CURSE OF BIGFOOT was a regional curiosity filmed in 1963 which found new life as a television staple in 1976 when a new block of footage (actually concerning bigfoot) was inserted between the titles and the film proper. The original film concerned a prehistoric mummy unearthed by a group of students while searching for Indian artifacts. As one would expect, the monster contained inside the wrappings is very much alive and is soon on a murderous rampage (however peripherally said rampage is depicted). The film's history is clouded and obscure, but my belief is that the CURSE OF BIGFOOT title was on the original hour-long movie, to capitalize on the recent hoopla concerning Bigfoot. This title made it prime candidate for re-release in the bigfoot-happy 70's, with some new footage to expand it's runtime to full feature length. This new footage was mostly a lecture on mythological monsters given to a class of students awaiting the arrival of one of the characters from the original film -though this character's ramblings about psychological scars left by the incident in '63 remain divorced from the original footage. This cobbled-together quasi-movie saw frequent play on UHF television into the early 80's. The original version of the film also made the rounds on a black and white VHS as "Teenagers Battle The Thing" which sounds entirely like an 80's video title. Meanwhile, the film saw at least one theatrical release in '76, as Sinister Cinema unearthed a gorgeous 35mm print (so crisp and clear that I could now confirm the original copyright was indeed 1963). Lovers of obscure genre fare are urged to purchase this release from Sinister Cinema, and do so quickly as the company has lost much of it's customer base and may close it's doors. The above image is from the rather rougher TV print that's been circulating for decades. Fun stuff. Not great or anything, but fun in the way that only a regional 60's monster movie can be.
http://www.sinistercinema.com/product.asp?specific=53783
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