Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.0

Sasquatch Sunset Blu-ray Movie Review

Sasquatch Sunset is a comedy-adventure with a unique take on a legendary character – the Sasquatch. Sasquatch Sunset stars Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough, and Christophe Zajac-Denek. The production seems aimed at a particular crowd of indie shoegaze cult audiences – with its blend of art-house alongside moments of gross-out comedy.

A wordless and almost silent-film exploration of a family of Sasquatch. The Sasquatch family consists of the Male (Jesse Eisenberg), the Female (Riley Keough), and the Child (Christophe Zajac-Denek). The unique tale explores the daily lives and tribulations of the family of mythical creatures.

What does the world of the Sasquatch look like? Sasquatch Sunset asks those questions. The daily tasks and daily movements – the traveling, exploration, and rituals of the Sasquatch – from hugs to gross habits. What’s it like to be a hairy, mythical, and legendary Sasquatch?

The performances are better than they have any right to be – Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough, and Christophe Zajac-Denek are all excellent in Sasquatch Sunset. Sasquatch Sunset nicely highlights performances by the cast. The actors delve deep into their roles as the mythical Sasquatch.

The Sasquatch come to life with nuanced performances by the cast. The cast fully inhabit their roles, expanding on the concept, and providing some better “grunt” work while wearing the large creature suits designed by costume designer Steve Newburn (Massive Monster Mayhem, The Other Kingdom). The costume designs for the Sasquatch are first-rate and better than anyone might expect. A good effort by the designer.

The production design by Michael Powsner (Cop Car) is exceptional, too. The design work by Powsner is something special to behold. Sasquatch Sunset has superb aesthetic elements inherit in the production, highlighting the subtle intricacies of the designs. The end result is something far more beautiful than one expects.

The score composed by The Octopus Project (Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter) is outstanding. The music is breathtaking. The music is masterful and a perfect accompaniment to the visuals. Perhaps one of the most underrated scores, the music played a terrific role in the film and added so much to it. This is a superb score through-and-through and a great showcase for the talents of The Octopus Project.

The cinematography by Mike Gioulakis (It Follows, Glass) is brilliant and the best quality of the film – the visuals are often perfection. Gioulakis is one of the best cinematographers in the industry (working on some of the best cult horror films and as a frequent M. Night Shyamalan collaborator). From a visual standpoint, Sasquatch Sunset is gorgeous. The cinematography is something remarkably special and natural landscape shots and environmental frames look stunning – as wide a canvas as a much bigger Hollywood production.

Edited by Daniel Tarr, David Zellner, and Nathan Zellner, one of the most difficult and challenging aspects of Sasquatch Sunset is the editing. Even at only 89 minutes long, Sasquatch Sunset is an extremely difficult viewing experience at times. The pace of Sasquatch Sunset is terrible and it manages to feel overstuffed with unnecessary sequences and moments that should have been left on the editing room floor. Sasquatch Sunset feels like a film that arguably would have worked better as an hour-long feature-film or even as a short film (twenty minutes long). At 89 minutes, it is often strenuous and is something that one feels is aimed at a particular “cult crowd” with a certain state of mind.

Written by David Zellner (Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter), Sasquatch Sunset isn’t a great script. In fact, the screenplay feels mostly improvisational if the feature-film is anything to go by. The storyline meanders along and it creates a documentary-like feeling with no mercy for the editorial process. The storyline doesn’t add up to something profound or moving.

Directed by David Zellner and Nathan Zellner (who previously co-directed the cult hits Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter and Kid-Thing), Sasquatch Sunset is a mixed-bag of surprises. Sasquatch Sunset is somewhat beautiful to look at with gorgeous cinematography and stunning production values but despite these visual flourishes being impressive the filmmaking leaves one wanting. The directors of Sasquatch Sunset provided so much offbeat and gross-out comedy and antics that is detracts from the art- house qualities of the film and creates an even bigger head-scratcher – one can’t help feeling a bit confused by the filmmaking intent.

Sasquatch Sunset seems aimed at a college crowd, perhaps with special treats and drinks, and an interest in zoning out to the strange absurdity of the filmmaking. Sasquatch Sunset is so odd, bewildering, and strange – and any time it started to seem like a more serious examination of the Sasquatch characters all of a sudden there’s a poop joke, or a pee joke, or some Sasquatch humping, or other visual gags that seem to arrive almost out of nowhere. For some audiences, perhaps Sasquatch Sunset is an acid-trip? I found Sasquatch Sunset beautiful to look at but hard to watch.

Sasquatch Sunset Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by Umbrella Entertainment, Sasquatch Sunset is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The high-definition presentation is exceptional and it is one of the highlights of the release. Colors "pop" with excellent depth and visual fidelity. The presentation is sharp, beautiful, and full of detail. The razor-sharp presentation (with a natural visual landscape and no artificially enhancement) is top-notch and helps the visuals shine. Cinematography is stunning. The cinematographic style is perfectly highlighted on the release. A organic, laid-back, and finely tuned encode, the presentation won't disappoint.

Sasquatch Sunset Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release is presented in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. The release also includes an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo audio presentation. The lossless, high-resolution audio sounds amazing – crystal clear, dynamic, and engaging. The brilliant surround sound audio is immersive and the 5.1 soundstage is surprisingly robust throughout the presentation. The subtle chirps of the natural outdoors, the subtle sounds of the environmental landscapes, and the score, are all brilliantly reproduced with crisp fidelity on the release. An exceptional lossless presentation that soars – outstanding from beginning to end. The perfect lossless sound mix to accompany the breathtaking encoding.

Sasquatch Sunset Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The collector's edition release includes a deluxe chipboard art-box with special "fur" style packaging on the outer-box, soft touch feel (designed to be like Sasquatch fur), a 48-page book featuring behind-the-scenes material, artwork, and production notes about the experience of the making-of the feature-film. Detailed and expansive, the booklet is a wonderful addition to the collector's release and helps to round out the package.

Inside of the Sasquatch fur rigid art-box, the collectors edition also includes a limited-edition o-card slipcover and a clear case underneath the slipcover. The slipcover design is impressive and features noteworthy artwork on both the front and back of the package design. The artwork underneath the slipcover features the art from the original movie poster (and the sleeve artwork is reversible). The set also includes a set of 8 deluxe art cards and an A3 reversible poster with two artwork selections.

The collector's release is also individually limited and numbered for collectors. The premium edition is well-designed and would make a great addition to the collection of any enthusiast wanting a quality release of the feature-film. Umbrella makes some of the most luxurious and well- designed collectors editions for the physical media market and the release is a perfect testament to their dedication to making some of the finest releases available.

On disc supplements include:

Audio Commentary with David & Nathan Zellner

Beneath the Fur: Creating the Sasquatch (HD, 12:31)

The Creatures of Nature: Behind the Scenes (HD, 24:02)

Habitat: Scouting Humboldt County (HD, 8:30)

The Road and the River: Anatomy of a Scene (HD, 15:47)

Sasquatch Birth Journal 2 (HD, 4:14)

Bonobo Test Screening (HD, 4:23)

Sasquatch Soundtrack: OST by The Octopus Project (Dolby Digital 2.0, 1:03:23)

Making the Soundtrack: With The Octopus Project (HD, 2:51)

Photo Gallery (HD, 4:30)

Trailer (HD, 1:53)

Photo Gallery

Trailer

Sasquatch Sunset Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sasquatch Sunset is an absurdist take on a documentary-like feature-film exploring the lives of the mythical Sasquatch creatures. The production scale and scope is enormous – with a better than expected sense of art-house flair. These qualities almost seem to go-out-the- window with the somewhat absurdist comedy. Far too many gross-out moments and strange detours into the meandering lives of the Sasquatch make this one a weird, albeit memorable, watch. The Blu-ray collector's edition is incredible, though – great packaging, deluxe collectibles, and fantastic bonus features. A first-rate package aimed at fans of Sasquatch Sunset. If you have seen Sasquatch Sunset before and consider is a "cult hit" (more-so than absurdist oddity) then the collectors edition is well worth considering purchasing.