Sasquatch (aka The Untold) DVD Review

Written by Steve "Alien Redrum" Pattee

DVD released by Columbia TriStar Home Video

Directed by Jonas Quastel
Written by Chris Lanning and Jonas Quastel

2002, Region 1 (NTSC), 86 minutes, Rated R

DVD released on March 11^th, 2003

Starring:

Lance Henriksen as Harlan Knowles
Andrea Roth as Marla Lawson
Russell Ferrier as Clayton Tyne
Philip Granger as Winston Burg
Jeremy Radick as Plazz
Mary Mancini as Nikki Simmons 

Movie:

A plane goes down in the Pacific Northwest and the survivors must be found. After two months of searching, the search and rescue team gives up and the passengers and pilot are feared lost. However, one of the passengers on the plane is the daughter of Harlan Knowles (Lance Henriksen – Pumpkin Head", Alien, TV's "Millennium"), President and CEO of Bio-Comp. Harlan will spare no expense to find his daughter and he creates a team of experts to go into the forest to find her.

The experts consist of your standard "going on a mission in the jungle to find someone" fare. Aside from Harlan, you have Marla (Andrea Roth – Crossworlds), an insurance agent or something (what she does is vague) who seems to think Harlan is looking for something other than his daughter in the wilderness. Marla is out for herself in this adventure and you will see why if you choose to watch the flick.

Next, you have Winston (Phillip Granger – The Barber). Winston is the know it all who knows nothing. Winston has apparently written a couple books about trekking through the wilderness and shooting wild animals, but the man is seriously out of practice. The alcohol that always seems to be in his hand doesn't  help either. Winston is brought on as the guide, but Clayton is the real man guiding the group.

Clayton (Russell Ferrier – Cabin By the Lake) is the supplier of the goods. He arranges the boat that takes the group deeper into the wild. Although Winston thinks he's leading the group into the mountains, it's Clayton who knows his stuff in the woods. Clayton is that guy you want when your lost in the wilderness. It also helps he's part Indian. That's important because everyone knows Indians make the best guides.

Also, there's Plazz (Jeremey Radick – Y2K). Plazz is the tech geek. Why you need a tech geek in the wild is a good question, but have no fear, your question will be answered. Also, conveniently enough, Plazz is a crypto zoologist. That means he's an expert on unknown and undiscovered creatures. Creatures such as the Loch Ness Monster and Sasquatch. Boy this team is lucky to have him. Of all the tech geeks in the world, this group managed to nab one that doubles as a crypto zoologist. Lucky! Plazz also has a story for everything. He's great around the campfire.

Rounding out the group is Nikki (Mary Mancini). Mary is a forensic investigator. She doesn't provide much to the group. She's always kind of hanging around the back. I think she was somebody's friend.

So off these guys and gals go into the woods, to find a downed plane a search and rescue team couldn't find in months. This group is so good, they manage to find it in a couple days.

Oh yeah, Sasquatch was here and there during the journey too.

Review:

So I was in Blockbuster going through their previously viewed stuff and I saw this flick. That particular day, the buster was running a 25% off their previously viewed stuff, so I figured I couldn't go wrong spending 8 bucks on this. Hell, my late fees usually run that. Also, it has Lance Henrickson. You can't lose with Lance. It may be a B movie, but it's got Lance. Boy was I wrong.

There's so many things wrong with this movie, I don't know where to begin so I'll begin with a problem that affects the whole movie...

The editing.

The editing is horrible. There are so many fade outs it's ridiculous. I thought I was going to commercial every three minutes. Fade to black. Fade to black. Fade to black. Why?  There has got to be a better way to segue to a new scene besides fade to black.

In addition to the fade to black is the stupid Bigfoot vision. Apparently Bigfoot saved up his UPCs and got himself some X-Ray glasses because there is a scene he can see right through a tent.

The worst part about this movie, this movie called SASQUATCH, is you don't even see the damn monkey until the last ten minutes or so. Oh sure, you see him between the leaves in quick cuts, but that's about it. Also, the showdown between Lance and Big S is forced and too melodramatic.

Also, I found it interesting the movie was filmed in only 12 days. Maybe the next movie should be filmed in 24 days so it will be watchable.

However, there is some good. While the acting is passable for a low budget flick, Russell Ferrier is a stand out. He has an onscreen presence the others do not have. Even Lance seemed subdued (yes, more than usual) in this movie. Plus Andrea Roth's body double got naked for a few seconds. That was pretty nice.

I really wanted to like this movie. I really did. Originally called The Untold, I thought a Sasquatch running around slaughtering people was some untapped potential. It just went wrong on too many levels to be enjoyable.

Video and Audio:

Sasquatch is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen. I noticed some spots and a little bit of grain. I read a review that said the picture was crisp, but don't believe that review, believe mine. My review is more credible because the other guy said this movie wasn't bad. Maybe there is another movie called Sasquatch and that's the one he saw.

You get your choice of 5.1 Dolby Digital or 2-Channel (Dolby Surround). Plus you can have English or Spanish subtitles. It's all up to you. I didn't notice any highs, lows, pops or hisses.  It seems like most of the sound is from the center speaker because I did not notice a  lot of left and right speaker usage.

Special Features:

• Director & Talent Commentary
• Bonus Trailers
• Trailer
• Filmographies

The commentary actually wasn't bad. If I had the choice, I probably would have just watched the movie with the commentary. At least the commentary provided some comic relief.

Infested and Boa are the bonus trailers.

Note to all studios, "Widescreen Presentation", "Scene Selections", "Subtitles" and "Audio" are NOT considered bonus material or special features. Please refrain from advertising them as such.

Grades:
Movie:	– You had Lance Henrickson for crying out loud. Next time, take a little longer with the movie.
Video:	– Saw some spots.
Audio:	– Nothing spectacular.  Some more use of ambient sounds would have been nice since they were trudging through a forest.
Features:	– Standard stuff. I would have given it a **1/2 if the studio hadn't tried to pass that other crap on me as special features.
Overall:	– If there's nothing else on, you're snowed in and the only channel that works is playing this movie, leave it on in the background while you are cleaning or something.

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