Friday nights are made for Frogman. It’s a full-on fun fest of found footage freak-outs, killer creature design & effects, and hilarious interviews with kooky locals, including one guy who insists: “Frogman fucks”. Friday nights are not made for introspection and heady deep dives down philosophical rabbit holes. Friday nights are ripe for Pizza and Monsters; Beer and Body Horror; Cozy clothes ‘n’ Cryptids!
Frogman is co-written and directed by Anthony Cousins, who horror fans will no doubt recognize from the slasher send-up segments The Night He Came Back Again! Part IV – The Final Kill & The Night He Came Back Again! Part VI: The Night She Came Back of Scare Package (2019) & Scare Package II: Rad Chad’s Revenge (2022). Cousins continues his unique brand of horror-obsessed humor through into this new feature, with a forest dwelling monster that would make Bigfoot jealous.
“Frogman knows exactly how silly and absurd it is, but never backs down on its own weirdness.”
In the summer of 1999, a 12-year-old Dallas Kyle (Nathan Tymoshuk) filmed a now infamous encounter with Loveland, Ohio’s Frogman creature. In the passing year, young Dallas grew up to become an aspiring filmmaker and the internet sleuths have taken this as evidence that his original home recording was nothing but an elaborate hoax. Now, having hit a personal and professional slump, Dallas is heading back out into the woods of Loveland to capture (on film) irrefutable proof of Frogman’s existence.
Of course, going toe-to-toe with a mythological beast is going to require a team of experts, and Dallas knows just who to call on for help. The same people’s you’d call if you were about to go tromping through the woods looking for a maybe made-up monster: Your friends! More specifically, your friends who don’t believe a word of your Frogman ramblings. But with the band back together again, Dallas and the team head off into Frogman territory in search of…
“…shot on Hi-8 film, giving the film a true-blue found-footage aesthetic.”
One of the real joys of Frogman is Cousins uncompromising approach to make the whole shebang as real and authentic as possible. Dallas and his reluctant crew Scotty (Benny Barrett) and Amy (Chelsey Grant) feel like real friends with real history, really busting each other chops the entire trip. We also visit Frogman tourist attractions and gift shops filled with an insane amount of Frogman merch! Best of all, the majority of the film is shot on Hi-8 film, giving the film a true-blue found-footage aesthetic.
In a fun play with form, Frogman does use multiple video formats. The Hi-8 recordings aren’t just a convenient crutch to hide a poorly lit monster. For Dallas it’s a personal choice, but the movie is very much set in the present day. Everyone involved has a camera in their pocket, and when shit starts to get scary, we cut between multiple angles and film quality to get a full sense of the action. It’s a brilliant move, and one that is used to pull the rug out from underneath more than once. Like a set of Russian Nesting Dolls, this Friday night flick is found footage inside found footage inside found footage.
“…a wild ride of hilarious high-strangeness, gross-out gags and kooky, loveable characters”
Frogman hits all the beats you’d expect from a shaky cam cryptid flick. It’s got jump scares inside tents, long eerie walk through the woods, and spooky moonlit glimpses of a monster hiding between the trees. But Frogman also packs a duffel bag of deranged surprises too. This amphibious antagonist is way more agile, way more deadly, and way more- uh- magical (?!??) than you might expect. Frogman fucks. But Frogman also casts spells?? With an enchanted wand???
It’s a movie that knows exactly how silly and absurd it is, but never backs down on its own weirdness. Bigfoot and The Mothman have been an A-listers since the 70s but Frogman is the new cryptid on the block. It’s a wild ride of hilarious high-strangeness, gross-out gags and kooky, loveable characters. Frogman is a shaken-not-stirred cocktail of lo-fi cinematography and gnarly body horror for the found-footage purists and tall glass of “what the fuck was that fun nonsense?” for the Midnight Madness crowd.
WHERE TO WATCH FROGMAN (2024):
Frogman is available now on VOD! You can also grab a VHS copy of the flick HERE if you’re ready to join the cult of Frogman. And, of course, let us know what you thought of Frogman. Does he fuck!??! find out in the official Nightmare on Film Street Discord now!
