Filmsquatch - "Shriek of the Sasquatch" (2011)

👣🎬 New Filmsquatch Episode! 🎬👣

On this episode of Filmsquatch, we take a look at the 2011 Bigfoot horror film Shriek of the Sasquatch. Made to look and feel like a lost creature feature from the 1970s, this low-budget indie movie delivers retro style, cryptid action, and plenty of Sasquatch encounters.

Did the throwback approach work? Is this a hidden gem for Bigfoot movie fans, or should it stay lost in the woods? We break it all down in our latest episode!

Transcript

0:04

The film squat. A parking. We're two gunmates from the pink style. What kind of two loadings about a pickpocket? It's that temple. The chapter store takes a look in a single film about a stat or a yeti. And the gunneries break it down for you. Patrick and Kendall are too neighborhood. But they're too old, too fat, and too lazy to get up off their stuffers and go hunt for a stat squat to be spelled. So they just sit back and watch movies about it. Now, let's head over to the film squat screening room where Patrick and Kendall are ready to discuss their latest film. Hey ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Film Squatch. With you as always is Kendall, and with me, as always, is Patrick. Patrick, how are you doing today? Greetings and salutations, my friend. How's it going? It's going, it's going pretty good. Um, tonight we're taking a trip back to the late 70s, 1979, as a matter of fact, to I believe Mississippi. And we're gonna be talking about 2011's Shriek of the Sasquatch, uh, written and directed by Steve Sessions. Uh this film stars uh Sarah Salem, uh Donnie Forsega, I guess. I'm I'm ruining his name right now, Todd Cockroff, Ted Alderman, uh Laura Austin, and a lot of other folks. And uh let's take a look at the trailer and then we'll come back and discuss this film. There's something over there. Jeff Andrews picked a good time to go on vacation, dude. Tell me about it. All right, so there you have uh Shriek of the Sasquatch from 2011. Man, I love that title. Shriek of the Sasquatch, man. That is so cool. Yep, yep, it reminds me of Shriek of the Mutilated, which we've talked about in the past, and I'd rather forget that particular film. Right. Only the title reminds you of that. Not the moment. Only the title. Yeah, yeah. Well, I want to say, man, uh Steve Sessions to me, he did a great job for a low budget independent film, you know. Yeah, you already know that this is a director close to my heart because of the type of movie he made. You know, it's kind of like the one I just made. They were both set in 1979, they both had a character named Julie, and they were both period pieces, you know, about about uh Bigfoot. So I mean, you already know that I'm I'm like, yeah, this guy did it right, man. Yeah, um, in this movie, uh, Julie and her boyfriend Nick are on our way on the on a road trip to go visit her estranged father, and uh they run into a poodle and uh some other things on the way over there. And uh this movie goes, it takes a you have to be in a certain mood to watch this film, uh I believe. Uh it's it's not for everyone, but uh I I really enjoyed it, and uh it's it's the way it was shot, uh it's scratchy. The film is is it's scratchy looking, it looks like an old movie, and that's on purpose. And uh it opens with you know a cheesy modeling session in the forest, and then I don't know if it goes downhill or uphill. I guess it depends on what kind of movie you're looking for, uh, but it goes one way or the other from there. So uh Patrick, what do you want to talk about first about this film? Man, I just want to say that um Steve Session, it's like he hit all the tropes that I love in a Bigfoot movie. You know, the things I'm always talking about that I want to see the creature right up front, and he did. He shows you glimpses of the creature, he shows a footprint right up front, you know. And then he has a lady describing the Bigfoot to uh uh was he a sheriff's deputy or something? They're sketching it. So man, he's he's throwing all those things right up front, which is something that uh that I really liked, you know. I thought that was great. Well, you you want to talk about the acting? Yeah, um the acting was okay for you know for a for a low budget film. I I thought it was pretty good. Um, I know that uh Scarlett Salem in particular, she goes by another name now. Um it's uh let me see. I think it's Scarlet, I'm sorry, Sarah French. Uh she's gone on to some mainstream films, and she's done some other work. Um and uh some of the other cast members have have done other films as well, and I thought they all did pretty good. Um Sarah had to cover had to carry a lot of the film and I thought she did a pretty good job at that, and uh I liked how the the film the way it was presented, it was like there were little pockets in life. You know, like there was a a brother and a sister hanging out at the park at one point, you had the modeling session at another point, and then you had a couple in a van. Uh you know, it just kind of gave you these little then it was a brother and sister at their house, uh, and they were annoying each other. I I just like the way it was it was presented. But yeah, as far as the acting goes, yeah, I thought they did really well. Uh, how about you, Patrick? What did you think? Man, I thought the acting was just what it needed to be for this type of film, you know, it's which I was fine with because I I thought uh he nailed it as far as trying to make it look like a uh over-the-top 70s horror film, you know. And yeah, I mean, I thought it was it was great, it fit the production. Yep, yep, yep. And then uh how about cinematography? What did you think of the cinematography? Well, just like I said about the acting, I think it's what it needed to be for this this production, you know. It it fit the time period, like the the the 70s grindhouse, you know, it low budget independent film. I thought uh it did did a good they did a good job making it, and I read that uh they shot the entire movie in five days. I mean that's impressive to me, you know. For a feature film, five days, and for what they got, I think it uh they they did a good job. Yeah. Yeah. Um I was particularly fond of the uh they're not necessarily jump cuts, but uh where sections of the film, it's like there was a like a bad section of the actual print, and it would jump you know, forwarding the scene, you know, a couple of uh uh whatever you call it, I can't remember what they're called. But um, yeah, I I like that. It it it made it feel like it wasn't you're watching an old movie from the late 70s. Yeah, but you're watching. I remember uh Tarantino did that in uh a couple of his films, you know. I think was it Tarantino or um which movie they had like a missing reel, and it it jumps like a you you lose out a whole reel and it comes back. It was a good way to pass time, but it also made it gave it that old grindhouse feel, you know. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, I like what they did with it. The editing, yeah, it was definitely good. Yep. Uh also I thought the music was pretty good. Sounded like it was from the 70s. Uh especially that song that the girl was dancing to in her bedroom. Uh I can't it was something dance. I can't remember. They just kept repeating that line over. It was disco. And uh I I really enjoyed that one. Yeah, the the music did uh definitely fit the film. They did a good job with that. Um so Candle, did you have a favorite scene in this movie? Uh yeah, my my favorite actually my favorite scene uh didn't involve the creature. It was when the brother and sister were sitting in the uh or hanging out in the park uh early early on in the film, and they were talking about uh well the the the brother, the the younger brother was talking about how somebody of his had seen Kiss in concert, and that Gene Simmons spit up blood during calling Dr. Love. And as soon as he said that, I was like, No, he doesn't spit up blood. Um, because you know me. I mean I'm a hardcore kiss man. It's like he doesn't spit up blood during you know calling Dr. Love, and then the girl, his the sister, corrects him, and I thought that just it it it added some authenticity to the film to make it feel like 1979. Right. Uh that was probably my favorite part of the film. There were other things like that, like the clothing and all that that made it feel like the 70s, so that scene in particular, because I'm a kiss fan. That that's that was my favorite scene. Um, I also liked uh the ending of the film. I don't want to say what happens, right? But I thought that was a very unique spin. As far as I know, I've never seen or come across a Bigfoot film with that type of a twist in it. Um I could be wrong, but if you've seen the film, you know what I'm talking about. And uh so let us know in the comments after you've uh listened to this episode or watched this episode and tell us if this particular twist has occurred because I want to watch that film too. I have seen it in one other film. Um I can't remember the the name of it, but it was from the people that made the Blood on the Farm. Okay, it was one of their films, which had kind of a twist like that. Okay, but uh yeah, you're talking about the KISS uh dialogue and that man to me it was also uh they mentioned the six million dollar man and bonic woman, you know, some of my favorite TV shows up in the 70s. I was like, man, this guy's like he wrote this film for me, you know. That's the way you feel about the kiss scenes, right? Yeah, it's like, yeah, he wrote this film just for me. That was cool, man. But I'll tell you, my favorite scene was when uh the Bigfoot topples over the bubble van, the the boogie van, you know, the bubble windows. Yeah, that was cool, man. I like that the special effect used for the van. Yeah, yeah, that was awesome. That was awesome. Yeah, yeah. So uh you will talk about the uh the Bigfoot costume. Uh the the costume itself looked just like a slightly modified ape costume. Yep, yeah. Um, it does have some mouth movement in in a couple of scenes, and uh I mean it was for this type of film, it was perfect. Yeah, I did talk to the director uh via email. I tried to get him on, but uh he didn't want to feel like doing a podcast. But uh he did tell me that uh it was a um gorilla costume that they used. But uh I had sent him a trailer of our film, and he was he said something like uh y'all use an actual Bigfoot costume. He said we we use a gorilla costume, something like that, something to that effect. But yeah, I thought they did a good job. I mean, it worked, it was kind of cool. And he he wasn't afraid to show it. No, no, no, not like that. You know how much I want to see the monsters in the the Bigfoot movies. I definitely want to see the creature. It was a slow reveal. I mean, you would see it in the background, kind of blurry, and then then you'd see a foot, or then you'd see a hand, and it's he slowly started peeling it back, pulling back the curtain so you could see the actual creature, and then by the end of the film, you you've got the whole thing there, and you you know what to expect when you see it. So, yeah, he definitely did a good job with that. So, did you have a favorite keel in the movie? Uh I did like the van toppling over that scene, but I think my favorite was the guy and the girl that were having an affair, and the creature reaches down from the top of the tent, and he's pulling up on the guy, and the girl starts screaming, let him go, let him go. Um, I also enjoyed uh I don't want to say what happened, but then I also enjoyed the hitchhiker kill. Oh, yeah. I thought that was that was funny. Uh the the the uh the actual kill. So how about you? What was your favorite kill in the movie? Well man, I had several of them. Something about this Bigfoot, he he loves ripping people's heads off. Yeah, so anytime that happened, that was my favorites. I mean, it probably happened like five or six times in the movie, you know. It was it was uh it was a pretty gory film, yeah. Yeah, but uh let's see what else we can talk about. The uh the poster for did you look at the poster? Yeah, the poster, it's got you know uh the blonde damsel in distress screaming on it, and uh the creature in the background. Um I mean it's it's it's it serves its purpose. You you know what kind of movie you're getting. I I thought it was there's nothing special about it, but I liked it. Yeah, but only uh I mean the poster was okay, but I was expecting more of a 70s style, like an old painted poster like you did in the 70s, something like that. I think would have been better fitting for the movie. So I was a little disappointed in the use of that poster for this movie, you know. But I mean, like you said, you know what you're getting into when you see that poster. But I would have liked to have seen an old classic uh 70s style painted uh horror poster, you know. Yeah, I was I thought that was one thing that was uh missing and didn't it wasn't consistent with the rest of the uh the the everything they put into the film, you know, make it a 70s feel, and then the poster wasn't that kind of uh uh yeah. Well, it is what it is, but uh it wasn't too bad, you know. But uh I'll tell you what some what something I loved was uh on the movie. I love like the title font and all the fonts used and stuff. And and uh I mean they put so much of the 70s in this the costumes, the hairstyles, uh yeah, the props, everything looked authentic, authentic, and it gave it that 70s feel, you know. Uh the car, yeah. The car. Oh, I love the vehicles, especially that that bubble van, the bubble window van. And and the old uh 442 that they were driving around. That was sweet. Yeah, they did a really good job. And I'll tell you, I I love their attention to detail. I mean, you know, we just made a 70s Bigfoot movie, and we didn't have the money in that, or even I don't know if I just didn't think about it all. That amount of detail that he put into it. I mean, if if they're in a house and you see a calendar on the wall, it's a 70s calendar. Yep. If you see a newspaper laid on the table, it's a 70s newspaper. Jimmy Carter was on television. Jimmy Carter was in a news interview when they were in the hotel. Yeah, I was like, oh man, he's he's gone all out to make this feel authentic. Payphones, you know, the phone booth, all that stuff was in here. I thought that was just excellent. Excellent. The lame shirt with the flower prints on it, yeah, yeah, and the flared collar. But yeah, I mean this film and their dialogue, like you know, the kiss and the bonic man, all that. This movie just really took me back to the 70s. I was like grinning ear to ear watching this movie. But anyway, you got anything else to say about it? Um, well, I know Steve has done a lot of other uh low budget horror films, he's done a ton of them actually. Yeah, he's done. And um, I actually I don't know if he was there, but uh there was a film he did a while like way back called Cremains, and it was some some different horror films, uh shorts all together. And uh one of the uh actors was actually at Southern Geek Fest way back in the uh early 2000s. I don't remember the actual date, but yeah, I actually had a brush with Steve Sessions, at least his work. Um yeah, he he's got a lot of movies out there, and uh actually I've watched a few of them and uh I I definitely recommend checking out his work. Like I said, it's like with this film, it's a specific type of movie, and I don't think it's gonna appeal to everybody. But if you're in the right mindset, if you like these types of films, you know, this this guy does a great job. He he really does. When uh when I emailed him, he told me that uh he's actually in the movie. He said he's the photographer. He's the photographer at the beginning, yeah. So that was kind of cool. He put himself in a little cameo, kind of kind of like those two nerds from uh film squash did, you know, putting themselves in the movie. Yeah, but yeah, man, this one was a fun one. Uh yeah, also what's kind of cool is I didn't realize that he had done these other films that I had already seen. Yeah until I looked it up on IMGB and it's like, oh, he did that one and he did that one. Okay, well I know yeah, I know a little bit about this guy. And uh yeah, I've got you know good friends over in Mississippi that are also aware of his work. So definitely uh if you if you're from Mississippi or Louisiana, give it a look. If for no other reason, just to support a local boy, you know, yeah, doing work in Mississippi. But uh is there anything you else you want to talk about in the film? Is there any uh scenes or um no? Uh I think I said everything, you know, you know how much I liked it, because uh that's if I was gonna just make a movie from scratch, that's exactly the type of movie I would I would want to make. And uh I mean we already did, you know, we put ours in the 70s, but uh we had a lot of similarities to what he did, and um I thought that was awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's definitely a unique film, and uh I I again I I thought they he did a great job. And uh I guess with that being said, we've come to the point in our episode where we're going to rate this movie, and we're and as always, we're gonna be rating it on a scale of one to ten Bigfoot tracks, with one being the worst Bigfoot film ever made and ten being the best, in my opinion, is The Legend of Boggy Creek. And so, Patrick, I'm gonna let you go first tonight. I'm gonna get your rating because I really'm pretty sure that I know how you're gonna rate this film. And uh I just think it'll say a nine or a ten, but no, I don't think you're gonna, I don't think you're gonna go that high, but you're gonna go high. I'm pretty sure you're gonna go high with this one. And uh, hear your rating first, and I'm gonna give mine. All right. Uh like like we were saying, you know, I mean, this filmmaker is close to my own heart. It's like we're kindred spirits or something. Uh I would have loved to have been involved with this production, you know, working on it in some some way. That would have been so cool, right up my alley. But uh, I absolutely loved everything that he did. Um, the making of the whole film, I thought it captured an authentic 70s look and feel. Um, the director, he was he was going for it and he did it. I mean, uh even even though it was super low budget, um, I thought it was fantastic. Uh bro, they even had the conversation with the six million dollar man and the kiss, like we were talking about. I mean, who would have thought to stick that into a bigfoot movie, you know? That was especially to get so so specific with the kiss reference. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I was saying, you know, I felt like the movie was made just for me. But uh, but also the effects were uh they're they're all practical, and that that's the kind of funky stuff I love, man. You know, right there. He did a good job. And actually to me, uh, this movie actually felt like uh it was really made in the 70s, you know. To me, yeah, it felt like I was back then, you know, watching a movie in the theaters in the 70s. But but I've seen lots of low-budget uh 70s horror films, even Bigfoot films that weren't as good as this one. They were they're actually made in the 70s. You know, this is a lot better than a lot of those that I've seen. Um, but anyway, um now I'm gonna give this one a six and a half Bigfoot tracks for myself. Uh, I mean, yeah, this is the kind of Of movie that um I know it might not be a six for everyone, you know, but that's okay. I mean, it doesn't have to be. I mean, it it's to each his own, you know. This is my rating, everybody else can rate it the way they want, but I think it's a six and a half. You know, five is just an average rating. That to me, this was above average, especially for independent low budget, um budget film, you know. But um, but also uh it has that unique twist you were talking about earlier that was kind of cool, and it kind of explains you know what people have been talking about for decades about if Bigfoot is real, how come we've never found a body? So this twist kind of like pokes at that question, and I like the way they did that. I I liked how the boyfriend questioned Bigfoot's existence throughout the entire film, yeah. Yeah, and he would always come up with these things, you know, reasons as to why no one has any proof or whatever, and uh yeah. But I just want to tell people, you know, go check out this film. Uh it's a fun film, and I think people will enjoy it. Yeah. So so go ahead, uh Crazy Cajun. I want to hear your rating on it. I gave it a 6.5. I'm right there with you. Yes. We all on the same page. Yes, I I enjoyed this movie. Uh, it is not for the average movie goer, I don't believe. Um like I've already said, you've got to be in a particular mindset to watch this type of film. You gotta know what you're going into and uh just sit back and enjoy it for what it is. Yep, let it play out in front of you. I mean, it's got blood, it's got gore, it's got boobies, it's got it's got everything that you would want in a film from the 1970s. And uh including the cool car and bubble window boogie band boogie band. Uh it's it's got it's it's got everything that you want to see in that type of a movie. And um yeah, six and a half for me. I'm right there with you. Uh, I think that's a fair rating because it's definitely above average. Definitely an above average film. And um the twist ending and uh the acting and just the cheesy gore. I I thought, yeah, six and a half is a fair rating for me. Um so yeah, six and a half. We're not on the same page, man. Rarely it happens, but it does, you know. Yep, this is a good movie. And and like I said before, check out some more of uh Steve Sessions' work. Yeah, definitely. He's got a whole library of films, and I want to say uh this film, Shrieking the Sasquatch, is available on DVD. I actually bought it off Amazon. Yeah, yeah, it's on DVD, and it's also available to watch on multiple streaming services, right? If you want to watch it, but if you want to support him, buy a copy of the DVD. Um, I mean, every watch helps, but yeah, buy one if you if you have the means, go for it. Um and with that, Patrick, uh, is there anything else that's been going on lately? Well, man, we just had the uh Calcashoe Paris Short Film Festival uh this weekend, and that was the ninth annual one, and uh we presented a block of Bigfoot short films as part of the uh the film squatch Bigfoot Short Film Challenge of 2026. And this was the uh the first festival that we aired that block of films at. Yeah, and we had man, it was over throughout the entire day at the festival. We had over 40, but when that block played, we had like I think I counted 37 people in the audience watching that block. A lot of them showed up just for that, you know, just for Bigfoot, just for the Bigfoot films. I thought that was incredible. But uh, we did have some uh filmmakers from one of the films that showed up um the not so great outdoorsmen. Yeah, we we had uh Michael Murray, who plays the Bigfoot in that film, and we had uh Tony Lawson who plays one of the you know the two main actors. He plays one of those actors, so they were both there. We screened the movie at the end. They got up and talked about it. They answered a few questions the audience had, and they set up a booth and sold some DVDs and autographed some posters, and and the local TV station was there and even did a uh little interview with them. So they got on the nightly news. That was cool. Yep, yeah, and they uh they actually interviewed you. What was it the Friday or the Friday Friday on the the early morning show? I had to go I had to be there like 5 30 in the morning with uh Rob Bocage of uh KPLC. Yeah, that was pretty neat. And uh I was unable to attend, I had to work as usual, but uh it sounds like it was a great time, and uh I can't wait to check out the short films that were presented there that I didn't that I haven't seen yet, and uh we can definitely rate them here on Film Squatch. Uh we while we're on it, I want to tell people out there you still have time to submit a Bigfoot short film that we can include in in this traveling picture show of uh you know block of film Bigfoot films that we're showing at festivals, and the next one coming up will be uh the Boggy Creek Monster Mangle, right? Which is on September the first, the September the 5th, I'm sorry, in Falc, Arkansas at the Boggy Boggy Creek Boutique. And we'll we will show this block of films. And if you have one, you still got plenty of time to get it into us. And if it's here before you know that date, it will be included in that uh screening, but then you still have until the end of September to get us a film because the final festival we'll show them in will be the uh Lake Charles Film Festival, which is the uh first Saturday of October, I believe it's October 3rd, and then at the awards ceremony at that festival, we'll announce the winner of the Bigfoot Short Film Challenge. So, but you still have plenty of time. And I mean, the only two rules, it's gotta be within two years that you made it. So you have you can go make it right now if you need to, and it's gotta be 30 minutes or less. So I mean you could go out and make a five-minute Bigfoot movie with your cell phone and we'll accept it, you know. Just get us a Bigfoot short film. Yeah, absolutely. And uh Yeah, I was kind of surprised to hear that we had those big numbers show up for the for the short film festival. That was that was really great. That was that was a nice treat uh uh to hear. And um or do we have any other events or anything coming up other than the the mingle and the uh Lect Charles or the Lect Charles Film Festival? I think that's it for right now. And if you're listening and you would like us to attend your event, uh uh let us know. Uh reach out either to me or to Patrick and uh we'll do our best to attend your event and uh we'll bring Squatchy with us and uh who knows what else we'll have in our little bag of tricks. So uh Patrick, you uh you want to talk about anything else before we wrap this episode up? No, I think uh we said everything about Screech of the Sasquatch, uh, and we talked about the events coming up. I think that's all I had to talk about. Okay. Well, I guess with that, I have to ask you a question, Patrick. Um, if I'm out in 1979 in the back of the van, the boogie van. Yeah, the back of the boogey van um with your lover, exploring things with a young lady, parked off the beaten path. And the van's the van starts arocking. What should I do? Well, if you hear something come a knocking, watch your back. Bigfoot's out there. Thanks for listening to another episode of Film Squad. If you like the podcast, please leave us a five-star review and tell your friends about it. Make sure to like us on Facebook and join in on some of our interactive discussions. Remember, the cook is out there. Like your