The Legend of Six Fingers

THE LEGEND OF SIX FINGERS is yet another found footage indie horror that directly copies THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. This time around, a couple of filmmakers decide to head into the local woods in search of a Bigfoot legend with six fingers. The usual gamut of boring interview footage opens the film, before it turns into an endless travelogue journey as some equally boring characters wander around, get lost, and are menaced by barely-glimpsed creations. The only thing you come away with from this is just how bad the acting is.

Earnest Neil (likable Andrew Elias) and his more easygoing partner Drew (the equally amiable Sam Qualiana) are a couple of aspiring documentary filmmakers who venture into the deep woods in search of a legendary Native American creature known as Six Fingers (Tim O'Hearn in a gnarly hairy suit). Naturally, the pair find more than they bargained for. Writer/director Qualiana keeps the absorbing story moving along at a steady pace, manages to create a fascinating intimacy through the artful use of the faux documentary format, delivers a flavorsome evocation of the rural setting, grounds the premise in a plausible everyday mundane reality, wrings plenty of natural tension from the fraught relationship between the radically contrasting protagonists, and pulls out all the stops in the harrowing last third that's capped off by an uncompromisingly grim ending. This film further benefits from a neat array of colorful secondary characters, with especially stand-out contributions from genre staples Debbie Rochon as the forlorn Melissa and Lynn Lowry as the folksy Ester. Best of all, this picture acquires an extra unsettling edge by presenting Six Fingers as a real sadistic piece of scary work who enjoys taunting and toying with his victims prior to finishing them off. A sturdy little item.