Customer Reviews

The Legend Of The Honey Island Swamp Monster

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

while the premise is good and the new footage [ well old ] it was impossible to get into the documentary as the audio was soooooo bad.
It was so garbled that i could not hear the witnesses stories or much of anything else. scenicly it was beautiful, but despite the low price,and honest interest in Manimals, I would not advise purchasing it for those reasons alone.

I had heard tales about the Louisiana Honey Island Swamp Monster, and watched this film while visiting a friend, who had bought his DVD at a Louisiana Gift Shop. I enjoyed the movie because it was not a big budget Hollywood film, but raw and real with authentic Swamper story-tellers who lived on houseboats and river camps. Most of the eye-witness encounters were believable, though a few make you wonder. It is the legend and lure about this creature that is so facinating. I think my children would also enjoy it because they like monster movies and this one is tame enough for them to view, so I just ordered a copy for our collection. I also enjoyed the swamp scenery and original music.

"The Legend of the Honey Island Swamp Monster" is an extremely low-budget bigfoot pseudo-documentary made by Dana Holyfield, granddaughter of the late Harland Ford, whose 1963 Louisiana swamp bigfoot footage inspired the project. While she is doubtlessly sincere in this project, the final product is highly unlikely to convert skeptics. The bulk of the DVD is interviews of locals and of a gentleman who is an author and "authority in the field of alternative knowledge", whatever that means. The remainder of the DVD is a nighttime trek through the swamps where there has been a Honey Island Swamp Monster sighting. There are lots of dogs barking, some unidentified sounds, a tailgate party gone awry, and an intense search for the creature...but it got away.

The best footage in the DVD is from one of Harlan Ford's early 1970's color film reels which purports to show the monster, though it is behind a lot of foliage and appears extremely briefly just before he ran out of film. The worst aspects of the DVD are the general quality of the interviews, and the accompanying terrible audio quality, which makes hearing and understanding the native's testimonials very difficult. I realize, also, that the film was made on a small budget, but when faced with a miniscule budget, it's generally best not to have original bigfoot-themed music added to the soundtrack. The re-enactment footage at the opening of the film is also quite entertaining for all the wrong reasons.

I am giving this DVD two stars. It is not of very high quality, and I seriously doubt many will be convinced by the presentation, but I do appreciate Dana Holyfield undertaking an independent film production. Although it's amateurish, she actually decided to make a movie about something she found compelling, did her very best, and made it happen. You have to admire tenaciousness, and in that regard bigfoot skeptics and believers alike owe her a thank you.

We've cruised the Honey Island Swamp a couple of times. It is large, well-used, and full of crawdad, fish, birds, alligators, and snakes. I can easily believe a swamp monster is somewhere out there....and it is fun to watch this story unfold.

The best thing about this movie? At least it was only 66 mintues.
The video is shoddy quality. The audio is a mess and most of the interviews you can't hardly hear the person talking. Camera shots are awful! I love bigfoot genre films and documentaries but this one is at the bottom of the list. There are MUCH better ones out there. For the bigfoot video completist, go ahead and get this one but please have lots of beer on hand to get through the showing.

Does a monster live in the Honey Island Swamp? Something is surely stalking the area! Watch this DVD and decide for yourself!!

Buy this one!!This film is documentary style...but not just a string of 'stories'.Great continuity and a decent filming style.The main resident is REAL...his words are memorable and will stick with you! Science is touched upon.AND, if all that is not enough...the MUSIC is enjoyable...and the lyrics would stand on their own.I show this one to company...that's saying something.

As a professional monster hunter even I couldn't sleep after this. I was absolutely shaking with terror at the eye witness testimony of these upstanding folks. I have been involved in many stalks of creatures like Bigfoot, the Yeti, the Fouke monster and even the swamp ape of Florida. My high powered infra-red scope has been filled with many a target on long nights alone in tree stands, swamp boats and off road vehicles. Much of my work is for various government agencies that call on me when they don't have the skills or fortitude to face these beasts. On a final note, as a practicing alcoholic I can emphatically say that none of those interviewed in the film are drunk.

As a hardcore Bigfoot and monster fan, I was thrilled to get this DVD as a birthday gift. It's clear that Dana got herself a video camera at Best Buy, called some of her friends and family, told them to put their teeth in, and decided to make a buck off the hoaxed footprints her dad made decades ago in the Lousiana swamps. The results are entertaining as hell!

Smug, self-styled Rambo-wannabe swamp rats with big guts tell about terrifying encounters with monsters. Drunks who slur out tales of ghastly meetings with the terrifying beast. Even an interview in a living room in which a loud phone rings and the interviewee finally yells off-camera for someone to pick it up. "Expert" guy talks about tree-dwelling swamp apes and how the cast of an alligator print Dana shows him is in fact, from just such a primate. There's even a scene where the "monster hunters" break up a night time riverside party asking the kids if they've seen the monster. Screams from the movie "Snowbeast" are broadcast from hidden speakers in an attempt to scare the kids. That fails and the kids sense a "Punked"-style setup, so they leave. So embarassing, it is almost impossible to watch...almost...

Would I pay money for this DVD? As a pure schlock-fest, it's entertaining, if somewhat wince-inducing. As a "documentary" it's not worth a whole lot since there's no real insight into the hoaxing of footprints, the film, or any serious treatment of the "legend." In essence, it's a mockumentary in a Scooby-gang style, or a fan-film, and an amusing one at that!

But plug it in, grab a case of Pabst or Hamm's and get ready to enjoy an hour and change if you've got some time to kill and like folk tales about boogeymen.

The follow up DVD to this film proves that the whole thing was a hoax. The shoe with the monster claws was found and the locals all admit the whole this was started by one man. This BS story was almost as bad as the Patterson film hoax.