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Tag: sasquatch

  • The poo-stained humanity of Sasquatch Sunset

    The poo-stained humanity of Sasquatch Sunset

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    Gross-out humor reached its apex in 2010’s Jackass 3D, when the boys slingshotted a ripened port-a-potty 100 feet into the air, and a bungee-cord bounce sent fecal matter splattering all over Steve-O — in glorious 3D, no less! That was it. There was nowhere else to go. Or so I believed.

    Sasquatch Sunset has upended comedic history.

    The new comedy from filmmaker brothers David and Nathan Zellner stars Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough, though you wouldn’t know it without seeing their names on the poster; they’re both outfitted in cryptid costumes that conceal everything but their eyes. It’s really them, movie stars, roaming the woods in big hairy prosthetics. Like the apes in 2001: A Space Odyssey, the movie’s small pack of four sasquatches is on the verge of a new phase of evolution as they unlock the possibilities of the world and their own bodies. This leads them to defecate without restraint, make feral love in the open, and occasionally fondle their dongs. No bodily function goes untapped in Sasquatch Sunset, which happens to be a meditative communion with North America’s glorious woodland.

    Sasquatch Sunset is extreme even for the Zellners, who are experts in thwarting expectations and upending movie tropes. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, their biggest breakout, stars Rinko Kikuchi as a Tokyo office drone drawn to Minnesota, supposedly in search of the bag of money buried in the snow by the characters in the Coen brothers’ neo-noir Fargo. Twisting urban legend into fantastical docudrama, the film earned indie cult status by threading quirk through tragedy to spin up a genre-defying odyssey. Their follow-up, 2018’s Damsel, let Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska, and a tiny horse go ham on the Western genre. While less successful as commentary, the romp was pure Zellners — wicked funny, experimental, and eye-catching. Sasquatch Sunset continues the arc, as the brothers both broaden their humor and find a way to be even less accessible.

    There is no dialogue in Sasquatch Sunset, and little plot. More National Geographic documentary than Harry and the Hendersons, the film follows the four Bigfoots over a year as their senses blossom and urges take hold. Eisenberg and Keough’s sasquatches already have a son (Christophe Zajac-Denek of Twin Peaks: The Return), but the pack’s alpha male (Nathan Zellner) is randy. Through grunts and howls, the humanoids negotiate their societal norms, paving the way for Keough and Zellner’s sasquatches to graphically, as the Bloodhound Gang would put it, “do it like they do on the Discovery Channel.” Keough’s sasquatch winds up pregnant, Zellner’s has a sexual awakening, and Eisenberg ends up introspective, ruminating in silence as his companions bang, and staring off into the trees as if wondering whether there are any more of them out there.

    Cinematographer Mike Gioulakis breathes life into Sasquatch Sunset’s quiet stillness with his sun-soaked landscapes — the California redwoods are as much of a far out, man spectacle as the infinity of the night sky. And as an examination of the dawn of man that still brushes up against the existence of modern(-ish) mankind, Sasquatch Sunset occasionally connects with something profound about how we became the violent, vulgar, curious, loving beings we should all admit we are.

    Where viewers’ mileage will vary is in the aggressive punctuation of introspective moments with absolutely profane humor. I will never unsee Eisenberg’s sasquatch having an explosive diarrhea episode all over a street after eating the wrong kind of berries. Or watching Keough go ape on her dangling breasts to firehose milk in every direction. Or a sasquatch live birth. The practical effects in Sasquatch Sunset are… astounding.

    Image: Bleecker Street

    There is a point to all of this. While the Bigfoots live off the land, they know little about their surroundings. Everything is a “first” in the wild, and the Zellners want us to feel it. How do you eat a fish if you’ve never seen one before? The sasquatches pop a few like water balloons. How do you care for a baby without any instruction? Smack it until it burps. What the hell is a mountain lion? A sex object, at least at first. The Zellners are right to imagine their sasquatches’ quest for survival as complete chaos, walkouts be damned.

    Reactions to Sasquatch Sunset’s Sundance Film Festival premiere called it everything from a masterpiece to an utter misfire. I can’t imagine the Zellners would want it any other way; their vision is clear, and zero concessions were made to tame the backwoods journey into a whimsical, Disney Plus-ready drama. No, this is how it would really be, and the laughs (horrors?) within might even make Steve-O squint.

    Is Sasquatch Sunset a good movie? A bad one? I will say I approve of it. I wanted to vomit three or four times before the credits rolled, but in an era where even indie films can feel like four-quadrant efforts on the cheap, what a relief that something so aggressively sick and sweet exists.

    Sasquatch Sunset opens in a few major cities on April 12, and expands to a nationwide release on April 19.

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    Matt Patches

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  • Scientist says most Bigfoot sightings boil down to this simple explanation | Globalnews.ca

    Scientist says most Bigfoot sightings boil down to this simple explanation | Globalnews.ca

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    For centuries the mystery surrounding Bigfoot has captured the imaginations of people across North America, but one data analyst now says there might be simple mathematical equation to explain the sightings.

    In a new preprint study published online in bioRxiv, data analyst Floe Foxon writes that many sightings of elusive Sasquatch-looking figures could actually be black bears walking on their hind legs.

    The study, poetically titled “If it’s there, could it be a bear?,” suggests that supposed Bigfoot sightings in Canada and the U.S. tend to increase when there’s a high population of black bears.

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    “Sasquatch sightings were statistically significantly associated with bear populations such that, on the average, one ‘sighting’ is expected for every 900 bears. Based on statistical considerations, it is likely that many supposed Sasquatch are really misidentified known forms,” Foxon wrote.

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    In coming to his conclusion, Foxon looked at existing Sasquatch sightings data across North America, running statistical tests against bear populations in each province and state while adjusting for land area and human population.

    A map created to back his findings shows Bigfoot sightings overlapping with black bear populations, particularly on the West Coast.


    Choropleth maps for sasquatch reports, black bear (Ursus americanus) populations, and human populations in the United States and Canada.

    Floe Foxon

    However, Florida and Texas seem to report a lot of Sasquatch sightings despite low black bear populations, and Floxon explains that in those cases people are likely spotting other animals or, perhaps, even other humans.

    “Usually when people say they’ve seen something like Bigfoot they aren’t lying about what they think they saw,” he told The Telegraph newspaper. “But that doesn’t mean they aren’t mistaken.”

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    And while Foxon has offered a reasonable explanation for Bigfoot sightings, there’s another mythical monster folklore that he can’t quite explain.

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    Click to play video: 'Trent University Sasquatch Society in Peterborough on the lookout for Bigfoot'


    Trent University Sasquatch Society in Peterborough on the lookout for Bigfoot




    In a separate preprint paper, also published online in bioRxiv, Foxon used math, once again, to demonstrate that the Loch Ness monster probably isn’t an eel, like many have hypothesized over the years.

    He told the Telegraph that spotting a three-foot eel in the loch would be a one-in-50,000 chance, so spotting an animal close enough to be even considered the size of Nessie would basically be zero.

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    Although the chance of finding either is “vanishingly unlikely,” Foxon told the Telegraph, it “would be arrogant to say there is no chance.”

    Foxon’s theory likely won’t stop people from ongoing attempts to prove Bigfoot’s existence. For decades, enthusiasts have been hunting for the folklore beast in the hopes of capturing airtight photo or video footage.

    And while more and more North Americans have become interested in the beast’s existence over the years, the legend in Canada is rooted in Indigenous history, and the First Nations consider the mythological creatures sacred.

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    Each tribe has its own set of beliefs. For the Sts’alies Nation on the West Coast, the Sasquatch is a protector of their land and an entity not to be meddled with, while the Haida people view it as a supernatural being to be respected.

    To date, wildlife government agencies in Canada have not acknowledged the existence of Sasquatch, and the mythical creature remains the stuff of campfire stories and conspiracy theorists.

    &copy 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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    Michelle Butterfield

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  • Researcher Thinks He Solved Bigfoot Mystery, And You Can Do The Math, Too

    Researcher Thinks He Solved Bigfoot Mystery, And You Can Do The Math, Too

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    A data scientist thinks he’s solved the mystery of Bigfoot ― not by searching for the creature out in the wilds, but by examining the math instead.

    In a new preprint study published online in bioRxiv, data analyst Floe Foxon says many sightings could actually be black bears, which can be roughly the size and shape of a Sasquatch when walking on their hind legs.

    He’s even come up with a simple formula:

    “Sasquatch sightings were statistically significantly associated with bear populations such that, on the average, one ‘sighting’ is expected for every 900 bears. Based on statistical considerations, it is likely that many supposed Sasquatch are really misidentified known forms.”

    “If Bigfoot is there,” he writes, “it may be many bears.”

    The study includes a map showing black bear populations and Bigfoot sightings overlapping in some places, especially the Pacific Northwest.

    But it also shows two big exceptions: Texas and Florida. The two states have had plenty of Bigfoot sightings, but Texas has no real bear population and Florida has only a small presence.

    Those, he wrote, could be explained by other animals or even people mistaken for Bigfoot.

    “Usually when people say they’ve seen something like Bigfoot they aren’t lying about what they think they saw,” he told the Telegraph newspaper. “But that doesn’t mean they aren’t mistaken.”

    Foxon’s analysis cites previous studies, including a 2009 report published in the Journal of Biogeography that also found a distinct overlap between black bear populations and Bigfoot sightings. The authors of that study wrote that the overlap suggests “that many sightings of this cryptozoid may be cases of mistaken identity.”

    But while Foxon thinks Bigfoot sightings might be explained by bears, he has also debunked a common explanation for another mysterious creature: the Loch Ness Monster.

    Some have speculated that the sightings could be spawned by giant eels swimming in the loch.

    Turns out, the math doesn’t work.

    He told the Telegraph that spotting a three-foot eel would be a one-in-50,000 event in the loch. For an eel that’s about 20 feet or more ― big enough to be mistake for Nessie ― “the probability is practically next to zero.”

    At least one hunt, it seems, is still on.

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  • Pennsylvania Parks Officials Release Curious Statement About Bigfoot Warnings

    Pennsylvania Parks Officials Release Curious Statement About Bigfoot Warnings

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    Parks officials in Pennsylvania say they don’t know who’s posting signs warning of Bigfoot activity in the area, but it’s not them. They also threw cold water on the notion that Sasquatch might be making a home in the Keystone State ― or anywhere else for that matter.

    “Bigfoot is not real,” Wesley Robinson, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, told PennLive.

    The signs state that there have been “encounters” in the area and call on visitors to “observe elevated park etiquette, be cautious of your surroundings and to keep the location of any small children/pets within a tighter scope of awareness.”

    They also warn: “Do not approach the creature.”

    Robinson added that the signs, which have been turning up for months in “many parks,” are removed whenever spotted.

    Visitors have been posting images of the signs on social media, including one that drew a response from the conservation department, which runs the state’s parks:

    The agency’s claim that “Bigfoot isn’t real” is unlikely to end the debate about the cryptid anytime soon as searching for Sasquatch remains a popular pastime in parks around the nation.

    Oklahoma lawmakers even proposed a Bigfoot hunting season ― complete with a cash prize ― not to kill the creature, just to find evidence of it.

    While the majority of Bigfoot sightings seem to take place in the Pacific Northwest and California, Pennsylvania has had its share of Sasquatch activity over the years. The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization has 124 “credible” sightings in Pennsylvania listed in its database, including someone who claims to have seen two ― and heard more of them whistling ― near his cabin in Harrison Valley.

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