Read the comments for Karl Kozak's straight to DVD creature feature Clawed and you'll find that the general consensus is that the film is a serviceable piece of Sasquatch silliness with adequate performances, some so-so gore, an acceptable monster, and a reasonably creepy atmosphere.Sadly, it is this mediocrity that will almost certainly doom the film to obscurity. Were the movie a genuine steaming pile of yeti-dung, as the current rating of 3/10 strangely suggests, it would undoubtedly secure itself a cult following, as has happened with low budget big-foot trash-fest Night of the Demon (1980). As it stands, Clawed simply isn't memorable enough.The gazillionth movie to nick its basic premise from Jaws (a deadly creature threatens to ruin a small community's Spring Break tourist trade), Clawed plays everything just a little too safe, with all the expected clichés present and correct, but nowhere near enough originality on display.The one moment that stood out for me (apart from when one teen hottie wanders into the woods in just her bra and very short shorts) is the discovery of a mutilated grizzly bear impaled on a tree branch; if there had been more of this kind of grisly inventiveness, the whole thing would have made a lot more impact.

Anyone who approaches a movie based on Sasquatch must know:1) It is not going to be a large budget film 2) There are not going to be any recognizable stars 3) Nothing in the movie can be construed as complete fact 4) It's not going to win any awardsThus, a movie such as this needs to be approached with an open mind and low expectations.I read one good review here when I saw it was going to be on Showtime Extreme (542 on DirectTV), so I decided to watch.What I saw was somewhat interesting. The acting was not bad and a few actors actually did a really fine job. On top of that, there was a good mix of some light-hearted humor, a couple times I laughed out loud, not out of sheer stupidity, but original humor.The movie could have done less with the stupid rednecks. I did like the close-up scene with the bear, and not knowing what Sasquatch truly looks like, I had no problems with what I saw. I guess if people go into this with high expectations, they're going to end up disappointed, but if you take it for what it is, it's not a waste of time. I could see Hollywood making a larger budget film out of the Sasquatch legend and put a couple (somewhat) big(ger)-named actors in it. I mean, if some hacks can make the Blair Witch Project and manage to turn that pile of crap into a blockbuster smash, why not something that has some plausibility?I gave it a 7 because I want to help see the rating of this film climb. I probably do not think it deserves more than about a 5 of 10, but it's certainly better than 2.3.Like someone else said, grab a girl, and cuddle up with some popcorn. At times she'll hold you close, and other times you'll both laugh together.

In the deep woods of Echo Mountain, Pine Creek, three poachers are slaughtered by a predator and the survivor, Ed, organizes an illegal hunting with three other hunters. Meanwhile, the teenagers Rich (Dylan Purcell) and Jay (Brandon Henschel) are assigned by their biology teacher to prepare a seminar about species in danger of extinction. Jay invites his girlfriend Shea (Casey LaBow) and his cousin Jenny (Chelsea Hobbs) to camp with Rich and him in the forest to research animals for their work. Meanwhile the Indian Ranger John Eagleheart (Nathaniel Arcand) is also in the woods tracking the Sasquatch. When Ed and his men are attacked by the Big Foot, the teenagers try to escape to save their lives."The Unknown" is a bad collection of clichés and completely disappointing. The story begins without any previous development of the characters, and we see a group of illegal hunters being chased by a creature. Then we see the Sheriff and his Indian Ranger trying to protect the locals while the Mayor preoccupied with the season of tourism, in a situation repeated in many movies ("Jaws", for example). The biology teacher joins a nerd with a bully in an absolutely illogical situation. The conclusion is silly and ridiculous. My vote is four.Title (Brazil): "O Desconhecido" ("The Unknown")

The Unknown is set in the small Pacific Northwest town of 'Pine Creek' & it's surrounding forest's & in particular an area called 'Echo Mountain' which has been the location of a series a mysterious disappearances & the center of lots of local legends about monsters. While out illegally poaching Ed Janzer (Miles O'Keefe) & three of his mates (Don Brady, Paul Cagney & Art Hickman) are attacked by something which slaughters Ed's mates & almost kills him but is saved by Indian forest Ranger John Eagleheart (Nathaniel Arcand), back in town & the general theory is that they were killed by a Grizzly Bear while Mayor Potts (John Patrick Lowrie) tells Sheriff Kassel (Jack Conley) to try & keep things as low key as possible & keep it out of the papers in fear of bad publicity. Meanwhile Ed has rounded three more of his mates up & head off into the wilderness for some revenge. At the local high school two pupils Jay Kelter (Brandon Henschel) & Richard Winslow (Dylan Purcell) are forced to work together & hand a report in on endangered species or they will both fail, along with a couple of chicks Shae (Casey LaBow) & Jenny (Chelsea Hobbs) they head off to Echo Mountain to gain some 'feild' experience & impress their teacher. I won't bother saying anything else as you can easily fill in the blanks yourself...Co-edited, co-written, co-produced & directed by Karl Kozak The Unknown in my humble opinion is boring low budget crap, it's as simple & straight forward as that. The script by Kozak & Don J. Rearden is far too slow & boring to have any impact, after the first ten minutes when the three poachers are killed it's the best part of three quarters of an hour before anything even remotely exciting happens & someone is killed, imagine all that time just sitting there watching a really slow, dull & boring film pass by as the hope that something will happen rapidly turns into desperation. There are simply not enough attacks in a film that has no other redeeming features, the character's are OK in context but they're still dull & clichéd, the angry hunter, the good natured Sheriff, the corrupt town official worried about bad publicity & scaring tourists away & of course the horny teenagers. A lot of the story doesn't make much sense, what is the creature protecting? Why did Ed shoot his mate? What the hell happened at the end? Everyone just sort of stands there for ages. What are those stupid flashbacks all about? Are we to believe that this creature is in fact 100's of years old? After three armed men are brutally killed four teenagers decide to spend the night in the same location for a school project? These kids are stupid yes, but that stupid? Most of The Unknown is just people walking through a forest, well that's the overall impression I'm left with anyway. I can't believe how many people have given this piece O' rubbish a good review, I clicked on three of the users who gave The Unknown 8 stars or above & they all only have one comment which really isn't a surprise is it? I am in hysterics at how these comments try to paint this film as deep, scary & meaningful!Director Kozak does a pretty good job on a low budget, although obviously shot on video The Unknown has good production values & the locations used are nice & have have lots of trees. Forget about any scares, shocks or surprises because there aren't any, at all. Forget about any gore either, the opening scenes feature two mangled bodies & someone whose guts slide out of their stomach wound but apart from that it's just the odd splash of fake blood. At the end of The Unknown a video tape of the creature is given to a news program who give it to an expert who claims that it's a hoax & is nothing more than a 'guy in a monkey suit', well I reckon he's giving them too much credit because the Bigfoot creature in this looks really naff.With a supposed budget of about $700,000 The Unknown was filmed in 2003 but not released until 2005, need I say anymore? The acting was OK, hey I don't mind giving credit where it's due.The Unknown is a really boring Bigfoot film, there's no gore, no scares, a dumb looking creature, really bad dialogue like 'we may be dumb but we ain't stupid' & a 'join-the-dots' plot. This is one to avoid, watch Night of the Demon (1980) again instead as it's the perfect example of how a killer Bigfoot film should be done. Released on DVD under the title Clawed: The Legend of Sasquatch although a bucket of s%*t still smells as bad under any name.