Bigfoot Hunting in Elmira, New York: "Man of the Mountain" DVD Review

Bigfoot Hunting in Elmira, New York: “Man of the Mountain” DVD Review

I had the opportunity to sit back and watch this documentary recently and was blown away. But not how you might think. This isn’t an easy one to nail down, but I will attempt to do just that.

The biggest problem I had with this documentary was how it was made. It’s like the filmmaker found interesting subject matter and was inspired to immortalize it on film. Unfortunately, a great idea is not the only thing that is needed. Even a Grade-A T-Bone needs the touch of a capable chef who isn’t afraid to make his own marinade. There was nothing remotely interesting in the way the documentary was put together. It is as if the filmmaker looked at other documentaries and created this one to mimic those other ones. And why not? It seems to be a formula that works.

What surprised me the most was the filmmaker’s Michael Moore-like inclusion of himself into the documentary! These superfluous inserts wasted precious minutes that could have been better spent on adding more relevant footage of the subject matter. Even though no Bigfoot evidence was captured, I would have still rather watched scenes of Tim Holmes crunching through the empty woods, just being him.

Timothy Holmes is a brilliant subject for a documentary on Bigfoot. His personality is mesmerizing. He is quirky. He is funny. And most importantly, he is genuine. His first hand experience in tracking the elusive Bigfoot is fascinating. His personal accounts of his hunts and encounters have been glossed over in the documentary and, for the filmmaker that was material wasted.

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As far as documentaries go, this was purely an exercise in pressing record on a video camera. It was dull and uninspired.

However, the man of the mountain himself, Tim Holmes, is neither dull, nor uninspired. Between the filmmaker’s personal cameo appearances, my attention was rapt on Mr. Tim. The fact that I found the documentary interesting without any profound discovery in the field of Bigfoot research is a testament to the charismatic juggernaut that inhabits the camouflage fatigues and mosquito netting.


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