Suburban Sasquatch (RiffTrax)

Film Year:  2004

Genre:  Horror

Director:  Dave Wascavage

Starring:  Sue Lynn Sanchez, Bill Ushler, Dave Bonavita, Juan Fernandez

RiffTrax Year:  2020

Riffers:  Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett

The Movie

A mystical sasquatch is haunting the local park, where he chases a lot of people, rips them to pieces, eats their remains, or kidnaps them.  You know, whatever he feels like doing.  Out on the hunt for the creature are a pair of rangers, a reporter who wants to win a Pulitzer Prize, and a hot young Native American girl with a bow and an endless supply of CGI arrows.

The most important aspect to note about Suburban Sasquatch is that the movie was filmed on a very tight budget, like miniscule, so let's all keep those expectations in check.  The movie looks as if it were filmed on a home camcorder and all of the special effects look as if they were home-brewed by a one-man crew with access to half a gorilla costume and some cheap animation software.  Often an effect can't be created in camera, so an animation equivalent is edited in with post production, such as sasquatch lifting cars, logs, or rocks or just gore effects.  One could argue with limited resources at your disposal you shouldn't try to have special effects at all, but what the hell.  Shoot for the moon!

Suburban Sasquatch feels to me like a movie made by people who were out to have some kicks, gathered some people to scream at an ape muppet, and just went nuts out in the woods.  The movie doesn't have a whole lot of plot as it's more or less an endless sequence of vignettes where people wander around, sasquatch shows up, and all hell breaks loose.  This was never going to be a good movie though as an example of working with resources around you to craft something for a laugh, this movie is a fun little curiosity.

What is fascinating is that Suburban Sasquatch did find forms of distribution and has been passed around in cult circles of Z-grade film watchers.  RiffTrax is rather late to the game in mocking this film as it's been around for a while.  Director Dan Wascavage seems to have a taste for making films of this "caliber," as he works with what's at his disposal and plays around with it until something happens that vaguely resembles what he wants to happen onscreen.  It takes tenacity to make films like these for a living and whether you enjoy them or not, he's got genuine passion paired with balls of steel.

The Trax

Suburban Sasquatch is a movie purely for dumpster divers who actively seek movies like this out, and to all else it will hold little interest.  Because of that the RiffTrax experience may vary based on one's tolerance for the film itself or whether the riff is funny enough to make it worth watching for those who wouldn't give it the time of day.  On a scale of "This is miserable" to "This is hilarious" I'd give the commentary an "It's what they can do" rating.  The thing about this riff is that this is one of those riffs where the movie is completely the star of the hour, while Mike, Kevin, and Bill are just along for the ride.  They do quip and it can be funny, but there's not a whole lot they can wield to their advantage other than point out the obvious.  I laughed but I'm also left wanting.

What's holding back this riff is that this is a case where the movie is so silly that they can only state what's silly about it out loud even though it's right there on camera for everyone to see.  They mock the bad acting, people freezing in place as sasquatch approaches them, the bad special effects, sasquatch's large nipples...ect.  All of this is pretty funny already and arguably we don't need them to emphasize it.  It feels like explaining a joke after already telling a joke.  One can argue that Suburban Sasquatch isn't trying to be a comedy, but due to its presentation it's also obvious that it isn't taking anything seriously either.  The riff just feels not as strong as the film itself.

Here's the silver lining though, I rate riffs on the basis of how much I enjoy the experience and while the riff is overwhelmed by the movie, Suburban Sasquatch is undeniably an experience.  If you hadn't seen Suburban Sasquatch before, it will now be permanently etched into your memory and you'll at the very least have a few laughs, be it at the riff or at the movie.  It's hard to recommend this one to everyone though, because it does somewhat take both an appreciation of how silly Suburban Sasquatch is to get through it and while the laughs are strong, the question always becomes whether or not they're strong enough.

Whether it was RiffTrax or the movie, I had fun, so I'm giving it a thumbs up.  And whether this movie needs a commentary or not, the RiffTrax is worth it just for Kevin's first riff at sasquatch's expense:  "It's a Gorilla-Gram gone horribly wrong!"  That's so deep into RiffTrax lore that it's hard for any RiffTrax fan to not love that line.

Good

The DVD

Suburban Sasquatch was released on DVD through RiffTrax's website as a part of their Toxic Box collection.  Audio and video are about as good as can be expected from this movie, so don't expect anything.  Unlike most RiffTrax DVDs, Suburban Sasquatch does not feature original audio for the film, likely because it was edited down from its original version (a good twenty minutes was cut out of this film).  They do offer an episode of Talkin' Rifftrax which was supposed to be devoted to discussing the film, but instead it's more of a skit where Mike impersonates Guy Fieri.