“Hoax” delivers on style and effects despite a few flaws The nods to horror classics and character behaviors under pressure shine through

Hoax is the sort of horror film that winks back to the campy mayhem of the 80s and 90s without falling too far down that nostalgia rabbit hole to present a monster movie of a different bent.

Warning: Mild spoilers ahead

Producer Rick Paxton (Ben Browder) is desperately looking for his next Hollywood hit, and he thinks an investigative reality series is just the thing. He rounds up the money to field a team to make a pilot by pitching they investigate the unsolved disappearance of a group of campers out in the remote woods. Rumors persist that they were attacked and killed by Bigfoot, and Paxton’s goal is to find out what happened… or make something happen.

Paxton recruits veterinarian, Dr. Ellen Freese (Cheryl Texeira), a primate specialist who is in dire enough financial straits to take the gig, and outdoorsman Cooper Barnes (Max Decker), father of one of the missing campers who’s been trekking tirelessly in those woods to find out what happened to his daughter. Rounding out the team is TV journalist personality Bridgette Powers (Shoshana Bush), security specialist John Singer (Brian Thompson), and cryptid expert Peter Moore (Schuyler Denham).

Paxton’s technical crew is jaded enough to believe that he’s pulling a fast one on the others, each of whom have legitimate scientific and personal reasons for going on this expedition, and even after a few mishaps they aren’t concerned. Curiously, they don’t seem to be too worried when several members of the team go missing.

By the time everyone’s on board that they are all in mortal danger, it’s too late to save themselves, and of course, that’s when the real mayhem begins. Secrets being kept by Paxton, and the real reason why hikers & campers continue to disappear in that region become known, and showing us how the monsters they’ve been looking for are of a world all their own.

There’s a playfulness to this film that doesn’t dive face-first into camp, and that’s a refreshing change. The confusion of half the expedition (Ellen, Barnes and Singer) contrasted with the disinterested self-involved apathy of the other half (Bridgette, Justin) and combined with the secretive intensity of Paxton creates some interesting character dynamics, and the snark builds as people disappear and things begin to fall apart.

For me, the darker nature of twist in the climatic final chapter swerves too far from the tone and playfulness set by the entirety of the film up to that point. While the special effects used in the cabin are stellar, having the tone of the movie shift from something like Scream to something closer to Hostel is jarring and may throw some viewers too far out of the film to allow them to come back into pocket of the story and enjoy the ending.

That drastic shift doesn’t sink the entire film, but it does rub some of the shine of the earlier fun from it. It’s not a deal-breaker for me, just a mild disappointment. Still, Hoax is a horror movie worth checking out, and I certainly hope the director commentary track is just as entertaining as his interview on the podcast here.

Website: epic-pictures.com/film/hoax
Twitter: @Hoax_Movie
Facebook: facebook.com/HoaxMovie

Don’t miss the interviews with Shoshana Bush, and with director Matt Allen and Cheryl Texeira!

An investigative team travels deep into the wilderness after a group of young campers are viciously murdered and linked to Bigfoot. The highly specialized crew search for evidence and fight to survive the powerful beast. If they work together they may live to prove the existence of Bigfoot, but what they discover may be more unexpected and dangerous than anything they could have imagined.

Cast: Adrienne Barbeau, Ben Browder, Brian Thompson, Cheryl Texiera, Max Decker, Shoshana Bush
Director: Matt Allen
Writers: Matt Allen, Scott Park