The Sasquatch Hunters (1997)

User Rating:

3.6/10   

Director:

Marc Messenger

Writers:

William Mertz (writer)
Marc Messenger (writer)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

They're Out There ...

Plot:

"The Sasquatch Hunters" is a mockumentary following a number of unusual characters as they search for...

Plot Keywords:

Bigfoot | Mockumentary | Sasquatch | Low Budget Film | Fake Documentary

Cast

Courtney Hall	...	Steve Wysocki
John A. McDermott	...	Jim Tamer
Paul Reasbeck	...	Arrow
Melinda Kaye Messenger	...	Debbie Tamer
David Richmond	...	Frank Burns
Ron Thronson	...	Dr. Howard Prick
Vince Parenti	...	Tony Pagnozzi
Jeff Ferreri	...	Rick Fields
Lia Johnson	...	Tammi Miller
Scott Roth	...	Anchorman
Thad Drum	...	Colonel
Karen Ferreri	...	Sensei
Mitch Campbell	...	Conspiracy Guy
Brian Fujii	...	Intern
Greg Watson	...	Vince

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some violence.

Runtime:

73 min

An amusing send-up of cruddy Bigfoot documentaries

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This often amusing and always enjoyable parody of cheesy 70's Sasquatch documentaries pokes jolly fun at schlockmeister filmmakers in general by making the main character a Grade D blood'n'guts dreck horror flick hack director who decides to do a Bigfoot documentary. The doc is sponsored by a local beer company; gratuitous (and uproariously blatant) product plugs for the brew appear throughout the entire feature. Furthermore, the time is constantly shown on screen throughout the picture for no real apparent reason. Better still, the whole thing is shot in shaky, wobbly, vertigo-inducing, you-are-there intimate hand-held camera veritate fashion ala MTV's "The Real World." This spoof centers on three different fanatical Bigfoot true believer groups and their obsessive search for the legendary uptight walking shagrug. The first group, called simply the Bigfoot Society, are a motley assortment of hopeless pathetic dweebs which include a crippled, wheelchair-bound midget and a terminally braindead Heavy Metal dunce. The second group, the American Hominid Association, are a government-financed team of arrogant "professional" snobs lead by a Robert Morganesque ramrod jerk. The third and arguably freakiest group, the Michigan Cryptozoological Institute, are a truly nutso organization fronted by a flaky rich guy; these paramilitary kooks reside in a remote woodland redoubt and teach a form of martial arts that's patterned after Bigfoot! Then there's Dr. Prick, a stuffy, scholarly, studiously academic Grover Krantz-like scientist.

Moreover, we also get the expected greedy opportunistic corporate businessmen eagerly capitalizing on Bigfoot fever, the scoop-hungry media eagerly covering the scene, interviews with batty local yokels who claim to have seen Sasquatch, a nice send-up of the infamous Patterson film, a tacky reenactment of a hunter's harrowing encounter with Mr. Hairy Behemoth, and even a bunch of protesters claiming that Uncle Sam's funding of Bigfoot research is a gross waste of tax payer's money! The gigantic hirsute Goliath makes a dramatic last reel appearance being chased by the documentary filmmakers: he runs into a UFO and takes off into the skies! This baby goes as far as to make Bigfoot out to be some portly schmo in an abjectly obvious, cruddy, not-convincing-for-a-second cut-rate gorilla suit and concludes with a neatly rollicking country-rock theme song. Totally silly stuff for sure, but still a quite funny and entertaining tongue-in-cheek romp just the same.