Experimental or weird films are nothing new in Hollywood. Directors have been making these kinds of films for decades. Going back to Ed Wood or John Waters movies, strange films are nothing new. The newest strange or weird film is Sasquatch Sunset by the Zellner brothers, Nathan and David. The title says it all. The movie follows four Sasquatches around the wilderness. I know it sounds crazy, but It’s as simple as that. They even build a shelter to live in each night and tear it down the next morning. They are environmentally conscious, but that’s the kind of film this is.

This movie picks up as four Sasquatches are walking around the forests in North America towards Canada. Like any Sasquatch would do, they forage for food, drink water by a lake or stream, and come across some things that they don’t understand like a road or a red X on a tree. As the film progresses they come in contact with various animals like deer, turtles, snakes, porcupines, skunks, and mountain lions. It’s pretty much like you’d expect from a movie following four Sasquatches around.

There is an existential nature to this movie, but some of the stuff these creatures get into is quite funny. One scene involving eating bad berries turns into a hilarious result and sickness. Sometimes things the characters do are going to get viewers mad. I was literally yelling at the screen at one point when one of the Sasquatches did something very stupid. Most of the time they smell themselves and try to have sex with the one female in the bunch. 

Despite this being a movie about growling or moaning Sasquatches s#!++ing and passing and walking around in the woods there is a beauty to the movie. The cinematography is gorgeous.  The Zellner brothers use a structure of one calendar year through four seasons Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter to tell this story. As mentioned in the title there is a specific location the Sasquatches like to go to to watch the sunset but as the world moves forward their world starts to dwindle in size. 

Despite all the craziness in this movie, there is an intellectual way that the Zellner brothers depict the characters in this movie. They don’t speak much so they end up using their other senses like smell and hearing to help them. There is even some child-rearing within the group that makes them more human than just monsters if you will. I was genuinely very interested in the way these Sasquatches lived their lives despite the sometimes wild and crazy things they do at times.

There is also some great makeup in this movie. No, these aren’t real-life Sasquatches in a documentary, it’s actors in Sasquatch costumes and makeup. The four actors who played the Sasquatches were Riley Keough, Jesse Eisenberg, Christophe Zajac Denek, and Nathan Zellner, one of the directors. This makeup department led by Steve Neeburn is pretty amazing. It’s awards-worthy but I don’t know if the Academy would go as far as nominating this weird existential Sasquatch film. It would be nice if they did though.

There is a level of suspension of disbelief in this story. You just have to take your brain out of your head and watch this film for what it is. You can’t try to understand what the Zellner brothers are doing here. You just have to sit back and enjoy the crazy wacky and wild things that go on. This is as simple as you’d think this kind of movie would be. I couldn’t have imagined something any different than what I got with this movie. I may have lost a few brain cells watching it but who cares? 

Sasquatch Sunset is as you’d expect from a movie following four Sasquatches around. They do and act like you’d expect from some creatures like these. They have some crazy reactions to things that would seem normal for us, like roads. They live their lives like any pack of animals might live. They scrounge for food, have sex, and the funny stuff, get into goofy situations. They have a heart to them at times as well. At first glance, you’d think this would be pretty weird but there is a method to the madness of the Zellner brothers. The makeup is incredible and should be nominated for an Academy Award. This is quite the experience though. Just don’t overthink it. You might enjoy it.

3 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen