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Whether it’s called Bigfoot or Sasquatch, the legends of a big, hairy creature wandering through the Pacific Northwest have been around for centuries, inspiring books and movies and reality TV shows. But in Sasquatch Sunset, directors David and Nathan Zellner set out to give audiences a look inside their daily lives.
Sasquatch Sunset explores a year in the lives of a family of four of these elusive creatures—two adult males, an adult female, and a male child. Together, they travel through the forest and go about their daily lives, trying to survive in an environment that’s slowly being taken over by humans. They explore the woods and the streams, interacting with the other animals and communicating with each other through grunts and hoots. But when they lose a member of their family, they find themselves facing new challenges in their fight for survival.
As the film opens—with its family of creatures shown as shadows in the distance, trudging through a stunning natural setting—it may lead viewers to believe that this is a striking and artistic kind of nature documentary. But it doesn’t take long for the filmmakers to destroy that image as they cut to a lengthy scene involving two of the creatures mating while the others quietly look on. And that’s just the begging of the insanity.
At times, the serious side of the story—the nature documentary side—comes back through. The creatures live together, eat together, mourn losses, and celebrate new life. But that’s such a small part of the film. Instead of focusing on telling its story—as traditional nature documentaries do—this one focuses on shocking and amusing audiences by filling the film with bodily functions and bizarre slapstick comedy.
A film like this one could have gone in several different directions. It could have been a moving film about these creatures and their fight for survival. After all, the realism is there, and the filmmakers often give glimpses of what this film could have been. Or it could have been a comedy about mythical creatures bumbling their way through the forest—because there are definitely those moments, too. But instead, it’s a bizarre mix, with a heavy emphasis on the absurd moments and juvenile humor—90 minutes of sight gags involving bodily functions disguised as a nature documentary.
Though Sasquatch Sunset could have been a clever film about a legendary creature, it ends up feeling like a bad joke that goes on way too long. It’s an R-rated mess of a movie that has all of the depth and maturity and humor of a below-average 12-year-old boy.
You can join these creatures on their fight for survival when Sasquatch Sunset arrives in theaters on April 19, 2024.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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