“Sasquatch,” premiering on Hulu today after its premiere at the SXSW festival last month, is a crazy ride and true crime story with a twist. Investigative journalist David Holthouse looks into a 25-year-old triple homicide in Mendocino County, California in 1993. The cherry on top is the Sasquatch aspect of these murders. Holthouse remembers someone coming into a cabin and exclaiming three guys have been torn up and saying, “I’m telling you man, a Bigfoot killed those guys.”
That’s what launched Holthouse’s interest into trying to find answers, as he starts to research missing person cases from around that time to no avail. “Maybe it’s a ghost story or maybe there’s nothing to it,” he says in the documentary. It’s interesting as he starts to doubt himself. Did he may misremember the event, or was he maybe just super high?
Holthouse is such an interesting person to tell this story with everything he’s been through. In his personal life, as well as undercover work, you can tell watching this he’s good at his job. This is especially true when he’s asking people about the homicides in 1993; he never tells them the specific year or time so no one parrots information back to him and he never plants those seeds.
He takes us through this journey as the show blends true crime and human interest with the mythical side of Sasquatch. But you can’t put the show in one basket as it balances different tones and many different subjects. It does this with interviews, hard-hitting investigative journalism, and re-enactments. “Sasquatch” often shows these re-enactments in great animation by Drew Christie. I always love animation as a medium for these re-enactments; it’s such a neat visual storytelling device when used with voice-over, and really shows a lot of its style.
A still from “Sasquatch.” (Photo: Hulu)
For those fans of the mythical creature Sasquatch, the first episode is the most fun; we learn about people’s passion for Sasquatch and why they’re so invested as we get immersed in that community. It’s so much fun as we visit their homes and learn what they think of Sasquatch and why he’s such a big part of their lives. I loved a pair of life partners, Georges and Wayne, where Georges explains that Wayne believes Bigfoot can teleport (“No I do not, do not go there,” warns Wayne), but Georges has a different thought on Bigfoot. Moments like these are why I love the first episode so much.
It’s also interesting in the more serious moments as we hear about a man who had a run-in with Bigfoot. He describes seeing a deformed thing swimming… “it was covered with dreadlocks and it was going through the water,” and he says it then screamed like a banshee. It’s interesting that this such a horrifying experience. And on the other side, there are people who would do anything to come that close to Bigfoot. Director Joshua Rofé paints a strong overall portrait of that, and a strong picture in general as he combs through all the research.
The end of this episode hints at danger coming in the second episode. It seems to explore a different tone with more intense interview subjects, the comedy left behind in the first episode. I found the HBO series “McMillions” similar. I wasn’t as interested in the mafia aspect; but “Sasquatch” is different as it maintains interest and lays out the facts of the marijuana and crime aspects of Mendocino County and that history. That still fascinates, albeit in a more serious manner. That’s also why the choice to separate this into three episodes is smart. It juggles these different tones in self-contained episodes, and it all comes together in the third episode.
An animation by Drew Christie featured in “Sasquatch.” (Photo: Hulu).
The second episode is the bridge tonally, and teases the true crime aspects. It also sets up the dominoes for its mystery, leading to a more enthralling finale episode. I won’t talk so much about this third episode as it comes altogether, but I’m glad I stuck around throughout for these answers.
On par, if you’re watching this solely for Sasquatch, you’ll enjoy many aspects; but keep your expectations in check as the True Crime to Sasquatch ratio leans more towards true crime. I love the first episode learning about these characters and that’s definitely my favourite episode; but the other episodes are strong for different reasons with more intense interview subjects. It takes us down a crazy road that’s worth the ride.
