Bobcat Goldthwait’s Willow Creek sets NYC release date

Last Updated on July 22, 2021

Here’s a film that came out of nowhere and disappeared just as fast. Today we've got some great news for the folks living in NYC who have been looking forward to Bobcat Goldthwait's Bigfoot thriller. Goldthwait’s WILLOW CREEK recently landed domestic distribution through Dark Sky Films and will now see a release in NYC on June 6th at the IFC CENTER with a theatrical rollout soon to follow. Hopefully we'll catch wind of the additional theatrical release dates soon. We were lucky enough to get our very own review of WILLOW CREEK out of Fantasia last year—you can read it right HERE.

Here's what I like to call synopsis-overkill. Seriously, the movie is about a way too curious couple who find themselves in a Bigfoot shit storm. What else do we really need to know? Anyways, here's the novelization of the movie:

Set in Humboldt County, California, Willow Creek centers on Jim (Bryce Johnson, Pretty Little Liars) a Bigfoot believer whose idea of a romantic getaway is to head deep into Six Rivers National Forest in Northern California, video camera in tow, trying to shoot his own Bigfoot footage at the site of the Patterson-Gimlin film. That 1967 fragment of footage purporting to show Sasquatch striding along a dry riverbed became a key artifact in the cryptozoology community, and Jim dreams of nothing more than setting foot on the actual location where it was shot. His long-suffering girlfriend, Kelly (Alexie Gilmore, World’s Greatest Dad), agrees to tag along for the ride, despite the fact that she thinks Bigfoot has about as much chance of being real as leprechauns.

The two stop off first in Willow Creek, the Bigfoot capital of the world and home to an annual Bigfoot festival, where various locals talk to Jim’s camera, warning them to keep out of the woods, singing ballads about Bigfoot, and generally enjoying their 15 minutes in the spotlight while Jim and Kelly have a blast, cracking wise amidst all the touristy Bigfoot kitsch on display. But when they strap on packs and head into the forest via a two-hour drive down a dirt road, they start to feel like they might be in over their heads. Well, Kelly does, at least. Jim, as he approaches what he considers hallowed ground, is in heaven.

That night they’re awakened by mysterious sounds echoing through the woods, and whooping vocalizations that might be Bigfoot, but that might also be locals screwing with them. Either way, they’re not welcome here and so Jim and Kelly decide to get out come sun-up but, as they quickly discover, it might already be too late, and as the sun goes down for the second time and they find themselves retracing the steps of Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin they discover the truth behind Bigfoot…