THE SIEGE OF APE CANYON (Documentary, 2025)

New On Demand from Small Town Monsters!
Directed by Eli Watson.
Check out the trailer here!!

In 1924, a group of gold prospectors in the state of Washington claimed they were attacked by a group of large, bipedal apes that they called “Mountain Devils” after their party shot and killed one of the beasts. Now, over a hundred years later, Marc Myrsell claims to have found the remnants of the cabin where this standoff between man and beast occurred.

THE SIEGE OF APE CANYON comes in hot with a black and white reenactment of the events described by Fred Beck, one of the surviving prospectors who allegedly was attacked all night by a group of angry ape men after killing one of them. This scene is shot surprisingly well and even has a few Raimi-like extreme angles such as a camera attached to the end of a gun barrel to make the scene all the more vivid. While the Mountain Devils, as the prospectors called them, are cloaked in shadows, this scene really amps up the energy and promise that this documentary is going to be a good one.

Unfortunately, because director Eli Watson starts out with this good stuff, the film ends up being top-heavy as the film becomes something completely different after that engaging first reenactment. The film shifts to Bigfoot enthusiast and all-around character Marc Myersell. While Myersell seems like a fun guy to talk to, he is definitely an eccentric who lives a life outside of what most would call normal. Myersell tends to venture into the rugged terrain on his own, which is ill-advised by everyone he knows, even his wife, but he does so just the same as his passion to uncover the mysteries of Ape Canyon take precedence over his own well-being. The film delves deep into who Myersell is in the middle portion, which is interesting, but over-shadowed by the action-packed beginning reenactment.

The third part of the doc focuses on an excursion into Ape Canyon where Myersell leads a group of explorers, including the Small-Town Monsters team and descendants of Fred Beck himself to find the spot where the cabin was located. This trip proves to be more dangerous than planned. While the third act of these documentaries usually consist of a night investigation with calls, whoops, and wood knocks, this one is a more casual venture into an uncharted landscape. Not the most thrilling way to end things, but points can be given for making it different than most Bigfoot docs out there.

I’m going to give THE SIEGE OF APE CANYON 2 Feets and 4 Toes!

THE SIEGE OF APE CANYON hits the ground running, but this exciting opening isn’t really indicative of the tender film that unfolds afterwards. This tonal shift leads to some thoughtful and sincere moments of emotional heft by the end, making one of the more personable and endearing docs in the Small-Town Monsters series.