Canada
Sony Home Pictures Entertainment
Magna Pacific
Reviewer:
Bob Estreich
Sasquatch was directed by Jonas Quastel and produced
by Craig Denton and Rob Clark.
“Based On Actual Events”? What of? A night camping in the woods?
Somehow, I doubt that the “actual events” involved this story.
A plane owned by the Bio-Comp corporation has crashed in the mountains,
with no survivors. The search has been called off. Harlan Knowles (Lance
Henrikson), President of Bio-Comp Industries whose daughter has died in the
crash, refuses to give up. There are rumours of a lost piece of valuable
equipment on the plane. He organizes another search party to go into the
forest.
There is something else in the
forest – a creature is hunting them. Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Abominable Snowman,
Yowie – it is known under a lot of names around the world. There are legends of
the creatures breeding with human women. The search party realize they are being
stalked when one of the party is attacked and dragged from her tent. She didn’t
see what attacked her, so they believe it could be a bear. Later a dead bear is
found - with its head bashed in with a very heavy rock.
In a cave they find evidence that could mean a survivor from the crash.
Strangely, when they continue on to the crash site there is no plane. There are
fragments, and massive scratches on the trees to prove this is the site, but
otherwise no plane. The wreck is found some miles away, and in it are pieces of
human bodies – chewed. There are also bloodstains on the wing of the plane –
did it hit someone or something in the crash? Knowles reveals he is also
looking for a prototype machine that his company was making. It can provide genetic and medical
information from blood samples and will be invaluable for diagnosing and
fighting diseases. It will be worth a fortune to the struggling BioComp.
The party is becoming spooked by the sounds the creature is making in
the forest. Then a party member is taken. The creature has taken a hit from the
wild gunfire, and the guide follows the blood back to a cave where a number of
bodies are stashed. One of them is Knowles’ daughter.
The others leave, to try to get back to civilization, but Knowles stays
to seek revenge for his daughter. In the end, it is just him and the Sasquatch.
The film was shot in something like twelve days, so it is a remarkably
good effort for that sort of pressure. It was originally to be called The
Untold, and the name change to Sasquatch came as a surprise to all concerned.
The story is not great, having too many stereotypes, but is generally
well-filmed and well acted for its genre. At least the film doesn’t go
overboard with splatter. The Sasquatch-eye-view is blurry and rather
fake-looking.
Henrikson particularly shows up well in his role, and his acting just
about saves the film from becoming pure rubbish. For most of the story the
Sasquatch is just seen briefly as a shaggy figure in the undergrowth, but its
final appearance is not disappointing. As a suspense creature feature, this one
is not great but is at least OK.
This review will appear in Volume 2 No.3
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
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