Manbeast! Myth or Monster? (1978) watch online HD

Many of us are Bigfoot/Sasquatch enthusiasts or just enjoy the idea that some furry monster walking fairly upright, half-man/half-beast (a throwback to the prehistoric Neanderthal), is somewhere out there lurking in the wilderness, its habitat often threatened by evolved humankind. MANBEAST: MYTH OR MONSTER is a documentary exploring the notion that a Sasquatch indeed exists and is essentially a series of re-enactments regarding reported sightings or other mysterious situations involving our furry myth. Like an expert skier who vanished after possibly encountering the Bigfoot, a husband-wife Sasquatch hunting team who answer phone calls of sightings (who investigate and make casts of the footprints they find) or a little girl seeing one while traveling in the cab of her lumber-truck driving father. Peter and Celia Byrne, the husband-wife Sasquatch hunters (not in the violent sense, mind you), figure prominently in this documentary—particularly Peter who narrates. Peter, once a professional hunter who killed game in Nepal and the Himalayas, became an animal conservationist and pacifist who preferred to help wild life than destroy it. Peter would travel to places overseas to hear of tales reported about Bigfoot, such as a Russian farmer's raising of a female human-beast, an audio recording which provides the voice as not recognized to be either human or any known animal by expert analysts. Hell, we even visit a "Sasquatch conference", which has those who are obsessed with the Bigfoot gathering together to chat and discuss the creature, both believers and skeptics, enthusiasts and scientists. There's also a "green" message about man's destroying the forests for lumber, reducing the living environments which allow the Bigfoot to remain hidden. I think this documentary will be of interest more to those who remain fascinated with the Sasquatch than the average viewer. Beautiful scenery and locations are an asset for this documentary which recounts eye witness accounts of coming face to face with them (one camping, another fishing, a zoologist awakening to find a Bigfoot in her bedroom). There was even an instance when a carnival sideshow attraction, a supposed Sasquatch contained in ice, which Peter sought after, denied access to study the creature (perhaps a sign that it was merely a fake) much to his frustration and dismay. During the re-enactments, the Bigfoot are presented as men in ape-like costumes as a separate narrator—other than Peter—also takes us through various stories of possible encounters.

Bigfoot, along with UFO's, The Bermuda Triangle and The Loch Ness Monster were super popular subjects throughout the 1970's. There were tons of movies, books and TV shows dedicated to these and other stupid, easily-explainable mysteries but I suppose those were different times when people wanted to believe in the existence of scary monsters and magical beings like Evel Kneivel for example. This made for TV documentary about Bigfoot (here called the Manbeast!) is basically just an overlong version of the 70's TV show IN SEARCH OF... without the Leonard Nimoy narration(this one is narrated by professional animal and monster hunter Peter Byrne). In fact this thing was based on a book titled IN SEARCH OF MYTHS AND MONSTERS so there ya go. Directed by Nicholas Webster, who is best known for the holiday gem SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS, all the actual "encounters' with the Manbeast are recreated here with people in cheesy costumes(by Rob Bottin who would go on to do the much superior FX work on THE THING among other big films) and told in such an earnest way that makes everything seem so silly. Check it out if you dig 70's TV or just Bigfootsploitation in general covered in lots of unintentional cheese.

Manbeast! Myth or Monster? (1978)

** (out of 4)

This here is a rather cheaply produced documentary that takes a look at the various Bigfoot legends and tries to prove whether they are just a myth or if perhaps there's a real monster out there that has yet to be captured. If you're a fan of Bigfoot like I am then you probably know that the Golden Era for films and documentaries were the 1970's. With the success of THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK we were given all sorts of documentaries and other television episodes that took a look at the legendary creature. This one here isn't nearly one of the best as there's really nothing here that we haven't seen in previous films. Like previous films, this one here tries to work as a teaching tool but there are also some re-enactments. I will say that I thought the Bigfoot costumes looked good but the direction just isn't all that impressive and none of the re-enactments really come to life.