Allegedly, the co-directors behind Bigfoot Famous, longtime YouTube jokesters Sam Milman and Peter Vass, shot the material in much-improvised fashion on location in the redwood forests of Humboldt County, California during the depths of COVID. Yet, the frantic farce almost uncannily reflects the Gabby Petito disappearance/murder sensation that was major news in late summer 2021. That timely hook (and an impressive body count) adds sting to what is otherwise a broad satire of Internet buffoons and their Stupid Influencer Tricks.
Coley Withers (Steph Barkley), a woman estranged from her family and living pretty much exclusively in the moment of online viewership, comments, hit-monetization and "likes," is a minor online celebrity. Her "Coley Nation" YouTube channel consists of herself and her live-in boyfriend Jericho (co-director Milman) doing silly stunts, pranks, and clickbait. But Coley's subscriber numbers dwindled so low that fellow YouTubers now make videos mocking her has-been status.
Coley sees a comeback opportunity when an amateur video of an alleged sasquatch in the California woods scores astronomical hits worldwide. She and Jericho trek into the territory with their camera, hooking up with a self-styled Bigfoot expert (Chris Kleckener) who is actually an adult virgin running his late mom's Bigfoot tourist-trap shop, and a hunter-tracker type (Anthony Ma) who is a manic psychopath. The expedition does not turn out well, and soon attention-hungry Coley is blazing across social media as a fugitive and accused killer.
It is not done in "mockumentary" or found-footage fashion (there are enough Bigfoot/monster-in-the-woods movies of that nature to practically be a subgenre); nor is there much horror, so expect no cool yeti costume. The level of the material approximates a slob comedy by the Broken Lizard troupe (Beerfest, Super Troopers) on an even lower budget; compared to this, Eating Raoul is practically George Bernard Shaw. But shadows of a real-life internet tragedy hovering over the eye-rolling antics give this a fragile patina of art-overtaken-by-events—maybe not as important as when The China System hit theaters concurrent with Three Mile Island, but still a little spooky. And the talent made good use of the northwest's awesome big-tree territory, with tree stumps the size of small houses.
Collections are advised to grab Bigfoot Famous while it's fresh, for, as the picture suggests, a new digital sensation/scandal is likely to come along at any minute.