It's nearly impossible to put into words how awful this movie truly is. The acting and dubbing is beyond laughable, it has the worst stock footage ever and barely has anything resembling a plot. The entire world in the film seems to operate without logic or reason. Somehow the kid, Paul, makes his way into the middle of the Sierra Nevada mountains after running away from boarding school because Bigfoot told him his dad was in danger. Paul is then picked up by a trucker who doesn't seem at all puzzled that a 10 year old is out there. Paul then proceeds to magically find his forest ranger dad walking around in the middle of the woods despite having no possible way of knowing where he would be, and his dad barely questions it. And that's just in the first ten minutes. The whole movie plays out like there wasn't even a script and instead the director made it up day to day. I'd recommend watching the MST3K version of this so there isn't any lasting mental scarring from the absolute mess assaulting the senses. The two people rating this movie an 8/10 and 7/10 either must've been involved in the production or actually had their sanity affected by this turd, because literally nothing in this movie is redeemable, save some nice shots of the California wilderness, and that's why it gets one star. This movie isn't healthy for children and other living things.
24 Reviews
This was a doozie!
Lost_cow16 April 2017
This movie was chosen as episode 2 of the reboot of MST3K for a reason. It's not even "so bad it's good", just plain bad.
The story doesn't go anywhere, I've seen better editing from the average 11 year old's YouTube video, the acting is seriously painful to watch, and the whole thing is just completely disjointed. It's like a fever dream from which you just can't wake up from.
The only thing that saved the movie was the MST3K riffing, some of the funniest (and edgiest!) I've heard. Do yourself a favour... if you MUST watch this schlock, watch the MST3K version.
The story doesn't go anywhere, I've seen better editing from the average 11 year old's YouTube video, the acting is seriously painful to watch, and the whole thing is just completely disjointed. It's like a fever dream from which you just can't wake up from.
The only thing that saved the movie was the MST3K riffing, some of the funniest (and edgiest!) I've heard. Do yourself a favour... if you MUST watch this schlock, watch the MST3K version.
Captivatingly Bad
gabrielheath6 February 2008
I place this movie in my personal category of movies that cross into an area of unusually poor film-making, and in doing so, leave you unable to pull yourself away. Even telling friends, you have to see this movie because it is SO bad. I have to tell myself that this is the goal of those who make movies like this. I just can't honestly accept that someone wrote this, thought it was good, and was able to make the movie, with the honest intention of having it be good. So, if you are considering watching this movie, chances are it's because you've found it at a library, (I've never seen it in any video store), but if you have made the unfortunate decision to pay money to rent, or, heaven forbid, buy it, I suggest a healthy dose of your preferred inebriant and low expectations. REALLY low expectations.
Mind numbing and HORRID
theedvela15 April 2017
From out of focus shots, to shots you couldn't connect with Legos, to acting so wooden you look for termites 🐜... This is BORING, plot less, and totally disjointed, with inadvertent time travel as the film constantly jumps from fall to winter (snow ❄ in one shot, gone in the next). A complete waste from start (at the world's worst museum) to finish (at a raccoon filled cabin) THIS is cinematic torture!
The definition of disjointed
bensonmum216 April 2017
Upfront, I feel I need to say that I had never seen Cry Wilderness until it appeared in one of episodes of new MST3K. Regardless, I will be as objective as possible. I'm not one of those who thinks a movie is necessarily bad for appearing on MST3K. Some of the films on the show are actually very good and enjoyable on their own. Unfortunately, Cry Wilderness isn't one of them.
In short, Cry Wilderness is a mess of a movie. What little plot there is concerns an annoying little boy who receives a warning from Bigfoot that his father is in danger. This thin thread of a plot doesn't really hold the film together, however. The movie consists of a series of unrelated scenes haphazardly put together. The acting ranges from bad to downright atrocious. Continuity is non- existent. Characters go from one location to a completely different location in seconds. The mystical hokum of the old Native American and his band of animals is ridiculously presented. And Bigfoot is a disaster. The costume isn't even complete. On the positive side, there are some nice animal-in- nature type shots, but that's about it. Overall, a lowly 2/10 from me.
In short, Cry Wilderness is a mess of a movie. What little plot there is concerns an annoying little boy who receives a warning from Bigfoot that his father is in danger. This thin thread of a plot doesn't really hold the film together, however. The movie consists of a series of unrelated scenes haphazardly put together. The acting ranges from bad to downright atrocious. Continuity is non- existent. Characters go from one location to a completely different location in seconds. The mystical hokum of the old Native American and his band of animals is ridiculously presented. And Bigfoot is a disaster. The costume isn't even complete. On the positive side, there are some nice animal-in- nature type shots, but that's about it. Overall, a lowly 2/10 from me.
The worst movie ever
ericphil13 July 2001
I saw this film years ago when it came to theaters for an extremely limited release. I remember the film so well because I won a door prize the day I viewed it. I watched the film with a theater full of young kids and even the kids didn't like it. Many slept and others just shook their young heads in disbelief. How could such a poor film be produced.
Disjointed Mess
jclinard-344-34467324 April 2017
Cry Wilderness is the kind of film that gets made because some writer / director had an idea that nobody else believed in (with good reason). Instead of waiting for a better idea, the script gets filmed on a shoestring budget. The minimal plot gets heavily padded by stock wilderness footage, which makes the constant changes in terrain (forest, scrubland, mountain) and season (snowy winter in one scene, bright greens of summer in the next) obvious to a bright three year old. Then there is the acting, which makes me wonder if the next door neighbor's kid and a few drinking buddies were assembled to round out the minimal cast. Then there is the Bigfoot costume, which looks like somebody took a set of hair clippers to a Chewbacca halloween costume and called it a day. Do not attempt to watch this without the cast of MST3K. Given a choice between watching this film and viewing your second cousin's home movies of a trip they took to Yellowstone back in 1978, pick the latter.
Entertaining in its Awfulness
gavin694228 May 2017
A Bigfoot-type creature befriends Paul, a young student. His father is a park ranger trying to capture an escaped tiger. Everyone in town is on edge and wants the tiger killed. David tries to keep Bigfoot a secret.
Maybe 3 is a little high to rate this film, but I don't feel right giving it a 1 or 2. Unlike some truly awful messes, it never suffers from the biggest sin a movie can make: boredom. The nonsense of the plot and background actually sort of helps. Coherent? No. But all the more entertaining.
What was most interesting to find out is that a couple of the actors involved have actually appeared in real, very successful films. How they were tricked into this (beyond the easy paycheck) is really beyond me.
Maybe 3 is a little high to rate this film, but I don't feel right giving it a 1 or 2. Unlike some truly awful messes, it never suffers from the biggest sin a movie can make: boredom. The nonsense of the plot and background actually sort of helps. Coherent? No. But all the more entertaining.
What was most interesting to find out is that a couple of the actors involved have actually appeared in real, very successful films. How they were tricked into this (beyond the easy paycheck) is really beyond me.
A total abortion. How this became an actual movie is unexplainable
coleseverns26 February 2018
This movie appears in my nightmares. I wish so badly to go back to the time when I never saw this, but unfortunately I'm stuck with knowing it exists. It made me ask many questions: Who greenlit this monstrosity? What were they high on? Did they owe a favor to someone? Letting this dumpster fire become an actual movie should have resulted in criminal punishment. Jail time at the very least.
You'll "Cry", all right!
lemon_magic28 April 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Like most of the posters who commented on "Cry Wilderness", my first exposure to it was via the recent MST3K version. Now, I'm not one to condemn a movie out of hand just because a bunch of professional film "riffers" made fun of it. I often think that MST3K and Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic, etc., just take the stance that a movie sucks and then backfill their jokes and satire to convince their audience via an overwhelming volume of attack and vitriol.
But "Cry Wilderness", well, it's not very good.
It's not Ed Wood level bad, or Jerry Warren bad. What money there was in the budget shows up on screen with decent lighting, acceptable use of stock footage, nice nature photography, and photogenic actors who could at least pass muster in community theater productions.
But hoooo boy, the plot and the dialog are all over the place, and nothing in the script seems to follow from anything else. After 10 minutes of watching inane characters bouncing off each other like cats in a laundry sack, I was ready to pack it it and go watch something else (hopefully something better).
I stuck it out...but my patience was not rewarded.
You can skip this one, even in the MST3K rendition because even their riffing can't save it.
But "Cry Wilderness", well, it's not very good.
It's not Ed Wood level bad, or Jerry Warren bad. What money there was in the budget shows up on screen with decent lighting, acceptable use of stock footage, nice nature photography, and photogenic actors who could at least pass muster in community theater productions.
But hoooo boy, the plot and the dialog are all over the place, and nothing in the script seems to follow from anything else. After 10 minutes of watching inane characters bouncing off each other like cats in a laundry sack, I was ready to pack it it and go watch something else (hopefully something better).
I stuck it out...but my patience was not rewarded.
You can skip this one, even in the MST3K rendition because even their riffing can't save it.
cheesy howwa film
ksf-222 April 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Amateurs. cheesy script. awkward timing. School kid "Paul" runs off when he thinks his father is in trouble.... apparently Paul had a run-in with Bigfoot sometime in the past. A local posse of a native American, a US Marshall (or so he claims!) and Paul's father are hunting down the same Bigfoot. The most interesting things going on here are the filming locations - Devils Postpile and Mono Lake. I saw the Mystery Science 3000 version... some clever lines in that one. The film itself is just inane. At one point, the native American wrestles a bear. Even meets up with a dead ancestor. And the kid keeps running off and disobeying orders. He can never just do what they say, so we at some point we hope something bad DOES happen to him. Written and directed by Jay Schlossberg. His specialty seems to be horror flicks. Just terrible. The Mystery version is kind of funny, and currently showing on netflix. as of now (april 2017), one of the films on IMDb that has a 2.0 rating.
Bizarre family fare
Woodyanders26 August 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Little boy Paul (an earnest and engaging performance by Eric Foster) befriends a friendly Bigfoot (burly Tom Folkes in a goofy looking suit). Meanwhile, Paul's forest ranger dad Will (overplayed with eye-rolling panache by Maurice Grandmaison) and several others venture out into the woods to capture an escaped tiger. Man, does this flick register as a definite head-scratching oddity: Director/co-writer Jay Schlossberg-Cohen and co-writer Philip Yordan clumsily blend sappy sentiment, cutesy animal antics (a family of adorable comic relief raccoons rampaging in a kitchen needs to be seen in order to be believed), and standard, but pretty tense and absorbing trekking through the woods action adventure thrills into a truly baffling oddball affair. And if that isn't kooky enough, our beefy Sasquatch drinks Coca-Cola and enjoys listening to rock music. Moreover, the adult actors ham it up like nobody's business, with John Tallman as jolly Native American Jim, Griffin Casey as obnoxious musclehead big game hunter Morgan Hicks, and Navarre Perry as jerky teacher Mr. Douglas rating as the most flagrant histrionic offenders of the bunch. Naturally, there's also lots of footage of animals in the wilderness and, surprisingly, a good deal of tension as well. Joseph D. Urbancyk's slick cinematography makes the most out of the breathtaking sylvan scenery. Fritz Heede's mechanically bouncy synthesizer score adds to the overall loopiness. A real curio.
Good family viewing
jeffohaco11 December 2009
I thought it was a pretty good film, for a low budget type movie. Acting was pretty good. Morgan character was very intriguing. I am wondering if this couldn't have been a much better film, had their been a bigger budget. With that said, what Mr. Coehn had to work with was refreshing and very creative. The scenes were shot in extremely beautiful area of Ca. I think probably lack of funds for distribution, could be reason film didn't do so well. My hat's off to Mr. Schlochberg -Coehn. I really wish that it was easier to get a copy of this, but almost impossible to get. Maybe some sort of sequel could be made, even though so much time has gone by.
Wow! What a bad movie
Rruffin838 May 2017
I watched it on the revamp of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 as well. THANK GOD, because I would not have lasted 10 minutes. It still took me 3 nights to watch it because it was sooooo bad. MST3K cast kept me in it, laughing my butt off. They had wild animals in the movie and you could see the collars on some because they were chained so they didn't attack the actors. Hilarious!!!
A Pretty Bad Wannabe E.T.
Michael_Elliott7 May 2017
Cry Wilderness (1987)
* (out of 4)
Paul (Eric Foster) is a young student who runs away from his school after Bigfoot tells him that his forest ranger father is in trouble. You see, the previous summer Paul and Bigfoot became friends but no one believes the kid. Now the kid is reunited with his father who is tracking down a dangerous tiger but there are bigger issues going on.
CRY WILDERNESS is a pretty darn bad movie but it's thankfully campy and silly enough to where you can get some entertainment out of it. The film comes from director Jay Schlossberg-Cohen whose only other credit was a segment he did for the even more awful NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR. This film here is certainly among the worst Bigfoot movies that you're going to see as everything they were going for just fails.
This was obviously meant to be a heart-warming tale of a boy and his friend ala something like E.T. but this film fails on pretty much all levels. The biggest problem is that there's really no connection between the viewers and the characters. All of the characters are pretty much one-note and even worse is the fact that the film just never builds up the relationships between them. We're supposed to care for this young boy and his father but we don't. There's supposed to be a tender moment between Bigfoot and the boy but it's silly more than anything else.
I will say that the film does offer up some decent performances but that's just about it. There's a lot of footage of various wildlife animals that is probably the most entertaining thing going on. It's really too bad that the film itself wasn't better or at least they could have used Bigfoot in more of the scenes. As it stands, CRY WILDERNESS will appeal to fans of bad movies but that's about it.
* (out of 4)
Paul (Eric Foster) is a young student who runs away from his school after Bigfoot tells him that his forest ranger father is in trouble. You see, the previous summer Paul and Bigfoot became friends but no one believes the kid. Now the kid is reunited with his father who is tracking down a dangerous tiger but there are bigger issues going on.
CRY WILDERNESS is a pretty darn bad movie but it's thankfully campy and silly enough to where you can get some entertainment out of it. The film comes from director Jay Schlossberg-Cohen whose only other credit was a segment he did for the even more awful NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR. This film here is certainly among the worst Bigfoot movies that you're going to see as everything they were going for just fails.
This was obviously meant to be a heart-warming tale of a boy and his friend ala something like E.T. but this film fails on pretty much all levels. The biggest problem is that there's really no connection between the viewers and the characters. All of the characters are pretty much one-note and even worse is the fact that the film just never builds up the relationships between them. We're supposed to care for this young boy and his father but we don't. There's supposed to be a tender moment between Bigfoot and the boy but it's silly more than anything else.
I will say that the film does offer up some decent performances but that's just about it. There's a lot of footage of various wildlife animals that is probably the most entertaining thing going on. It's really too bad that the film itself wasn't better or at least they could have used Bigfoot in more of the scenes. As it stands, CRY WILDERNESS will appeal to fans of bad movies but that's about it.
This kills brain cells
BandSAboutMovies18 September 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Cry Wilderness comes from that most painful of all movie genres -- the earnest family-friendly film with a message. This is the kind of movie that your church youth group would show on a Saturday afternoon after some lessons on Jesus. But see, I grew up Catholic, so my Saturday afternoons were spent watching Hammer films and hoping that my family would go to church that night so I could stay up watching Chiller Theater and sleeping in.
Once you grow up, some of those movies seem cloying and ridiculous. I didn't encounter Cry Wilderness as a kid. No, I got blasted with both barrels of its strangeness as a fully grown adult.
This is the kind of movie that demands that you be OK with the fact that BIgfoot can show up and visit young Paul Cooper and warn him that his father will die unless he leaves his fancy school behind and, well, cry wilderness.
It's also a movie where seasoned outdoorsmen have no idea how to properly handle weapons, continually pointing them directly at people, planting the muzzle of rifles into dirt and even running with their fingers directly on the trigger.
There are also mystical Native Americans, a park ranger who never wears his uniform, raccoons who know how to knock on doors, a child who is obsessed with said raccoons to the point where he allows them to get in the kitchen sink and eat, a bad guy principal who is the worst Xerox of William Daniels ever, a school that's cool with a student wearing a Bigfoot medallion as part of his uniform and moments where the film goes completely out of focus. Make those numerous moments.
Are you cool with seeing Bigfoot's zipper? How much b roll footage is too much? And are you ready for earnest country rock and a movie that feels like it was made in 1978, not 1987?
Topping it all off is the fact that many of the people in this film were also involved in one of my favorite bits of sheer lunatic filmmaking, The Nightmare Never Ends, which is also part of the even more manic Night Train to Terror.
You can watch it yourself by grabbing the DVD from Vinegar Syndrome. Or, if you enjoy Mystery Science Theater 3000, you can check out their take on the film on Netflix.
Once you grow up, some of those movies seem cloying and ridiculous. I didn't encounter Cry Wilderness as a kid. No, I got blasted with both barrels of its strangeness as a fully grown adult.
This is the kind of movie that demands that you be OK with the fact that BIgfoot can show up and visit young Paul Cooper and warn him that his father will die unless he leaves his fancy school behind and, well, cry wilderness.
It's also a movie where seasoned outdoorsmen have no idea how to properly handle weapons, continually pointing them directly at people, planting the muzzle of rifles into dirt and even running with their fingers directly on the trigger.
There are also mystical Native Americans, a park ranger who never wears his uniform, raccoons who know how to knock on doors, a child who is obsessed with said raccoons to the point where he allows them to get in the kitchen sink and eat, a bad guy principal who is the worst Xerox of William Daniels ever, a school that's cool with a student wearing a Bigfoot medallion as part of his uniform and moments where the film goes completely out of focus. Make those numerous moments.
Are you cool with seeing Bigfoot's zipper? How much b roll footage is too much? And are you ready for earnest country rock and a movie that feels like it was made in 1978, not 1987?
Topping it all off is the fact that many of the people in this film were also involved in one of my favorite bits of sheer lunatic filmmaking, The Nightmare Never Ends, which is also part of the even more manic Night Train to Terror.
You can watch it yourself by grabbing the DVD from Vinegar Syndrome. Or, if you enjoy Mystery Science Theater 3000, you can check out their take on the film on Netflix.
As seen on MST3K, "Cry Wilderness" is an incomprehensible bore.
the_glorious_sob9 May 2017
Warning: Spoilers
I discovered this on the revived "Mystery Science Theater 3000"; it's screened in the second episode from Netflix. Chances are, most viewers have found it through the comedy series. Its rating's low enough to qualify for the Bottom Rated List but it has too few votes to be eligible. I recognized nobody in the cast & there were numerous animals & yet only a couple of actresses. This film can be classified in the sub-genre of Bigfoot & Sasquatch movies. But so far, the monster (I forget its name) only makes a few appearances and really served as a mere MacGuffin, a term used in the website TV Tropes as something to get the plot moving. It moved, but only at a speed slower than slugs or glaciers. The cast did consist of the typical characters: the little boy who knows & believes in the monster's existence, his single ranger father who protects him yet is skeptical of the beast, the ranger's minority pal, Jim (a Native American specifically) - one annoying feature is when Jim laughs (a lot), the whole cast LOLs, & for no damn discernible reason usually. & one more character: the villainous bounty hunter who do believes in the beast but seeks to claim it as a prize. Again, "Cry Wilderness" bored me, which is why I watch that MST3K episode fewer times than others. & while some movies that were MST'd are notorious enough to make IMDb.com's Bottom Rated List, others, such as this motion picture, are either dull but worth at least 4/10 stars or bad but not crappy enough to prompt the minimum 1500 votes. I ain't sure how else you can watch "Cry Wilderness," but the likeliest option is to watch it on "Mystery Science Theater 3000" on Netflix.
This film can't be killed. Run! RUN AWAY!
dnlmonaco24 July 2017
There are bad movies and there are awful movies and then there are movies so stunningly terrible that even Mystery Science Theater 3000 can't make them better.
Covered in the second episode of the show's 11th season, you'd expect the jokes about this bad movie to be a welcome dose of fun for MST3K's return. Sadly not. Either because of the new cast's inexperience or returning producer Joel Hodgeson's tendency to "play nice" with the bad movies, Cry Wilderness actually manages to defy satire.
This film is so god awful and poorly made that it actually can't be made fun of. The acting is bad, the script is drivel, the story is razor thin. It's everything MST3K has made fun of for nearly twenty years and yet some how it's worse, none of the jokes made at Cry Wilderness' expense manage to be funny because it's just...that...bad. it's by far one of the top ten worst films they've ever ridiculed and it's certainly one of the worst films I've ever watched.
Don't watch this movie, even if it's in the context of an MST3K episode, it defies all expectations for awful.
Covered in the second episode of the show's 11th season, you'd expect the jokes about this bad movie to be a welcome dose of fun for MST3K's return. Sadly not. Either because of the new cast's inexperience or returning producer Joel Hodgeson's tendency to "play nice" with the bad movies, Cry Wilderness actually manages to defy satire.
This film is so god awful and poorly made that it actually can't be made fun of. The acting is bad, the script is drivel, the story is razor thin. It's everything MST3K has made fun of for nearly twenty years and yet some how it's worse, none of the jokes made at Cry Wilderness' expense manage to be funny because it's just...that...bad. it's by far one of the top ten worst films they've ever ridiculed and it's certainly one of the worst films I've ever watched.
Don't watch this movie, even if it's in the context of an MST3K episode, it defies all expectations for awful.
No Plot
dc-1500924 November 2018
To be honest, what I like about this film is the music and the footage of nature. It looked like it was filmed in Canada, my favorite country. However, it seemed like the film took place in several places. For example, the boy somehow walks from San Diego to the middle of Alaska in under 24 hours towards the beginning, and he later finds his dad in a Canadian forest. His dad tells him towards the end to go to a bus stop, there aren't any in the country. My favorite part of the film was the ending because it showed the potential relationship teachers can have with students. However, I gave it a 1 because it didn't have a plot. I was confused most of the time. I watched the MST3K version and it is the best episode of Season 11. The original version is unwatchable.
Fun fact: I went to Balboa Park and the San Diego Air and Space Museum in real life, where some of the filming took place.
This movie is terrible
dgbug329 August 2018
Poor movie
makuoejikeme29 March 2022
Very incoherent and poorly executed movie. Even the sound track sounds uninspiring. Not to mention the various instances of insensitive comments towards Indians and the perpetuation of negative stereotypes about them.
Horrible.
tessaducek14 June 2021
I often wonder how producers find scripts like this a good idea!
No real plot. Better acting in first grader school plays. Unlikely a child would hitchhike alone with no questions asked. And finds his father right away in supposed wilderness. The best parts of this parody were the appearence of each animal. The rambo wannabe would have eaten a bullet breaking into some ones cabin. If not for MST3K I would have turned to Yoko Ono's film!
No real plot. Better acting in first grader school plays. Unlikely a child would hitchhike alone with no questions asked. And finds his father right away in supposed wilderness. The best parts of this parody were the appearence of each animal. The rambo wannabe would have eaten a bullet breaking into some ones cabin. If not for MST3K I would have turned to Yoko Ono's film!
Awful!! Why bother?
frednorman-137277 April 2022
I watched this on Tubi just look at the scenes of Mono Lake and the south Tufa beds. Actually I didn't really watch the movie I just scrubbed through on my iPad to the scenes I was looking for..but truly, what an awful movie!
The poster for the movie is more interesting than the movie itself
Sweet_Honey_Iced_tea7 July 2023
This movie is an absolutely feverish nightmare to try and watch from a critical point of view. None of it feels coherent or logical by any standpoint, the characters all feel like planks of wood with no chemistry or actual character to be found. The movie's gimmick is simple: kid gets thingy that has little explanation that allows him to summon bigfoot to his location at any time, similarly to Springtrump in Five Nights at Candy's 2, but the concept is barely used at all. This movie's main child actor feels like an E list Child Anakin Skywalker ripoff, and it doesn't help the movie at all.
This movie is so abysmal, that one of the posters made me feel more emotion than the movie itself, with it's obvious image over the actual poster with the stupid bigfoot smile, it made me LAUGH. It made me FEEL something, which the actual movie didn't.
This movie is so abysmal, that one of the posters made me feel more emotion than the movie itself, with it's obvious image over the actual poster with the stupid bigfoot smile, it made me LAUGH. It made me FEEL something, which the actual movie didn't.
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