Suburban Sasquatch: Collector's Edition – Visual Vengeance (Blu-ray)

Release Date: USA, 2004
Director: Dave Wascavage
Writer: Dave Wascavage
Cast: Sue Lynn Sanchez, Bill Ushler, Dave Bonavita, Juan Fernandez, Loretta Wascavage, Wes Miller, David Weldon

Release Date: August 23rd, 2022
Approximate Running Time: 100 Minutes 9 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $29.95

"Perhaps the most beloved and recognizable shot on video movie of the last two decades! When a giant blood-thirsty Bigfoot goes on a killing spree in a sprawling suburban park area, it's up to a couple of park rangers, a reporter and a mystical Native-American Warrior to try and stop Sasquatch's limb-ripping rampage." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 2.5/5

Suburban Sasquatch comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 21.2 GB

Feature: 15.2 GB

Though the source looks as good as one would expect given that it was shot on video, the daytime scenes are far superior to any moments with limited light. This may also be why most of the film takes place during the daytime. That said, while this transfer has its shortcomings, the result is most likely as good as this film will ever look.

Audio: 3.25/5

This release comes with one audio option, a Dolby Digital stereo mix in English with removable English SDH. For a SOV film, Suburban Sasquatch’s track actually sounds pretty good. Outside of a few moments where things are muffled, dialog comes through clearly, ambient sounds are well-represented, and there are times when things sound robust.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a behind the scenes image gallery, original teaser trailer (1 minute 1 second, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), original trailer (1 minute 47 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), Suburban Sasquatch Visual Vengeance trailer (1 minute 4 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival with screenwriter/director Dave Wascavage titled From The Director’s POV (5 minutes 23 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival featurette titled Making The CGI for Suburban Sasquatch (2 minutes 59 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), Suburban Sasquatch outtakes (11 minutes 11 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival featurette titled Designing the Bigfoot Costume (10 minutes 58 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival featurette titled Behind the Scenes (8 minutes 29 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), RIFFTRAX episode of Suburban Sasquatch (76 minutes 22 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with Sam Panico of B&S About Movies and Bill Van Ryn of Drive-In Asylum, an audio commentary with Dave Wascavage, reversible cover art featuring original release art, 'Stick Your Own' VHS stickers, a collectable mini poster, a two-sided insert with an essay titled A Creature Among Us? Written by Rick Harlen, and a limited-edition slipcover (first pressing only).

Other extras include trailers for Repligator, Blood of the Chupacabras, and Saurians.

Summary:

Suburban Sasquatch is best described as a monster movie where the monster employs many traits that are associated with slasher genre killers. And though there are an ample number of gory set pieces, most of the impact from the Sasquatch’s rampages is reduced because of the crude CGI that draws attention to itself, making these moments more laughable than humorous.

Suburban Sasquatch has two groups of characters; the police, who are non-believers that don’t want to acknowledge the existence of Sasquatch; and the believers; a reporter looking for a story that will make him famous, and an Indian woman who’s been given the task of killing Sasquatch before he absorbs too many souls and becomes invincible.

From a production standpoint, the enthusiasm of everyone involved makes most of Suburban Sasquatch’s shortcomings easy to overlook. That said, who does not enjoy a film where it is obvious that the monster is a man in a gorilla suit? Ultimately, at one hundred minutes in length, Suburban Sasquatch is an endurance test that if you are still engaged after ten minutes, then it's smooth sailing for the rest of the way.

Suburban Sasquatch is another first-rate release from Visual Vengeance that comes with the best possible audio/video presentations and comes with a wealth of informative extras, recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer