My biggest question is whether or not this is going to be the start of a folk hero horror shared universe. Will we soon be talking about an undead Pecos Bill gunning down teens and cyborg John Henry taking revenge on humanity? Will this lead to the horror version of that movie Tall Tale in which all of them battle to the death? It then jumps to the modern day where a bunch of kids in a reform program for first-time offenders are being sent into the woods under the supervision of Sergeant Hoke Tom Downey and guidance counselor Mrs.
K Kristina Kopf. Their personalities range from bad boy to bad girl to generic horror protagonist CB. While in the woods, the group encounters local crazy hermit Meeks Joe Estevez , but after he earns his cameo money as the only name in the film, he is driven away.
While hiking the next day, two of the teens find a skull from a giant ox and steal a horn. He follows them and kills Trish by bisecting her vertically, which is admittedly the kind of stuff that makes these movies worthwhile. The survivors escape to a cabin, but Bunyan destroys their van. He was imprisoned for murder when he killed the loggers for eating Babe. He got bigger since then. They try to return the horn, but Bunyan just uses it to kill one of the teens, because he does NOT care anymore.
The giant chases all of the remaining cast over a bridge in time to be shot to death by a militia. Some of the scenes of Bunyan holding people or interacting with them look super fake. I will say that Bunyan himself actually looks pretty good for the money. The design looks like a person who is both deformed and also has been suffering from living outdoors for a century. The characters are mediocre, but at least the kills are kind of fun. The themes often involve death, time, or, weirdly, farting.
So, when this show started, I really liked the first episode. The second episode, though, blew me away. Not only is Anthony Mackie hilarious when talking to himself, when it comes time to do the dramatic moments, he makes you feel it. He feels like a man genuinely trying to convey how much he values his family and how much he regrets not doing it sooner. It broke me a bit, to be honest. Unfortunately, while the rest of the episodes continue to bring great performers out, it seems like the scripts started running dry after that.
