The area's rich film connection to the Fouke Monster continues this fall with the release of another movie about the shaggy, Bigfoot-like creature said to roam the Boggy Creek environs.
Small Town Monsters aims to release a new, feature-length documentary movie titled "Boggy Creek Monster" on Nov. 11. The movie will be released on DVD via the film company's website and on streaming services through Amazon and Vimeo OnDemand.
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A "Boggy Creek Monster" trailer is already out, leading viewers through the swamps and woods around Fouke as author and cryptozoologist Lyle Blackburn talks with those folks who claim to have seen the creature. Eyewitness accounts are blended with spooky music and the distinctive rural setting in Southwest Arkansas for the trailer.
Seth Breedlove directs the new movie, which was shot over six days in late April. As they explored the Fouke area, the seven-person crew worked from early morning to long past sundown to gather stories, amassing 40 to 50 hours of footage to work with for the final product.
"As far as the filming goes, I think intense is the best way to put it," Breedlove said about the experience.
Whether they ventured out on boats or traveled on foot, it all added up to a grueling six days for the team, Breedlove calling it the most adventurous filmmaking he's ever done. Two other Small Town Monsters flicks also explore monster sightings in, you guessed it, small towns-one in Ohio, the other in upstate New York.
While shooting in Fouke, said the director, they felt "the fear of death around every corner." He's referring to the natural setting with alligators, fire ants and other native critters around. One crew member stepped over a cottonmouth snake during the shoot.
"At one of the locations we got to film at, we were told by someone to be careful of the roaming packs of pit bulls," Breedlove said.
Despite the challenging conditions, they found a cool landscape to capture, enjoyed the local hospitality and, by the time they left, felt right at home. They also learned a lot, said the director. Locations like Monster Mart served as great backdrops for shooting, too.
"The swamps lent themselves so well to a creepy, atmospheric film," Breedlove said. The small-town setting was also unique, making the crew feel like they'd stepped back in time-"in a good way," the director said.
For the crew, each day was a new adventure in Fouke, he said. "For us, every day went completely off the rails pretty quickly as far as what our schedule was and what we were doing," said Breedlove, noting that on the day they filmed the Crabtree property they'd intended to just shoot B-roll footage at Monster Mart. But as it turned out, soon the Crabtrees took them out on a boat instead.
Having a narrative presence like Blackburn was a bit unusual for the Small Town Monsters style, Breedlove said, but Blackburn's knowledge about the case served the film.
The movie condenses about a century-and-a-half of history into roughly 95 minutes. Many original witnesses have passed away or are unwilling to talk about the sightings, said Breedlove. That was one of the challenges they faced in telling these stories.
"Lyle's kind of there to help fill in those gaps," Breedlove said, adding, "We really do start in the 1800s and work our way up all the way to back in April."
As a filmmaker, about a dozen aspects to this Fouke Monster story appealed to Breedlove. For one thing, there's the classic small town monster angle alongside the legacy of "The Legend of Boggy Creek." In this new movie, they're able to provide a sweeping look at the Southern Sasquatch legend.
"I think it's just how big and epic the story itself is," Breedlove said about the appeal of telling the Fouke Monster story in this movie.
Breedlove says DVD pre-order will be available at the Small Town Monsters website. At present, he's content with going the independent route for distribution. With creator-driven projects now, he said, he can get access to platforms like Amazon without a major distributor.
That may change if Small Town Monsters, which is the name of both the film company and their movie series, is approached by a theatrical distributor.
"Things could potentially change that way," Breedlove said, noting another goal is to get "Boggy Creek Monster" on TV sometime next year.
A successful Kickstarter campaign enabled filmmakers to use cinema-grade equipment, drones and night-vision cameras as they catalogued the various sighting locations and the geography where these stories are told. Total funding to the tune of $17,000 eclipsed the $9,000 goal.
The high-quality gear meant Small Town Monsters could kick it up a notch with the filmmaking.
"I think 'Boggy' looks by far the best of anything we've done," Breedlove said, noting at $17,000 the budget is still on the low end for documentaries.
As the third installment of the Small Town Monsters series, "Boggy Creek Monster" follows "Minerva Monster" and the award-winning "Beast of Whitehall." Premiere events for those two movies drew 1,200 and 500 attendees, said Breedlove. Both of those documentaries are shorter than "Boggy Creek Monster" will be.
In terms of style, the director says he's an old-school film fan, an appreciator of directors like Alfred Hitchcock and Billy Wilder, while the cinematographer is drawn to 1970s Italian horror movies.
Small Town Monsters will also give a sneak preview of the new movie at the Minerva Monster Day festival in Minerva, Ohio, later this month. Joining Breedlove on the movie's production team are Brandon Dalo as producer and composer, Blackburn as co-producer and consultant, Zac Palmisano as cinematographer and both Jason Utes and Aaron Gascon in production roles.
As an author, Blackburn penned a 2012 book about the Fouke Monster titled "The Beast of Boggy Creek: The True Story of the Fouke Monster." Like the filmmakers, Blackburn sought to give an even-handed and respectful account of the Fouke Monster sightings over the years.
What does Breedlove hope moviegoers get from seeing "Boggy Creek Monster"?
For those who know the story, Breedlove hopes they see it done justice and learn something they may not have known before. They'll also be given a glimpse of locations they may not have seen yet, such as the Crabtree family property. And for someone who doesn't have all that prior knowledge of the Fouke Monster legend, he hopes their eyes are opened to just how fascinating the stories can be.
Breedlove hopes their approach inspires other moviemakers, too. He thinks they take a fresh, in-depth look at the subject.
"I've really never seen anything quite like what we're doing," Breedlove said.
(On the Net: SmallTownMonsters.com.)