We’ve all seen fictional films built around conspiracies of one sort or another. Be it who really killed JFK, whether or not NASA faked some of its missions or if the government has a collection of crashed UFOs. And we’ve all seen films about Bigfoot, from Hunting Grounds to Hoax. There’s even Bigfoot porn, or so I’ve been told. But Bigfoot: The Conspiracy is the first Sasquatch conspiracy film I can recall.

Sadie (Whitney Sullins, Dance of the Dead) and her step brother are attacked in the woods while hunting for magic mushrooms. He’s killed but she survives. This draws the interest of the feds, Agents Hutchins (Dave R. Watkins, Halfway to Hell) and Smith (Tripp Patterson) along with their boss Agent Cortez (Ian Isaksson, All Hallows Evil: Lord of the Harvest).

Somebody else is also interested in what’s been going on in the woods. A retired border patrol agent named Dante (Chris Simoes the retired border patrol agent who wrote and directed the film) has been asked by his father in law to look into some odd goings on on his property. Looking over some trail cam footage he catches a glimpse of a strange hairy creature.

Yes, Bigfoot is stalking the woods of Georgia and the feds don’t want anyone to know for some reason. If you’re expecting a typical monster film you’ll be disappointed, Bigfoot: The Conspiracy is more of a mystery/thriller than a horror film.

Dante hooks up with Kurt (Joshua Haire, And All Through the House) a Bigfoot investigator who we see interviewing a man (Sam Wofford, Bigfoot’s Bride) who claims there’s a link between the creature and the Nephilim from the bible. Unfortunately this does not lead to an appearance on the soundtrack by Fields of the Nephilim.

As if that wasn’t weird enough, Landon (John Paul Kakos) , the son of an old friend contacts him out of the blue. It seems he works for some Above Top Secret agency that deals with threats to the country. He gives Dante a friendly warning to drop his investigations.

With its lack of monster attacks and only glimpses of the creature until later in the film, you might think Bigfoot: The Conspiracy would be fairly dull. Surprisingly writer/director Chris Simoes keeps things fairly interesting. He mixes bizarre theories, dark sunglasses-wearing feds and plenty of footage of the Georgia woods into a strangely interesting film. The effect is something like a cross between one of those old documentaries such as Bigfoot: Man or Beast? and a cheap spy film.

We finally get a good look at the big guy around the forty five minute mark and he actually looks fairly impressive. Given the film’s budget keeping him in the shadows was probably a good idea though. Once we finally see Bigfoot the film picks its pace up with some corrupt agents, double-crosses and a shadowy company that wants to create a human/Sasquatch hybrid. It all ends up with everyone in the woods and a final revelation that reminded me of Monstrous. Both in the nature of the creature and the film’s opinion of humanity as a species

I know Bigfoot: The Conspiracy won’t be for everyone, but I got a surprising amount of fun out of it. Simoes knows how to get the most out of an idea and a couple of dollars, useful abilities to have if you’re making indie films. His first feature Bigfoot: The Curse of Blood Mountain is available as a free watch on YouTube, I plan on checking it out when I get some free time.

Bigfoot: The Conspiracy is available to stream. You can check the film’s Facebook page for more details.