Valley of the Sasquatch |
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USA • 2015 • 92m •
   • Directed by: John Portanova. • Starring: Bill Oberst Jr., Jason Vail, D'Angelo Midili, Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, David Saucedo, Connor Conrad, Kevin Sheen, Jordan Neslund, Maria Damey. • Music by: Jon Bash.     After losing their home following a devastating tragedy, a father and son are forced to move to an old family cabin. Neither reacts well to being thrown into this new world. The son's attempts to relate to his father are complicated when two old friends arrive for a weekend of hunting. This trip into the forest will unearth not only buried feelings of guilt and betrayal, but also a tribe of Sasquatch that are determined to protect their land.
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Anyway, on to this film. The general premise is a widowed father and his son move up to a small cabinshack in the woods. The dad is immediately portrayed as a jerkloser because he can't relate to his son, doesn't want him to go to college, and invites his jerk Spanish friend up to get drunk. Anyway, we're introduced to these 4 characters and there's really no character we are rooting for with exception of maybe the Uncle who seems to relate to the son well enough and stick up for him. The 4 set out to go hunting and long story short discover big foot. Big foot chases them back to the cabin where they have to put up a final fight and try to escape. They are met by another survivor we are introduced to at the beginning. That's about it. Typical creature feature with a fairly predictable plot.
That said, the movie has totally implausible and unconvincing actingreactions by the characters. When David Saucedo's character (who acted terribly in this movie) goes to take a leak out hunting and sees a Big Foot coming after him (honestly looked more like a giant squirrel moving through the shrubsground cover) he fires off multiple shots. Then he falls down into a landing and sees blood and flesh all over the place. He meets back up with everyone and DOESN'T even bring it up or agree with the sonuncle they should go back to the Cabin!
Then the son and David actually SEE Big Foot after being woken that night, one is like 2 feet away from the son's face. And their reaction is COMPLETELY nonchalant after. Like, "OMG big foot is real. Hmm well that's cool. I guess we should leave?" And then are running around the forest with seemingly zero concern for the thing.
Lastly, the UncleSonMexican guy are all back in the cabin after the Dad gets taken by Big Foot, and the Uncle wants to get the keys to get the car and go get help. Seems COMPLETELY logical to me and these things are scared of guns. Yet the Mexican guy has a HUGE issue with this (why?) and then TWICE STABS and KILLS the Uncle right in front of his nephew. Then has the son help him haul him into the bedroom!? WHAT IN THE WORLD!? Are you kidding me? Who would act like this!?
The creature effects are practical (no CGI) but not great. There is really no shot with suspense and the creature on the poster was what I was expecting. These honestly just look like a weird gorilla and obviously men in suits, they don't seem that big or threatening at all... The creature is also revealed way too often, something that Abominable got accurate (although the creature's face needed some work in that movie). The thing just didn't seem that scary, especially early in the film when one captured guy tricks it into eating tobacco chew and then bashes it's head in with a rock. Problem solved? Honestly a Grizzly bear seems more terrifying than this thing. The gore effects were pretty laughable - one guy gets his arm ripped off and they come apart like jello - see the lion scene from The Happening.
CinematographyIsolation just wasn't there. Some films are VERY good at creating an isolation feel to it, or danger to going outside. This film just didn't have it. Hell the Big Foot ran off after a couple shots were fired initially. The movie Exists (2014) did this very well IMO for a big foot movie. Other films like The Thing (re- make), Tremors, Alien, Jaws (ending), made VERY good use of this and made you afraid of the environment and lack of resources available to escape. This movie had that setting in the Forestlack of tech but just didn't utilize it well.
The scoresoundsmusic is basically non-existent. There is no uneasy tune or score to keep you on edge. Even Arachnophobia which was touted as a comedyhorror had some very unsettling musical scores. The light hearted music that quickly changed to a more creepy tone. This movie basically didn't have any music. Some of the monsters roars are heard early on but they didn't give me unease like the howl from the wolf in American Werewolf in London. That howl still gives me chills... that was a horror film that didn't really have a score but didn't need it with the creepy POV shots and lack of monster reveal (until the end).
Overall not worth your time. The acting is TERRIBLE, the main scare feature (monsterenvironment) is not there, and the story is a recycled bland one that does NOTHING new to a genre that has tons of these films. I dunno why this has more than 5 stars. Either the producers familyfriends came on here and all voted it a 10 or I am missing something HUGE here. And I know I'm mentioning some all time greatsclassics, but it's just to compare and show that this movie didn't even come CLOSE to nailing on ONE of the aspects.
For Sasquatch scare movies, Abominable and Exists are far better. The former has good gore, believable acting, and great pacing. The later sets up a scarier atmosphere and some great shots (namely when the Bigfoot is chasing the guy on the bike).
Review by RoadSideAssistance from the Internet Movie Database.
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