THE DARK DIVIDE (2020)

Streaming on Tubi!
Directed by Tom Putnam.
Written by Tom Putnam, Robert M. Pyle.
Check out the trailer here!!

In this based on a true story set in 1995 California, David Cross plays Dr. Robert Pyle, a renowned butterfly expert, who is in search of purpose after he loses his wife Thea (Debra Messing) to cancer. Due to her illness, Robert postponed his trip to the American backcountry to prove his theories that an elusive species of butterfly exists in the area. But unbeknownst to Robert, Thea’s parting gift is a trip to the wilderness to perform this exploration and not wallow in self-pity after she is gone. Robert does indeed gear up as best a college professor can and set out to find his butterfly but instead runs into the elusive cryptid known as Bigfoot.

“It’s not the destination, it’s the journey,” I believe is the old adage from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Thisis a story about a man looking for some kind of sense in the world after the love of his life dies. He sets out to find one thing and ends up finding something quite different in THE DARK DIVIDE. This movie proves to be more of a meditative journey of self-discovery than your typical Bigfoot horror piece. There are some moments that are quite thrilling as Pyle is in over his head trouncing through the woods with only a butterfly net and only a rudimentary understanding of survival in the wild. The film ends with a downright chilling beat as well involving our favorite hairy cryptid. But for the most part, this is a story about a man out of his element and too proud to say so, and the man almost paying for that mistake with his life.

THE DARK DIVIDE focuses the bulk of its story establishing that Robert is pretty much full of shit. He’s a pompous man, overly educated and looking down on the rest of the populace, which seems to be a malady much of academia is stricken with. Robert is book smart, but an idiot in the field, a fact that even his peers in the faculty of the school he teaches at can sense. Once out in the wild, Robert runs into quite a few others, all of which recognize that he is a babe in the woods, though Robert’s pride won’t allow him to admit it. So, because of his inflated ego, he presses on, only to find out the hard way that the woods are very unkind, especially to the unprepared.

Anyone familiar with David Cross, either through his sketch comedy on MR. SHOW, his standup, or his iconic role as never-nude Tobias Fünke in the classic ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT series, can see that this comedically pompous character is something he could play with his eyes closed. When he is not ranting about politics on social media, Cross can be quite hilarious. As Robert Pyle, Cross does get into some comedic antics on his journey as he trips through the thick forests, but what surprised me was the way Cross handles the more serious moments involving Robert’s time with his dying wife and the metamorphosis he undergoes as he is served a big slice of humble pie by Mother Nature. Given his pomposity while interacting with the construction workers he sees in the forest and pretty much anyone else he interacts with in this movie, it should feel cathartic to see Robert fail so badly at wildernessing. But because Cross plays it so you can see the lost little man under all of those four-dollar words, my heart broke as he nears the revelation that there are things in this world he cannot overcome with his various degrees.

But what about Bigfoot. Well, the beast is present in one way or another pretty much throughout the entire movie. Robert finds giant footprints and even bigger piles of scat in his journey, hears wood knocks, and might have a glimpse or two of the big guy. But this isn’t your typical Bigfoot movie. The hairy beast is more of a metaphor for the truth of Robert’s current situation; elusive and just out of sight so as not to be completely understood.

I’m going to give THE DARK DIVIDE Four Feets.

This really isn’t a horror movie, but it does have a few very tense scenes and the ever-looming threat of the Bigfoot is there, even though the protagonist is oblivious to it for most of the movie. THE DARK DIVIDE ended up hitting me pretty hard. It’s a touching emotional journey, highlighting both Cross’ comedic skills, but also his dramatic heft as well. It’s low on Bigfoot, but still a wonderful and thrilling little story.