Sasquatch Among the Wildmen (2020) Review

Sasquatch Among the Wildmen (2020) Review

Throughout history, ape-like humanoids have appeared in myths and legends of cultures from around the world. The best known wildmen that people still say they see roaming the wilds of North America are known as Sasquatch or Bigfoot. Discover the history of relic hominids (The Russian Almasty, the Chinese The Yeren, the Himalaya’s The Yeti and more) from around the world. Featuring Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum, Derek Randles, Shane Corson, David Ellis, Darcy Weir, and Lee Lustig.

In the latter half of the Twentieth Century tabloids regularly embraced any news of sightings for Sasquatch, Yeti’s or other ‘legends’ such as the Loch Ness Monster. For such beastly legends to maintain a foothold in today’s climate where news, fake or otherwise, is forever challenged and dissected by everyone with an opinion, online or otherwise, it’s an uphill struggle. However, that hasn’t stopped director/head-writer Darcy Weir in following up his previous Bigfoot documentary THE UNWONTED SASQUATCH with yet another to further flesh out the history of this elusive beast.

Anything related to such beasties is always of interest to me having been an avid watcher of Arthur C. Clarke’s Seventies UK program MYSTERIOUS WORLD. As a youngster with a keen imagination I was ready and willing to swallow up anything relating to these largely unseen monsters but now, as a middle-aged man, I reason that if there was indeed anything lurking out of sight in what remains of our forests, woodlands and lakes, that we would have definitely seen them by now. With more and more of our natural surroundings being decimated by big business then wouldn’t these beast men had to have ventured more into our habitat as other animals have had to do?

This issue is not only overlooked but ignored in what amounts to a ‘cut and paste’ documentary that meanders without a solid structure to back it up. This is a shame as a number of the clips shown are fascinating and it touches upon equivalent beasties from other cultures of which I had no prior knowledge of. Any interest generated from such footage is largely lost amongst a lack of fluidity, a rather dry delivery and a number of talking head interviews that fail to build up much more in the way of any excitement for an otherwise intriguing subject matter. With the recent satisfying Sasquatch horror flick MONSTROUS and writer Max Brooks’ latest book DEVOLUTION reigniting interest in this field it’s a shame that this ended up a missed opportunity.

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