I went to the theater really wanting to like this film. In my book, any movie that tries to depict sasquatch as something other than a blood-thirsty monster deserves attention. I left feeling that the film insulted not only my intelligence, but that of sasquatch (if in fact they are real). It trades one set of filmic distortions (sasquatch as vicious beast) for another (sasquatch as marginally intelligent and clumsy). From the earliest scenes, the lack of physical moment to these actors, and their human-like movements, ring false. Having presumably developed, over eons, locomotor adaptations well suited to life in the wild, sasquatch would be nothing if not agile and graceful on their own turf. As well, the vocalizations of these actors are woefully human-like; they lack the amplitude that would accompany a hominid having the inferred lung capacity of sasquatch. (Such amplitude is documented in the complex Sierra Sounds recordings of the 1970s.) What is most troubling is that the moviemakers, in an apparent attempt to demistify sasquatch, have sidestepped any of the mysterious, strange, or even mystical characteristics that are frequently reported anecdotally and have been accepted by indigenous cultures for millennia. This lack of mystery is underscored by photographing the actors in broad daylight - something that goes against the time-honored traditions of effects makeup, which require the cooperation of careful lighting to help sell the effects. It may be a misguided attempt to make their characters more sympathetic, or simply pandering to some lowest common denominator, but the moviemakers seem to have grafted several of their own infantile complexes related to elimination, copulation, childbirth, and breastfeeding onto their sasquatch characters. Many in the audience may feel not empathy but revulsion toward these scenes. In my opinion, the moviemakers have squandered valuable resources and star talent on ill-conceived material that might be more aptly titled Sasquatch Stillbirth Journal (after their earlier work).
Review of Sasquatch Sunset
