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Film: On the Trail of Bigfoot: Land of the Missing
Year: 2023
Director: Seth Breedlove
Writer: Seth Breedlove
Review:
This is a documentary that was sent over to me via Justin Cook. I’ve seen a good number of these works by Seth Breedlove. This series following Bigfoot through different areas make up a bulk of his filmography. I know previously he did Last Frontier in this series, which also had his investigation in Alaska. He has more of that here from what I read coming in.
Synopsis: centuries of reports of hair-covered creatures roaming Alaska have been uncovered. Yet, beyond the mysterious apelike animals that haunt the forests of the 49th state there exist numerous legends of horrific beings that blur the line between Bigfoot and something else.
Now I have cut down the synopsis that I was using a bit as it is quite wordy. I do think that gives you a good idea of what we are getting here. This does what others do. Breedlove and his team find interesting people who are hunting for this cryptid and others who have had run ins with them. If you’ve read past reviews, you know my stance. Is it possible that these people have experienced something that they can’t explain and it being this creature? Absolutely. Do I believe there also could be a logical explanation? Also, yes. If there is a place that could have entities like this, it would be Alaska. It also made me think of the legends of yetis as well.
Things unique here are like the story about Chris McCandless, a person who was made famous for disappearing in this state. There are others and a high number of similar disappearances. I mean a good portion of this could be how difficult it is to live up there. There are logical explanations that do not involve this cryptid. Going along with this are legends of a glacial demon or other things like little people. This isn’t uncommon to have tales like this when things were a bit wilder and people still believing in them.
There are other things here that match stories from elsewhere. Breedlove claimed to have heard the crying of what sounded like a baby from the woods one of the nights. This fits in with the lore that Bigfoot uses this to lure victims away from others. Another interesting aspect that was brought up are military bases. This seems like a common thread for these documentaries. It makes me wonder if there is an explanation as to why they are there and does it deal with secrets the government isn’t sharing. There are also a high number of UFO sightings, but that falls in line with not having a lot of light pollution up this far.
Now there is an aspect here that I didn’t know about as well. There is supposedly a subterranean structure called the dark or the black pyramid. Energy is supposed to come from it and it could produce enough to power the whole state. This pulled my interest and I want to more information around this. This could also explain why there is a military base as well.
The last thing then to go into is that this is well-made. I think that cinematography is good and looks professional. I like that instead of just showing us the interviewees that Breedlove will edit in images including newspapers or drawings. He also will use CGI to reenact what is being said. I do appreciate that as it keeps it lively and enjoyable. The sound design is also well done here.
There isn’t much more to say so in conclusion, this is an interesting documentary. I’m not fully on board that this cryptid exists, but that doesn’t make it any less interesting. Going to Alaska is a smart move. This is one of the states that is still more wild and has a lot of land so that makes it feasible. It is also barren and hard to survive in areas. I do like the almost ‘conspiracy theory’ angle this introduces. It gives all this in a way where you can take the information and data to do what you will. Not a documentary that will teach out a lot about Bigfoot. It is more about the experiences of certain people and theories on how it could exist here without being seen. This is well-made and if what I said sounds interesting, give this a watch.
My Rating: 6 out of 10