RETURN TO BOGGY CREEK (1977)
Article #1276 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-11-2004
Posting Date: 2-8-2005
Directed by Tom Moore
Featuring Dawn Wells, Dana Plato, David Sobiesk

Three children who fish out in the swamps near Boggy Creek encounter the monster.

This is one of the two separate sequels to the 1973 docudrama THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK. Though that movie is no classic, the documentary approach taken by that movie gave it more flavor than it might otherwise have had. This one jettisons the documentary approach, so what you’re left with is an unoriginal and silly story that is not particularly well written and with highly variable acting. As far as the latter goes, Dawn Wells (Mary Ann on “Gilligan’s Island”) comes off best, though her worrying mother role is the stuff of cliches, and Jim Wilson is fairly good when he’s being a colorful storyteller; his best moments are when he concocts the mysterious “catfish Kool-aid” that the children use as bait, and when he tells another group of children his own variation on the Hansel and Gretel story. Outside of these moments, the best thing about the movie is the location footage and the atmosphere that goes with it. Otherwise, this one is pretty forgettable.