First and foremost I wish to express my gratitude and deepest respect to a certain IMDb member and horror board buddy who went on a personal crusade to bring this allegedly lost 70's film out of oblivion and succeeded in it as well! Regardless of how good or bad the actual movie is, this man's unconditional devotion and perseverance is highly admirable to say the least. Thanks to him, a mate and myself were amongst the first people in over 30 years to check this film out. Hopefully other like-minded fanatics of the genre will follow. Respect, Mr. HumanoidOfFlesh!
Then for the film itself. "Sasqua" surely isn't a masterpiece, but then again, what do you expect from a zero-budgeted amateur production that went missing for over three decades? "Sasqua" is a typical product that ensued from the extremely popular 70's Bigfoot horror-hype. Movies about Bigfoot, Sasquatch, the Yeti and the Abominable Snowman have existed since the fifties, but it was the unexpected mega-success of "The Legend of Boggy Creek" at the American drive-in theaters that suddenly caused a massive overload of cheap and sleazy exploitation movies about hairy monsters running amok in remote areas. "Sasqua" fits perfectly amidst all the other contemporary Bigfoot flicks. It isn't better than most of them, but it certainly isn't a whole lot worse, neither. There are some elements that I appreciated, some elements that are disappointing, and then there are a whole lot of aspects that are just plain bad but forgivable considering the budgetary restrictions and lack of experience.
"Sasqua" opens atmospherically and prototypically 70's with a convertible bus (!) of youngsters cruising through a forestry New England region, guided by the tunes of a moodily sung melody that carries throughout the widely spanned opening credits. The people on the bus form some sort of unusual hippie community and settle themselves in an abandoned farmhouse on the edge of a small town, much against the will of the close-minded villagers and especially the drunken redneck deputy. Unfortunately for all of them, the nearby woods belong to a family of cannibalistic sasquatches that are very happy with the arrival of fresh meat! When several people go missing, in the village as well as in the community, the locals naturally blame the hippies, but luckily the sheriff (the only one with an IQ over 75) realizes that they should combine forces against the monsters instead of killing each other.
The brief synopsis sounds promising and full of potential, but the film suffers from a lot of substantial and technical shortcomings. There are too many characters and their relationships often don't make any sense. The hippie community members are continuously arguing with each other and don't show any signs of group spirit or unity. Their leader Big Jim (and he really is a BIG guy) spends most of his time intervening in fights and oppressing rebellious behavior. The community even contains a handful of black members with robust looks and attitudes. Could it be that writer/director Channon Scot even intended to insert a minor Blaxploitation sub plot, which was also a hugely popular cult cinema trend around that time? We surely can't complain about the amount of screen time given to the sasquatches. They – literally – run across the screen quite a few times, albeit mostly in the distance and only for a couple of seconds. You naturally don't witness any of their massacres or cannibalistic rituals, but at least there are a few sequences (notably the one with the trio of hunters) that feature a slight bit of suspense and excitement. Apart from some brief images of bloodied bodies, there isn't any gore or action to enjoy in "Sasqua" and I personally found the climax to be extremely disappointing. Surely Channon Scot could have thought of a better ending than this, even without money or directing experience? Technically speaking the film is very substandard as well, with mundane and unimaginative camera-work, lousy editing, miserable sound effects and practically inaudible dialogs. You could state this is normal and even charming, but in comparison with other no-budget amateur attempts (like for example "The Evil Dead"), "Sasqua" is rather weak. With all due respect I can't refer to "Sasqua" as a great film, but nevertheless I'm very happy that I've had the privilege of watching it. It's a genuine curiosity and worth your attention in case you're a fan of the grainy 70's exploitation culture.
