STARRING
Kevin Shea, Sarah J. Ahearn, Greg Nutcher, Christina Santiago, Andrea Saenz, Alex Exum, Jason Criscuolo DIRECTED BY
Andrew Gernhard SCREENPLAY
John Doolan MPAA RATING
Rated NR RUNNING TIME
NA DISTRIBUTED BY
MVD Visuals/Synthetic Cinema International DVD FEATURES
Digitally mastered widescreen presentation; Theatrical Trailers; Commentary; Bloopers; "Sasquatch" Music Video; "Don & Murph" Featurette; English 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
"Assault of the Sasquatch" Review
When a merciless bear poacher is arrested deep in the woods, he and his truck are taken to a neglected precinct in the heart of the big city. Unknown to the authorities, who apparently completely lack investigation skills, the impounded truck holds a deadly cargo in the form of the legendary Sasquatch!
Trapped in an unfamiliar world, the soon free Sasquatch wreaks havoc on anyone and anything that gets in the way of his (or her?) coming face-to-face with the not so bad ass poacher who ripped him (or her?) from its home.
Re-packaged for a brand new DVD release from the folks at MVD Visuals, Assault of the Sasquatch is the latest collaboration between Synthetic Cinema International and MVD after last year's Banshee!!! failed to impress.
Assault of the Sasquatch is a definite improvement, a spin-off of the Assault on Precinct 13 story with the baddies in this flick portrayed by one genuinely bad ass Sasquatch and the isolated police being a bit more inept and the supporting players being a bit more, well, backwoods.
As was true with Banshee!!!, Assault of the Sasquatch is a movie in search of a tone. Is this film meant to be a classic B-movie? A Troma-styled film with equal doses of horror and humor? A straight out thriller? A drama?
Who the heck knows? Apparently, writer John Doolan and director Andrew Gernhard can't quite figure it out and the resulting film is a weird and uneven mix of stilted humor, drama that isn't really that dramatic and a film that never lives up to the potential that is built up over its opening few moments.
Another similarity with Banshee!!!, Assault of the Sasquatch offers up several storylines that would indicate a potentially intriguing and involving film including that of the isolated Connecticut cops and an ex-cop turned forest ranger who joins with his visiting college-age daughter to confront the man responsible for devastating their family.
An effective (think Troma) B-movie has this almost mystical way of weaving its way through the humanity, humor and horror of a low-budget film and creating a quintessential cinematic experience. It may not work for everyone, but B-movies have a loyal and rather large following and it's almost eerie how fans of B-movies can quote you hilarious lines from even the most obscure titles. While most people simply regard a B-movie as a campy low-budget flick filled with actors who can't find work elsewhere, the truth is that putting together a solid B-movie requires a certain sensibility and mindset that isn't quite as easy as it looks.
Assault of the Sasquatch gets close, but never quite gels into an effective, frightening or particularly involving B-movie experience. That said, the folks at MVD Visuals have packed the film wonderfully with a load of DVD extras that are frequently more entertaining than the film itself. Once again, MVD has done indie filmmakers a tremendous service by creating better than usual packaging for a low-budget title. It's simply a shame that the title itself wasn't more rewarding itself.
