New On Demand, Blu-ray, & DVD from Small Town Monsters!

SKINWALKER: THE HOWL OF THE ROUGAROU (2021)

Directed by Seth Breedlove.
Find out more about this film here!

I’m a big fan of the Small Town Monsters series which dives deep into local cryptid lore. Recently, I’ve reviewed THE MARK OF THE BELL WITCH and TERROR IN THE SKIES, among others and am always a sucker for a documentary as long as it takes the subject seriously. Yes, I know it’s not likely that most of the occurrences and sightings actually happened, but I don’t want to rule them out either. I want to believe in Bigfoot and UFO’s and while some may scoff, there has to be something to all of these reports of myths, monsters, and aliens.

While I wasn’t looking for definite answers, not knowing much about dog-men and skinwalkers, I was curious to see what the crew at Small Town Monsters had to report with SKINWALKER: THE HOWL OF THE ROUGAROU. The film explores sightings, experiences, and historical lore revolving around a Southern Louisiana legend of a werewolf like creature roaming the swamplands. Sure, most likely these are tall tales meant to scare kids out of the dangerous swamps, but that didn’t stop this documentary team from looking for the Cajun Werewolf.

While I’ve been compelled with some of the Small Town Monsters investigations, most of them had some kind of credible evidence in terms of historical recollections, photographs, or film of the subject. Unfortunately, the Rougarou, which is a cool name, just doesn’t have any of that type of footage. Basically, a few people have experienced night terrors and nightmares where some kind of wolf-man has entered their room or saw some shadows creeping in the thick forested areas. Because of this, this doc really didn’t do a good job of raising my interest. Sure, the film does a great deal of research about the area. There are tales of skinwalkers from the local indigenous tribes and a few people who seem very eager to get on camera and tell their story. I don’t know exactly why I find myself enrapt into the stories involving Bigfoot, but for some reason, the dog-man and his canine cryptid ilk really don’t interest me, so maybe I’m not the target audience.

That said, the reproductions of the sightings, done in found footage style, are fun and the werewolf costume used is quite well done. SKINWALKER: THE HOWL OF THE ROUGEROU may not have uncovered any new secrets about cryptids, but running at just about an hour, it makes for a fun and breezy, though unconvincing foray into cryptid investigation. This one is for the Small Town Monsters completists, as it will most likely cause scoffs to the non-believers out there.

Check out the trailer here!!