I’m not really sure what your typical Bigfoot movie is, but if it’s anything like Harry and the Hendersons, I’m more down with that. Jay Delaney’s documentary Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie is little more than a tease of interest and an unsatisfying bore. It exists somewhere between your usual making fun of dumb, small-town folks kind of doc and your below-average sort of personal-interest, anybody and their mother can be a subject kind of doc. A few decent moments offer some promise, but the 62-minute film is just too terribly short to deliver the goods.

The focus is on Dallas Gilbert and Wayne Burton, two good old buddies (stress on the old and buddies) from Appalachian Ohio who seek and document Bigfoot in their spare time. Surprisingly these “researchers” are not out to locate the impossible find; their goal is not the elusive Loch Ness Monster. It’s the apparently very conspicuous Bigfoot. Dallas and Wayne have seen many Bigfoot creatures, at most 6 in a day. They’ve taken approximately 150 photos of the beasts, and claim they’re everywhere. Even “Vietnam got a Bigfoot.”

…Read more

Judging by its trailer alone, Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie seems to approach its mythic subject from an angle that sounds, well, atypical. A documentary portrait of Bigfoot hunters in Applachian Ohio, the doc ties the pursuit of these probably fictional creatures to the area’s decaying economy and a shared desire to transcend the everyday. You can watch that trailer above; director Jay Delaney answers the 4 Questions We’re Asking Everybody below.

Tell us about your movie. Who did you work with, why did you make it? Give us the reductive, 25-word or less, “It’s like [pop culture reference a] meets [pop culture reference b]!” pitch, then explain what the quick and dirty sell leaves out.
It’s like American Movie meets Grizzly Man! As the title hints, it’s about more than just Bigfoot. Through the experiences of two amateur Bigfoot researchers in southern Ohio, Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie provides a look at how the power of a dream can bring two men together and provide a source of hope and meaning that transcend the harsh realities of life. The feature doc grew out of a short doc I made back in 2001 – American Dream – about these two local Bigfoot researchers in my hometown. The short haunted me for years thereafter, and I always wanted to revisit the project in greater depth.

I see a tremendous amount of honesty in Dallas and Wayne’s story, and it raises so many questions in my mind. My connection to the story stems largely from its ability to capture the contemporary state of the American Dream in old Appalachian steel towns like Portsmouth, Ohio. Although the economies there face some real challenges, people like Dallas and Wayne find a way to hold onto their dreams and keep hope and faith alive.

…Read more