Area's 'Goatman' legend hits the big screen ; Bowie Man's Film Premiered At South by Southwest Festival (via Paul Cropper)

8 April 2010
The Capital (Annapolis)
Copyright (c) 2010 The Capital (Annapolis). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Jimmy Tupper is a nobody. He spends his days working at a Starbucks and his nights drinking and playing Rock Band. His friends see him as a resident stoner and a waste of space. One night while he is passed-out drunk, his friends leave him in the middle of the woods in Bowie. The next day the friends return to where they had left Tupper and he is nowhere to be found.

When Tupper finally emerges from the woods he is beaten and bloodied, making outlandish claims. He has seen the "Goatman" of Bowie. A drunken rambling or truth? The fictional Tupper plans to prove it as fact.
Tupper's quest and the urban legend of the Goatman of Bowie take center stage in a film that premiered last month at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

The film's producer and lead actor, Andrew Bowser, created the film, "Jimmy Tupper versus the Goatman of Bowie," as part one of a trilogy of films about the urban legend he heard about growing up in Bowie. Filming for the entire production was done there.

Bowser, who most recently gained notoriety with his "Caps Rap" video, which became an Internet sensation, has been waiting for the opportunity to showcase his work on the big screen. The SXSW Film Festival, which originated in 1994, is a nine-day festival which celebrates raw innovation and emerging talent with a diverse program ranging from provocative documentaries to subversive Hollywood comedies. Bowser's production had three showings at the festival.

"The only way for people to see the film right now is if we are able to get into more film festivals," Bowser said. "I am going to enter more festivals and look for financing for 'Goatman 2.' " Bowser says his work is "part modern horror documentary and part old school monster movie. It's an innovative and quirky film that challenges the notion of found footage and what it means to be scared in the woods."

"The movie is more of a commentary on the genre that was made popular by 'The Blair Witch Project' in 1999," he added. Bowser, who plays the part of Tupper, said he made the film because he had been fascinated by the story of the Goatman since he was little. "I love the idea of having our very own monster, a hometown creature on par with the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Bigfoot," he said.

"My hopes are to get funding for the sequel and eventually complete my Goatman trilogy. Perhaps there is some rich doctor in Bowie somewhere that's always dreamed of being a movie producer," Bowser quipped.
Also appearing in the film with Bowser are fellow Bowie residents Pedro Gonzalez, Mike Eller, Micah Terrill, Rose Rodkey and Brittany Latorrre. The producers of the film, Gary Coby and Tim Kuczka, are also Bowie residents.