I will host a screening of "The Legend of Boggy Creek" at the Old State House Museum in Little Rock on Friday, Oct. 10. In 1971, Texarkana advertising executive and and television personality Charles B. Pierce began reading about several strange incidents taking place in the nearby town of Fouke, Ark. Local residents reported seeing a Bigfoot-like creature terrorizing their homes and killing their livestock. Pierce decided to shoot his first movie, a semi-documentary about the so-called "Fouke Monster." The film interviewed local residents but also cast them in re-creations of scenes they described to authorities. Some locals even portrayed their relatives in the film.
The Legend of Boggy Creek reportedly cost $160,000 to make but earned more than $20 million at the box office. The film was a huge hit at drive-in theaters and was one of the top ten highest grossing films of 1972.
The faux-documentary style, combining dramatization with actual interviews, was unusual for the time period, especially for a horror film. Daniel Myrick, one of the creators of The Blair Witch Project (1999), another horror film shot as a faux-documentary, credited The Legend of Boggy Creek as one of their inspirations. The popularity of Blair Witch led to the "found footage" style becoming one of the most popular techniques for horror filmmakers during the past 15 years.
Despite its somewhat amateur production style, The Legend of Boggy Creek became a cult classic and spawned numerous sequels. Pierce went on to produce and direct several more movies, many shot in Arkansas.
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