Hoax (2019)

I can't really say that I enjoyed "Hoax", but there definitely were a few things that made this partially fun though. This is obviously low budget, but the cinematography wasn't too bad. It felt way more professional than most of the films in this category. The acting was a mixed bag though. If you are interested in this movie just because Adrienne Barbeau ("The Fog", "Escape From New York") is in it, then you should be aware, that she is only on screen around the end and also just for a few minutes. Our lead turns out to be Cheryl Texiera despite Barbeau being used as the main selling point for this film. We also have Brian Thompson, who played 'Shao Kahn' in "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation". I haven't seen him much during the last few years, but this film proves that he's still around. Anyway... "Hoax" starts out as many of those Horror flicks with kids telling scary stories at a camp fire. We get some yummy nudity from Máire Higgins, before the body count finally starts. Then we see a few news reports about the missing kids and 'Rick Paxton' (Ben Browder) sees a chance to make some money by making a TV show that proves that 'Bigfoot' is real. He puts together a team then, "Dr. Ellen Freese" (Cheryl Texiera) as the primate expert, 'Cooper Barnes' (Max Decker) as the guy who knows the area and whose daughter is among the missing kids, 'Bridgette Powers' (Shoshana Bush) as the journalist narrating the show, 'John Singer' (Brian Thompson) as the ex-soldier to guarantee safety and so forth... While filming their stuff for the show the body count is increased as to be expected and then the film takes a weird turn and almost gets a little "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or "Wrong Turn" vibe with some neat little gore effects. Torture inclusive! Well, that being the segment with Barbeau in it. Yes, this is a bad film and I didn't expect it to be good at all. But it actually turned out to be a little better than I expected. This is like a TV movie you watch at 3 in the morning while you get drunk alone, maybe pass out even before it ends and you haven't really missed something. Next morning you remember that it was kind of OK, before you completely forget about it. This is "Hoax" for you.

The _Wrong Turn 2_ of Bigfoot movies, Hoax has moderate effects, bad acting, and some pretty cool direction, but it stops being engaging after about ten minutes and doesn't start again until there's about ten minutes left.

_Final rating:★★ - Had some things that appeal to me, but a poor finished product._