The Wild Man of the Navidad is a film by two students who studied with the writer/producer of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre from 1974, Kim Henkel. Duane Graves and Justin Meeks recreate in great detail the feel of a creature-based horror movie from the 1970’s. From the way the movie was filmed, to the acting, to the “special effects” – everything about this film screams retro.
This is a really fun film, but I wouldn’t go into it expecting to be scared – at all. It’s funny at times, and maybe a little bit “thrilling”, but at no point during the course of this film was I scared or “creeped out” by any stretch of the imagination. But short-comings or not, Meeks and Graves have done a fantastic job recreating this genre and is worth checking out to anyone that’s a fan of campy b-movies, or the horror genre who appreciates its roots.
You can check out the full review of this film over at Arse-bot’s alter ego on Examiner.com.
The film is mostly based on the journals of Dale S. Rogers (played by Meeks), who lived along the Navidad River near Sublime, Texas in the 1970’s. The film focuses on Dale, his wheelchair-bound wife, and their Mexican care-taker, Mario. After losing his welding job, Dale needs to find a way to make ends meet. After some persuasion from the locals, he opens up his land -that has been closed off for years by his father before him- to the hunters. Dale knows that there is some sort of man-beast out there that’s hungry for blood, but still allows people to go hunting on his property, for the right price. The hunters intruding on it’s land angers the Wild Man and he starts to become increasingly more violent and bold in his attacks. After Dale and the town folk have had enough of the murderous beast, a hunting party is put together to try to rid the area of the beast, permanently.