Lance Henriksen Week: Sasquatch Mountain

I was really worried that this was just going to be the same movie...again.  Thankfully, it's not.  Unfortunately, it's not that great of a movie all the same.  The plot involves a Sasquatch on a Mountain, not to be confused with the last film which sort of had the same thing.  Never mind that they're really just walking around in the Woods...which might be near a Mountain, I guess.  There is no silly Deus Ex Machina here, for good or bad. In its place, a dozen characters with different motivations and scenes mostly taking place apart from each other.  At one point, we have one group chasing the other, while a third person is off ahead of them and a fourth takes place somewhere else entirely.  In spite of that, it still has major plot scenes happen...off-camera. The plot of the film involves, as I said, a bunch of people running around in the Woods...with a Sasquatch occasionally appearing to spice things up.  Thankfully, we aren't force fed 800 P.O.V. shots this time.  In spite of that, I'm mixed on this movie.  To find out why this movie actually has a different title than even the Menu, read on...

In the Intro, Lance's wife- who seems a bit young for him, but whatever- is out on the road filming him fix the car when a Bigfoot runs by...and she gets run over by a car.  Time jump!

12 Years Later, a bunch of bank robbers strike the town.  Coincidentally, this random woman gets the tape from the Intro and crashes into their car.

After they flee into the Woods, the Sheriff- Ron Howard's dad Rance- calls in an old friend: Jack Deth!

In between scenes of the different groups walking and the scenes of Lance and his daughter- where was she in the intro, given that she's an adult now?!?-, the Bigfoot wanders around.  He'll get to killing people in time, don't worry. 

That's better!  Admittedly, this looks more like the Bigfoot is doing something else to that guy.  There are movies about that...but this isn't one them.  Thank God!

Lance is honestly the best part of this movie, although he doesn't have much to do.  Oh yeah, he explains that he found out about the bank robbery in town...off-camera.  Yeah, don't show that scene or anything, movie!

A long stretch of the movie is just the whole *remaining* cast sitting around in a Cabin, having separate 'Character Moments' together.  None of these are bad, but they do distract from the whole 'killer monster in the Woods' plot.  That's all I'm saying. 

The finale comes down to the trio of Henriksen, Howard and Thomerson- who was apparently not dead after all.  The C-Movie Kill Crew in action, baby!

Oh, never mind.  The Sasquatch dies from a combination of its gunshot wounds gathered throughout the film.  Our heroes...well, do nothing.

In the Epilogue, our heroine moves on with her life and more Sasquatches cry out.  The End.

Seriously, do something about the damn lighting!  The most persistent problem with the movie is the nearly-constant use of natural lighting.  That's fine for some scenes, but they're shooting in the damn Woods!  I appreciate the authenticity of it, mind you.  I appreciate that it's cheaper to get permits to shoot in the Woods than to build sets.  All of that aside, this movie is horribly-lit!  Ambient light is constantly coming in from through the trees, making the film look washed out.  There's no excuse for this!  The Polonia Brothers were smart enough to shoot indoors most of the time.  All of that aside, the movie has some good acting, some good character moments and has a decent plot.  I just wish that one part of it wasn't so distracting that it made any good parts hard to ignore.  Take us away, monkey mask...

Next up, the finale of Lance Henriksen Week takes us into Seagal territory.  Who will show up more- Henriksen or Seagal's double?  Stay tuned...