Freddy's 31 Days of Horror Day 6: Eduardo Sanchez's Exists

For a time period there was a resurgence of Bigfoot flicks, we had Bigfoot Wars and Willow Creek from comedian/horror aficionado Bobcat Goldwaith. I don't know what it was but there was just renewed interest and we got a bunch of hairy scares. The best one being brought to us by the man who gave us the Blair Witch Project and recently gave us a segment in VHS 2 from the perspective of a zombie during an outbreak, Eduardo Sanchez. He's made plenty of flicks but his most notable ones seem to be from the style he's mastered which is that of found footage.

966027_659731614057306_1423652922_oWe begin with a few cue cards with facts on Bigfoot in the US and fade to the antics of five friends on a road trip to a cabin in the woods as they record everything they do on all kinds of different cameras. It seems Matt and Todd are young BMX bikers who have enlisted the aid of Matt's brother Brian, who is a camera expert with all types of lenses and cameras to record their "extreme" stunts to make a hit compilation video for YouTube. They are accompanied by their girlfriends Dora and Elizabeth. As they're driving along being idiots and indulging in reckless abandon they hit something big and it runs off into the forest, like any good horror tale the reckless youth damages a life and vengeance is sought! As they reach their cabin in the woods, owned by the brother's Uncle Bob, the place seems abandoned and destroyed beyond repair. The story progresses and we find out that Uncle Bob left the cabin in ruins with orders for no one to ever go there again, orders which the brothers ignored. Recklessness harms nature, disobedience of elders wishes, this is a mixture for a horrific end for our heroes!

The characters within the film are not fleshed out that great and often come out as dumb jocks or dumb broads, however the stand out character is Brian the camera obsessed paranoid brother. If cabin in the woods has taught us anything it's that the paranoid stoner understands the situation better than anyone and Brian is no exception. Tokin' in the woods seeking the truth, he tries to the best of his abilities to capture these creatures on film or befriend them but to no avail, as they are angered by the groups actions. Matt as well gets some good scenes as he bikes off to get a signal through to the outside world and we get to see his point of view biking away from a Sasquatch barreling after him making an excellent chase sequence very reminiscent of Sanchez's VHS segment.

afm-existstop1Sanchez utilizes his plot point very well of why this group has so many cameras. Brian in an attempt to capture the creatures on film has set up cameras in the surrounding forest and strapped Go Pros to both he and his brothers bikes and heads all with varying lenses, this is set up in the beginning with a simple scene of Brian putting his different cameras together. Through the film we have three types of attacks for terror. We have a complete shadowy black view of the screen where we hear horrendous sounds and grunts with a shadow movement here and there for suspense. We have the day attacks where we see the creatures attacking through holes in the barricaded cabin, glimpses of them every so often with fur here and an arm there. Finally we have the straight attacks of the creatures barreling towards our protagonists in an all out chase which is pretty amazing to watch itself as the Sasquatches do not let up. The sound of cries permeate the forest in howling pain warning the group of the creatures anger. These elements give us the suspense the director is known for in the Blair Witch Project but also delivers a pay off with actual imagery of the creatures as the film progresses into a horrific action chase.

Exists-Eduardo-Sanchez-5This is a good amalgamation of Sanchez's styles he's used over the years to create a low budget yet effective and fun piece of horror. Not the best place for character development but if you want to sit back and just watch some terrifying and badass Bigfoot action this is the perfect flick for it! Not to mention Brian Steele plays Bigfoot! Samaeel from Hellboy and the Berserker Predator from Predators! This dude was made to be a Sasquatch killing kids in an Eduardo Sanchez movie! 25 Days til' Halloween Halloween! 25 days til' Halloween! Silver Shamrock!