Suburban Sasquatch (2004) features a barrage of backyard chaos. The Bigfoot suit is unconvincingly glorious. It’s so obvious that it’s a guy in an awful Sasquatch mask and suit, to the point that it feels like the film’s creators are in on the joke. All shoddy costumes aside, the movie’s whole concept works. It knows what it is and what it needs to achieve: mega low-budget Bigfoot antics shot in a local suburb for SOV fans.
The kills at times are gory but maintain the film’s absurdity of we know this looks cheap, but we’re going to rock out with it. Cheap CGI is even spliced in at points, including blood, which in one scene is blatantly obvious. There’s a good old decapitation during a later moment in this Bigfoot cinematic epic. Well, perhaps more of a total head removal.
The two leads put in solid performances, especially Sue Lynn Sanchez as Talla. She’s a kick-ass warrior sent to do battle with Sasquatch and save suburbia from his fearsome clutches. It’s clear to see a lot of fun and love went into this shot-on-video oddity. Sure, there’s the usual abundance of low-budget style acting known for these small-budget affairs. However, I feel as if the cast tried hard to be convincing.
The main entertainment comes courtesy of Bigfoot. He fumbles, bounds and claws his way through the backyards of U.S. suburbia. I would have shaved off 15 minutes of the runtime, bringing the film to around a length of 80 minutes. This would have trimmed some fat and left the viewer with a more streamlined experience. A minor criticism.
To sum up Suburban Sasquatch is a difficult task. It’s fun, unpolished, acted decently, and the effects are hilariously unconvincing in the best possible way. It’s crystal clear that a great deal of effort was poured into this passion project. The result is 95 minutes of chaotic Bigfoot mayhem where blood is splattered and arms are pulled from vulnerable victims. Also the Sasquatch can even disappear. Tricks, Bigfoot got tricks.
