First, as a southerner, i found this movie complete trash. The accents were awful and in my life ive never heard most the expressions they use in this film.
That being said, this isnt a horror movie, its about a dumb, promiscuous girl who goes home to visit with her nerdy, cuckold boyfriend and then spends most the movie basically making moves on her high school boyfriend in front of him. The entire movie felt like watching a bad acting exercise. Dont waste your time, you're better off watching paint dry.
9 Reviews
Good indie effort with short comings.
amesmonde13 June 2016
Warning: Spoilers
A young Chicago couple Ben and Annie return to Annie's small North Carolina hometown, bumping into some of her old friends they embark on an impromptu Bigfoot hunt which threatens their relationship and lives.
I love a good Bigfoot film, the ones though with blood and guts, there's been a spate of the recently, like shark films and creature features they're a minefield in terms of quality ranging from Eduardo Sánchez's Exists to (Syfy, enough said) Bigfoot. Director Dan Riesser's Stomping Ground, is a low budget surprisingly good traditionally shot Bigfoot film. While the camera work is a little rough in places, it benefits from an on location shoot. To drum up the film's saleability to horror hounds Evil Dead's Theresa Tilly appears very briefly. We get some dead bodies, a severed finger, a severed head and a pretty good Bigfoot costume (no rubbish CGI, hooray).
John Bobek's city boy Ben and Tarah DeSpain's Annie are strong enough to carry the film as their relationship is tested. For a low budget film the acting excels. Jeramy Blackford, is notable as Paul and gives performance (akin to Eric Balfour's Brad in Blackfoot Trail killer bear feature) as Annie's former boyfriend, which prompts some tension between him and Ben. Justin Giddings is amusing enough and plays local Bigfoot expert Jed. J. Michael Radtke's visual Bigfoot effects work better from behind and in the shadows, with the bright show down stealing some impact and effect.
There's the expected Deliverance jokes and references to Wrong Turn, writers Riesser and Andrew Genser's script works best when it avoiding pop culture references, to their credit they give Annie enough back-story throughout without dropping everything in the first five minutes and the knocking, den building, hair and calls remind you it's a Bigfoot film. The extremely long build up struggles to hold attention with the Bigfoot segments coming late in the latter half of the third act. The ego-stroking, chest-beating competition between Ben and Paul gets a little repetitive objectifying Annie. Stomping Ground is more interesting when they're talking about local history, drinking moonshine, playing games and being attacked.
At 80 minutes it feels longer than it is, tonally Riesser's offering doesn't hold up comedy wise to be another Tucker and Dale versus Evil, there's also not enough Sasquatch focus and gory action set- ups to fully satisfy horror fans. That said, it's a commendable independent film effort and certainly worth checking out especially if you're a Bigfoot lover.
I love a good Bigfoot film, the ones though with blood and guts, there's been a spate of the recently, like shark films and creature features they're a minefield in terms of quality ranging from Eduardo Sánchez's Exists to (Syfy, enough said) Bigfoot. Director Dan Riesser's Stomping Ground, is a low budget surprisingly good traditionally shot Bigfoot film. While the camera work is a little rough in places, it benefits from an on location shoot. To drum up the film's saleability to horror hounds Evil Dead's Theresa Tilly appears very briefly. We get some dead bodies, a severed finger, a severed head and a pretty good Bigfoot costume (no rubbish CGI, hooray).
John Bobek's city boy Ben and Tarah DeSpain's Annie are strong enough to carry the film as their relationship is tested. For a low budget film the acting excels. Jeramy Blackford, is notable as Paul and gives performance (akin to Eric Balfour's Brad in Blackfoot Trail killer bear feature) as Annie's former boyfriend, which prompts some tension between him and Ben. Justin Giddings is amusing enough and plays local Bigfoot expert Jed. J. Michael Radtke's visual Bigfoot effects work better from behind and in the shadows, with the bright show down stealing some impact and effect.
There's the expected Deliverance jokes and references to Wrong Turn, writers Riesser and Andrew Genser's script works best when it avoiding pop culture references, to their credit they give Annie enough back-story throughout without dropping everything in the first five minutes and the knocking, den building, hair and calls remind you it's a Bigfoot film. The extremely long build up struggles to hold attention with the Bigfoot segments coming late in the latter half of the third act. The ego-stroking, chest-beating competition between Ben and Paul gets a little repetitive objectifying Annie. Stomping Ground is more interesting when they're talking about local history, drinking moonshine, playing games and being attacked.
At 80 minutes it feels longer than it is, tonally Riesser's offering doesn't hold up comedy wise to be another Tucker and Dale versus Evil, there's also not enough Sasquatch focus and gory action set- ups to fully satisfy horror fans. That said, it's a commendable independent film effort and certainly worth checking out especially if you're a Bigfoot lover.
Another bad Bigfoot movie.
iris_the_pirate18 March 2016
Good Bigfoot movies are just as hard to come by as good Werewolf movies. For some reason, they are generally done quite poorly, and this is no different. It's a weak story to begin with, a country girl takes her city boyfriend to where she grew up in the south. Old flame shows up and tries to sabotage the relationship all whilst they're out looking for Bigfoot. Yeah. The editing, dialogue and acting are all pretty bad here. The slow pacing and anticlimactic ending do not help either. It's a pity too, this is shot OK and even the Bigfoot creature looks decent for something i imagine was done on a very limited budget. Forgettable and mediocre. Pass on this one.
if you're looking for a decent big foot film, don't bother with this!
boadicea-186248 December 2016
okay so i am a huge fan of horror movies and have seen some decent yeti/big foot films, but most of them are trash. this one however is worse than trash. it has terrible acting and doesn't make much sense. if you're looking for a good big foot movie look elsewhere. i actually cannot believe this has 5/10 stars. If you want an okay-ish big foot movie try Willow Creek or Exists. this movie is utter trash and isn't worth wasting your time watching.I know i might be a little bit brutal in writing this but do yourselves a favor and don't bother. the whole movie is basically 4 idiots walking around in a forest with a banjo playing. it is cliché and written extremely badly, has no mid peak and is boring the entire way through, extremely terrible special effects even though it's a low budget film they could have definitely done it better. none of it is funny or humorous it's just lame and not one part of it was good besides when it finished and i didn't have to watch it anymore.
Stomping Ground
SashaDarko10 March 2018
This one is marked as a horror about Bigfoot, yet in reality the creature itself only appears in the very end and the whole movie is more like a drama about some sort of a love triangle (or 2.5angle). A girl which lives in Chigaco decides to pay a visit to her mother who lives in a rural hometown and brings her boyfriend there. They go to a bar where she meets an old friend from her childhood, who's apparently very eager to romance and "steal" her from her boyfriend (alpha male bullshit and such). All of them together plus an additional friend of that alpha male decide to go on a Big Foot hunting trip, because that's where they were doing when they were kids (nostalgia and such).
The great actors, natural and fluid dialogues and good camera work mix into a one big vehicle which drives the whole movie forward and you along with it. The characters are not some made up cardboard work, many of them actually reminded me people from real life I know (and Annie herself reminded me of the girl with the same name) and I'm not even an American. Absolutely not a fan of this "love 2.5angle" story, but still watched it because of the mentioned great actor work and dialogues.
The appearance of yeti kinda looks awkward, the makeup is alright, but everything else is not, really. In motion and with such editing it's just looks like a man in a costume runs in front of a camera. It supposed to be a heavy beast, yet it has the ability to appear "out of nowhere" behind everyone and its steps are, apparently, silent (really, there are the sounds?).
If you only want a yeti movie, I wouldn't recommend to watch it. But if you don't mind something else with a yeti included, then why not.
sashadarko.com
The great actors, natural and fluid dialogues and good camera work mix into a one big vehicle which drives the whole movie forward and you along with it. The characters are not some made up cardboard work, many of them actually reminded me people from real life I know (and Annie herself reminded me of the girl with the same name) and I'm not even an American. Absolutely not a fan of this "love 2.5angle" story, but still watched it because of the mentioned great actor work and dialogues.
The appearance of yeti kinda looks awkward, the makeup is alright, but everything else is not, really. In motion and with such editing it's just looks like a man in a costume runs in front of a camera. It supposed to be a heavy beast, yet it has the ability to appear "out of nowhere" behind everyone and its steps are, apparently, silent (really, there are the sounds?).
If you only want a yeti movie, I wouldn't recommend to watch it. But if you don't mind something else with a yeti included, then why not.
sashadarko.com
Mind-Numbingly Slow
dcarsonhagy27 March 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"Stomping Ground" is yet another tale about the legendary Bigfoot. Ben and Annie leave Chicago to return to Annie's small hometown somewhere in North Carolina. Funny thing is, this place is constantly referred to as "The South." Honey, there is no way in heaven or on earth that North Carolina is considered "The South." During their visit, Annie reconnects with two of her high school buddies--both males. During a night of drunkenness--where nobody could have possibly lived given the amount of alcohol intake--one of her friends tells the local tale about "Bigfoot." A camping investigation ensues.
"Stomping Ground" is billed as a horror/comedy movie. It fails miserably on both attempts. It might have been funny; kinda' hard to tell when those involved tried to insert every over-the-top redneck caricature they could think of. The acting was bad, although the guy that played Ben was decent. Annie could not act her way out of a wet paper bag. Sorry, hon, but dumb looks and blank stares do not count as acting. And why the director was hell- bent on dragging on this one-sided love story between Annie and one of her former beaus is beyond me. I mean, this thing moved at a snail's pace. I was surprised I actually made it through until the end.
Unrated (I think); however, this is pretty much PG13 stuff. The movie lasts 80 of the longest minutes you'll ever spend. Not recommended.
"Stomping Ground" is billed as a horror/comedy movie. It fails miserably on both attempts. It might have been funny; kinda' hard to tell when those involved tried to insert every over-the-top redneck caricature they could think of. The acting was bad, although the guy that played Ben was decent. Annie could not act her way out of a wet paper bag. Sorry, hon, but dumb looks and blank stares do not count as acting. And why the director was hell- bent on dragging on this one-sided love story between Annie and one of her former beaus is beyond me. I mean, this thing moved at a snail's pace. I was surprised I actually made it through until the end.
Unrated (I think); however, this is pretty much PG13 stuff. The movie lasts 80 of the longest minutes you'll ever spend. Not recommended.
More relationship drama than Bigfoot movie
Leofwine_draca11 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
STOMPING GROUND is a film which is marketed as a Bigfoot movie but turns out to be some turgid relationship drama instead. The story is about a young couple who go Bigfoot hunting in the woods, only to run in with another character who tries to break up the relationship. The production values are nil, and for a film described as a comedy horror, I didn't laugh once. There's a lot of bickering, a lot of arguing and conversations which add nothing to the overall picture, just endless soul searching which quickly becomes tiresome.
A Sasquatch Film With Heart
jessicafischerqueen22 September 2016
Warning: Spoilers
I'm a Sasquatch movie fanatic, and I don't remember liking any movie in this genre better than Stomping Ground. The acting and screenplay is so pitch perfect that I found myself more interested in the characters than in the actual bigfoot part of the story. The film's naturalistic, organic acting faithfully portrays the emotional concerns and conflicts of a small group of people in their late 20s. This is in stark contrast to the sophomoric acting and screenplay in Exists, which is probably a better "Sasquatch" movie. It's definitely not a better movie though. The quality of the character studies in Stomping Ground was so high that the horror scenes in the conclusion almost got in the way of the engaging narrative arc established in the first two thirds of the movie. That said, I did enjoy the Sasquatch elements, especially the foreshadowing, starting from the opening scene with the tree knocking. The Sasquatch monster was one of the better non-CGI efforts I've seen, and of all the Sasquatch movies I have watched- over a hundred it must be- I enjoyed this one the most. Thanks to IMDb mate Alamo Scout for putting me on to this Indie gem.
TRASH
tyler-0881620 August 2018
This movie is the worst thing I've ever seen in my life I thought it would be good because the movie is about Bigfoot it's 1hour and 19 minutes long and for about 5 minutes it has to do with Bigfoot so I wasted 1 hour and 14minutes of my life watching this garbage not the actors but the person who directed this and wrote it
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