SASQUATCH SUNSET: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Bigfoot But Were Afraid to Ask

SASQUATCH SUNSET (Blu-ray)

2024 / 89 min

FROM DECAL RELEASING

Review by Mr. Bonnie, the Bigfoot🙀

Sasquatch Sunset is one of those “what the hell did I just watch?” movies. Depending on how one is wired, that could be a good thing or bad thing. It also makes giving the film an unqualified recommendation either way a futile task.

One thing is certain…good or bad, you've never seen a Sasquatch movie quite like this. It’s amusing to picture someone buying or renting Sasquatch Sunset for a family movie night...without noticing the R rating. Directors David & Nathan Zellner serve up gobs of scenes of the mythical beasts fornicating, playing with themselves, vomiting, pissing & shitting, smelling their own genitals and giving birth. The males’ dongs are always hanging out, sometimes erect, while milk seeps from the female’s breasts as she’s feeding. One of them even attempts to have sex with a mountain lion.

For a while, it appears that grossing-out the viewer is the filmmakers’ primary agenda. With no dialogue, no discernible plot and only a family of four Sasquatches for characters, this is almost like watching an unflinching nature doc, only with actors in elaborate make-up (which is impressive) displaying nature’s most primal instincts. Taking place over the course of a year, the episodic narrative’s only real exposition consists of title cards indicating each season.

"Hey...does this look infected?"

But upon closer inspection, there’s a bit more here than meets the eye (or the gag reflex). Not much, mind you, but perhaps just enough to elevate Sunrise Sasquatch beyond plotless primate porn. Taking place in an unspecified forest, we never actually see humans, but their presence is increasingly (and ominously) felt as the film unfolds. That, coupled with the suggestion that this family might indeed be the last of their species, adds a layer of subtle poignancy during the final act.

Still, Sunrise Sasquatch will be tough sledding for anyone expecting traditional character and story elements, exacerbated by a somewhat meandering pace and plethora of scenes that seem calculated to shock (or tickle the funny bone of a 15 year old). Others might find the film amusingly audacious, with thought-provoking underlying themes. As for this writer, it was an interesting experience, but one he’d probably never feel compelled to relive.

EXTRA KIBBLES

“SASQUATCH BIRTH JOURNAL #2” - An early four-minute short by the directors, which consists of a Sasquatch standing in a tree, pushing out a baby.