Have they strung this story together deftly, and just as importantly did they play within the scope of their creature’s ability? It is easy to make a monster movie right, but how does a movie like Hoax fair when the monster at the center of it is a Bigfoot?

We open on a scene well known to horror aficionados, the center of the shot a big roaring campfire surrounded by tents and beautiful ingenues being leered at by their prospective mates. Dead center of the scene is a slightly woodsier young woman telling a scary story with the lighting hitting her face just right. Suddenly, some clod of a man stumbles into the scene providing the first jump scare of the story. When the laughter dies down, everyone breaks off to their separate tents and then it is your basic set up for a slasher film (here’s a hint, there is a lot of epididymis showing). Everything soon breaks out into mayhem and then BOOM: opening credits.

The opening credits are used in this case as part of the storytelling device. Television news crew after news crew speculating on the night’s events and the “What could have happened…” of it all. It seems to be designed as an illustration of how media attention on this sort of mystery can catch like wildfire. Rick Paxton (Ben Browder) is a down on his luck television producer looking for that big score, and he somehow talks his way into funding for a reality show about hunting Bigfoot.

Rick assembles a crack team comprised of; primatologist Dr. Ellen Freese (Cheryl Texiera), crypto-zoologist Peter Moore (Schuyler Denham), aspiring television reporter Bridgette Powers (Shoshana Bush), cameraman Justin Johnson (Hutch Dano), Paxton’s assistant Danny Kent ( Brian Landis Folkins), head of security John Singer (Brian Thompson) , and finally a tracker, Cooper Barnes (Max Decker). This softball team of a cast must learn to work together and trust each other if they are going to survive the week they are spending searching for Bigfoot.

The story in Hoax has some boilerplate elements to it. But that’s not a bad thing, a solid foundation is a great way to build. Character development seems to come up a little short though. It is not for a lack of trying, mind you, it just doesn’t seem to click. The primatologist is there to get funding for her center. The tracker is there to find clues about his daughter’s disappearance (she was one of the kids lost at the beginning of the story). Paxton is here to make this production work at any cost. They all make sense, but what the story doesn’t do is create enough of a reason to want to see them succeed. The characters aren’t given enough time before it all starts to go wrong, and frankly, it’s a good thing to see some of these characters go.

They do have a surprise built into the story, where director Matt Allen effectively convinces us of several odd occurrences going on in the background. Writers Allen and Scott Park even effectively built narrative points that make the viewer distrust events or motivations behind these events. Overall the story has very good elements and the ideas are definitely present that would make for a great creature flick, they seemed to be just off-center of the bullseye, and eventually those misdirected concepts add up.

I have to confess something; Ben Browder could make me watch just about anything. He first caught my attention on Farscape playing John Crichton, and I was happy to see him show up on my other favorite show Stargate SG1 as Cameron Mitchell, but then he fell off my radar. I was thrilled to see him here as Rick Paxton in all of his scene-chewing mastery. He is the story’s heel, executing his role with ease by hitting every mark skillfully and enjoyably.

Brian Thompson, who has shown up in more movies and television shows than my word count can take, as John Singer seems to know exactly what’s going with the actual movie itself. Thompson is trying his best but it’s hard to not see he knows what he is working with. Max Decker’s portrayal of Cooper Barnes seems to come to life whenever he isn’t wearing a hat, which is only for two or three scenes. Speaking of acting through a hat, Hutch Dano seems to improve depending on which direction the hat’s bill is pointed. The cast has some great actors who do shine; however, more screen time is given to those who require a bit more seasoning.

Hoax takes place in the wilderness of Colorado, an amazing backdrop to work with. The team in charge of collecting B-roll knew what they were doing. Picturesque scrolling shots of mountains, woods, and lakes were breathtaking. Then the principle team forgot all about it. The shots were rudimentary and uninspired, drawing more attention to the disparity of filming styles. The editing was atrocious, they never really knew when to leave or enter a scene, and it was clear moments were cut into scenes later as a way to make sure the viewer understood what was going on. This approach was nonsensical, honestly, and made it more difficult to accept the storytelling before us.

Hoax is a creature feature with all the earmarks of possible greatness. Elements in storytelling, cast, and execution were so very near to bullseye. However, there are simply too many elements that don’t even make it on the target.