What Happens in the Mountains – Should Stay in the Mountains (2018)

Directed by Stacey Alexander [Other horror films: What Happens in the Mountains – Should Stay in the Mountains Part II (2021)]

This movie is not that good, and in truth, it’s barely a movie (as it clocks in at around 42 minutes). But it is extraordinarily hilarious, so that has to count for something.

Filmed in Northern Georgia, with a cast of about three people (and multiple Bigfoots – Bigfeet?), this is as low-budget as one could imagine (in fact, at the time of this writing, the film does not have an IMDb entry), and there’s also not really much story. Basically, local Bigfoot hunter Buck encounters Bigfoot (there’s more than one in this area) while hunting. And that’s about it. They come to his house to extract revenge toward the end, and admittedly, that was filmed well, but this movie overall doesn’t have that much in way of a plot.

The main actor is Stacey Alexander (who also directed the movie and wrote most of the music), and I’ll fully admit, he had me cracking up quite a bit. Some of his dialogue was golden, and he came across a colorful character. A reporter who appeared a bit, played by John Tripwire, was less pleasing, though – his gravelly voice was something I couldn’t get used to, and he seemed rather soulless standing next to the soon-to-be-legend that is Alexander.

Being a comedy-horror, more than often the comedic influences overshadowed the suspense. There were multiple text overlays throughout the film I could have done without. That said, my favorite thing about the movie was the Bigfoot shriek. I couldn’t help but laugh until I cried during the multiple times that inhuman shriek popped up. Literal tears were in my eyes because of that. So it’s a low-budget movie, but it could be fun.

The scenery (Northern Georgia) looked rather beautiful, and they certainly had fun with this short feature. Not taken seriously, I could see this being a lot of fun to a small niche of people. I know that most would probably hate it, and that’s understandable, but I was amused, and while I wished it had been more horror than comedy, I just think of that dialogue (“Does a whale have a blowhole?”) and that shriek and start smiling again. Definitely not a good movie, but a solid viewing experience all the same.

6/10