In a nut shell? A team of research scientists head on out to the mountains of California to do some research and end up having to ascertain once and for all if Bigfoot is fact or fiction. Some of these scientists happen to be sexy women, which is always a plus in my books, and there are a few forest rangers on hand with the group as well just to make sure everyone stays safe and sound. Once our intrepid group of scientists hits their destination, they find exactly what they're looking for in the form of a poorly rendered CGI monster that doesn't wreak nearly as much havoc as he should.

While the premise is set up well enough, the execution falters. The idea of a team of scientists going off into the woods to look for a Sasquatch isn't exactly an original one, but it's a tested and true formula that can be easily exploited for a decent storyline and some monster related set pieces. Ruggero Deodato turned it on its head and made it work with Cannibal Holocaust and on a more similar level Ed Ragozzino made it work with his 1977 Bigfoot movie, Sasquatch – The Legend Of Bigfoot. So why isn't the director of Sasquatch Hunters able to make it work with Sasquatch Hunters? In short, he doesn't capitalize on the Sasquatch.

Sure, some of the performances are hackneyed and cliche and you're not going to find any award winning thespians on hand delivering intense soliloquies elaborating on man versus animal and their respective places in nature. This isn't that type of movie and to its credit it isn't trying to be. This is a 'guys and gals in the woods versus monster' film and you can't really expect that type of performance in a monster film. Not to say that it never happens that you find one, only that it's rare and that as long as the monster quotient is handled well, it isn't required.

Sadly, this film doesn't make the best use out of its monster. Close ups come towards the camera revealing a poor computer generated monster face that ruins the element of fun that these types of films require to succeed. Add to that the fact that bigfoot, though far from a friendly Harry And The Hendersons type in this movie, doesn't really pose much of a threat to anyone and what you end up with is a rather lifeless film that lacks the charm that other entries in the genre have had.

Maybe the film could have been saved if the filmmakers had gone for the gross out. If Bigfoot had carved his way through our heroes and eaten them for dinner or if they'd have thrown in a bundle of gratuitous nudity and taken that route for what it was worth. It's worked in the past and there are plenty of films that use sex and violence to at least provide some sort of base and primitive entertainment and to cover up the fact that there isn't really a good story, good acting, or a decent monster on hand. But we don't get any of that either. What we're left with is… emptiness. If you're going to make a monster movie, you need to first make a monster that people want to watch, shouldn't you? That there is the film's fatal flaw.

Video:

The non-anamorphic 1.85.1 widescreen transfer leaves as much to be desired as the feature itself does. It's muddy looking with poor contrast and varying black levels that sometimes look spot on and other times look very washed out and gray. There's edge enhancement all over the place and there are also some minor compression artifacts in some of the darker scenes. Flesh tones manage to make it through the mess without too much interference but that's not enough to really make this much to write home about. For a newer movie, it sure should have looked a whole lot better on DVD than it does on this release.