Truly Dreadful Film

Purely Joyful Movie!

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

3 stars for this turgid little poop of a movie because it is competently photographed and edited. Really, I'd like to rate it higher but it's hard for me to recommend a horror film where the people are more terrifying than the creature. The setting for this exercise in revulsion is a little redneck town in Texas. The director quickly makes you aware of the fact that all the crackers in the town are drunken bums and louts and it's all downhill from there because the drunken bums are going to be the focus of the flick. The creature actually gets very little screen time. Instead we're treated to a redneck daddy who takes his young 8 year old hunting. As he's making the kid drag out the carcass of a boar they had just shot he stops and slices a cactus in two with his hunting knife. He then has his son stick his little finger in the slit between the cactus pulp and tells him "That's what pu**y feels like"! What a charmer! There's also the sheriff who's in cahoots with the local moonshiner and the main character who knowingly sends the cracker men and gals to their deaths by allowing them to hunt on his bottom lands, the very place where the horrible creature lurks! But topping all of the disgusting excuses for humanity that populate this cinematic dung heap is our hero's Hispanic ranch hand. When we first meet this boil he is in the owner's bedroom with his pants around his ankles sniffing the wife's panties! The wife is paraplegic, confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak so, naturally, the farm hand molests her when the boss man isn't looking. As you might expect by now the director doesn't choose to simply imply that something disgusting is going on between them. No, he's gonna show us some of the sick action, probably because that's all he's really got. The monster isn't much when you finally see it and the quickness and ease with which the townspeople dispatch it once they set their minds to it simply makes you wonder why they didn't decide to do it decades ago and spare them all the loss of a few good drinking buddies and us this movie. There's zero suspense to be had because all of the townsfolk are so completely unlikeable that you're glad when they get killed. Minus any suspense the only possible use you could have for this movie is as a way to make yourself feel better about your life! You might have problems but at least you're not an ignorant drunken inbred loser like the folks in this flick. If this sounds like your kind of fare then Bon Appetit! Everyone else should just avoid.

You have to love this for the characters. The majority of the town where this event is supposed take place are drunks sipping moonshine all day. They are more believable drunks then say the characters in the HBO series Deadwood. I.E. they don't drink and seem sober they drink and look and act drunk.The man who owns the property where the wild man lives is not only believable but sympathetic. His wife is barely able to move and lives in a wheelchair. They have a loyal(?) male Mexican servant. Who pulls his pants off and fondles the wife's underwear when the husband isn't home. This servant even fondles the wife, who can't speak, by covering her mouth while he does whatever. The husband must suspect something. When the wild man carries the servant off the husband hides the wife rather than try to save the servant. There are some good people in the story. Two of the best, a man and his son go hunting in the river bottom which has been closed for years. This is the place where the wild man dwells. He has been kept at bay for years with a diet of skinned rabbit provided by the property owner. But because the owner lost his job and the wife needs her medications, the property owner has opened the bottom land to hunters. This pisses the wild man off and he kills both father and son. In fact he kills a bunch of people by gutting them with antlers. When a couple is attacked, the husband, stabbed through the ribs with an antler, runs, hitches a ride and goes not to the hospital but the bar where he tells everyone what happened. A posse is formed. This is a posse of drunks. Why any sheriff would recruit these people is one of the least believable things in the movie. The other is that these heavily armed drunks don't shoot each other. But at least one of the posse (a drunk's son I think) gets killed. But then the property owner finally uses the big shinny shotgun he has been polishing throughout the movie. And only a bunch of drunks would string up a dead man who was just shot like he was a prize elk with razor-back tusks. But there suspense is here. The movie is engaging. The acting so good these people seem like they are drunks in a documentary. I highly recommend this, especially to independent filmmakers.

Dale (Co-Director Justin Meeks) doesn't want to open his ranch to hunters, but has to because he needs the money. Too bad for him (and them) that a bloodthirsty creature is not keen on trespassers.Produced by "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" writer Kim Henkel, "The Wild Man of the Navidad" doesn't owe a lot to that seminal classic. Instead, this is more inspired by other 70's Horror/Exploitation fair such as "The Legend of Boggy Creek", "Creature From Black Lake" and "The Town That Dreaded Sundown", with a bit of slasher movie inspiration to match. If the film has one thing going for it, it's that it genuinely feels like a Southern Drive-In Horror Flick from the 70's-the weird, off-kilter score, the bad acting from a cast mostly made up of locals and non-actors, the cheap monster costume, the grainy look, the ultra low budget, almost documentary like feel, the unconvincing gore(who knew intestines looked like cooked steak?)-I could go on and on.And it's watchable, decent stuff, but not without it's flaws. While bad acting and long stretches of dialog are to be expected out of a movie like this, it really starts to get annoying. The directors also reveal too much of the creature too soon, though it's cheap look has it's charm. The conclusion is also something that needs some work-it just kind of ends, without any real sense of wrap up. Finally, the slow burn style doesn't hurt for the large part, but it even tested my patience eventually, and I tend to be a patient man.Can I recommend "The Wild Man of the Navidad?" Well, it depends. As a movie, it's decent but too flawed to be enjoyed by some, and those expecting a really fun movie will feel bored. As I said though, the fact that it genuinely feels like an old Southern Grindhouse flick will certainly appeal to those who love such movies, and is worth a look to any curious horror fan.

What would you expect from one of the producers of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre? More of the same realistic butcherings? A movie based on a true story? It would take place in backwoods Texas? It would have extremely hickish and super rednecks that are whacked out and just plain crazy? If you answered yes to all of the above, then you know what to expect from this interesting character-driven tale.Kim Henkel produced this indie flick with director Duane Graves at the helm. Graves most definitely is a student of the Chainsaw films and faux-documentary style the first film was shot in. He puts it to good use here, making you feel like you are right there on location. Now, I'm not talking faux-documentary like The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, or District 9. It doesn't make you feel like you need an airplane barf bag to watch it. It's like a documentarian shot it that has actually had some experience shooting film or video before.The film looks absolutely genuine. There's no reason why it shouldn't. It seems that most of it is shot on location in and around the rural areas of Austin, TX. Every single whacked out and tobacco-spitting character and person in this film sounds and comes across as completely real. Like Graves walked into a town hall meeting and asked regular townspeople to star in his movie.