For Thanksgiving, Annie (Tarah DeSpain) takes her big city boyfriend
Ben (John Bobek) back to her rural North Carolina hometown to meet her mum
(Theresa Tilly) and also introduces him to some of her friends from back
when - and to his surprise, Ben learns that his lovely Annie was quite the
party girl back in the day, and a wild one at that. And he also learns she
- together with classmates Paul (Jeramy Blackford) and Jed (Justin
Giddings) - has formed a Bigfoot-hunting trio ... and before he knows it,
Ben finds himself searching for Bigfoot with Annie's little group. This
doesn't go too well because Annie's rural friends clash with Ben's big
city views and his relative helplessness out in the open - something Ben
is partly to blame, too. The other thing though is that Paul was actually
Annie's first boyfriend and the one who deflowered her, which she never
told Ben, and while for Annie he's just a mate, Paul is still in love with
her - and makes it clear to Ben he'll try to win her back ... and soon
enough, the two can't stop playing alpha dog, a situation that becomes
unbearable for everyone before too long. And then, too deep in the woods
to just get out again, our foursome finds severed human bodyparts, plus
traces that there might actually be a Bigfoot living nearby who's into
killing and dismembering - and suddenly they notice they're in real big
trouble ... As far as Bigfoot-movies go, Stomping
Ground is a very clever film as it doesn't put its focus onto yet
another slasher-style man-vs-monster situation but moves its center of
attention on the characters and their (rather well-conceived) conflicts,
saving the actual Bigfoot horror for the third act. And
thanks to a competent cast, a subtle directorial effort and pointed
dialogue this actually works quite well. Sure, die-hard monster fans will
be put off by the rather late arrival of the monster in the film, but
everyone else will probably enjoy a pretty well-told yarn ...
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