Sasquatch

With some of the garbage docs that Netflix has been churning out recently Hulu decided they can play the game too. They hook you in with the title and get you thinking maybe this might be a fun romp down the old Big Foot trail, but nooooooope, this is almost all about weed and hippies and paranoia. If they had just said that up front with an appropriate title I might have watched anyways.

A fascinating dab of investigative documentary-making centered on journo David Holthouse trying to find the truth behind a supernatural encounter he'd witnessed whilst working on a Californian drug farm in the early 1990s. The doc becomes a bit of a shaggy-dog story after that, encompassing both the history of bigfoot sightings in the area, the drug trade, the exploitation of illegal workers and everything in between. It likely didn't need to be over three parts and long sections of it feel drawn out or unnecessary - but Holthouse is a charismatic narrator and his "weaponized dissociative behavior" makes him appear wildly fearless amongst the cast of the strange and dangerous interviewees he encounters along the way. A meandering but atmospheric tale, this, with a surprising amount of depth and empathy. I hope this isn't the last we see of him.

Starts off with some good Bigfoot tails and that's where it ends with Bigfoot. After they get into the 3 murders. You can kind of just say yeah it may be Bigfoot or it was really just some dope growers taking out some Mexicans that were on or near their crop or they were the competition. It's not a bad documentary, it's just titled wrong. So much so they did it on purpose so they would hopefully real you in. From the looks of it, it did. I would have watched this anyways as it's just another murder Mountain mystery. Just wouldn't have been as eager as I was when I seen the Sasquatch title. I might have gave it a 7-8ish if they would gone with a more truthful Title.

I was all geared up for this. I love Bigfoot stories and documentaries. This is not one.

The first episode talks about the story of how Bigfoot allegedly killed three men at a pot farm in 1993, just like the description says. But after that, it just becomes a documentary about the marijuana farm scene in Northern California from the 1980s until today. It's an okay documentary about that, but ridiculous to mislead viewers into thinking this has anything to do with Sasquatch. That subject is barely touched upon here.

First, I'm convinced most of the 1 stars are people who didn't bother to read the series description before they watched, and instead of just moving on to something else came here to complain about it not actually being about catching sasquatch.

Second, this was a really cool look into the dark underbelly of the the Mendocino, but more importantly the national forest system as a whole. If you've ever worked on a national forest, you know this kind of stuff is well known and runs rampant amongst the national forests in California. Racism, crime and even murder can be common place, especially in a place as large and anonymous as a national park can be. It's as fascinating as it is tragic, and if you're a fan of true crime, this is a solid watch.