Review by Peter Syslo
CLAWED: THE LEGEND OF SASQUATCH (2005) is about, well... the legend of Sasquatch - there you have it! No, seriously, the film is about our beloved, hairy, quasi-simian friend who stalks the woods of the United States and strikes fear into anyone who may happen to catch a glimpse of him. I've always been interested in the legend of Bigfoot and the thought of some humanoid life form walking around the woods at night (besides Jason Voorhees) really puts a little bit of a scare into me. I enjoyed reading the stories when I was a kid and I continue to find the idea of Bigfoot interesting, as an adult. Unfortunately, CLAWED... wasn't as interesting to me as those stories and accou nts that I used to read. The movie isn't terrible; but honestly, it just didn't sustain my interest and it didn't instill in me that feeling of awe, which I used to experience with the Bigfoot legends.
CLAWED... is directed by Karl Kozak and is written by Don J. Rearden and Kozak. The film stars Dylan Purcell, Brandon Henschel, Miles O' Keeffe, Jack Conley, Chelsea Hobbs, Casey LaBow, and Nathaniel Arcand.
CLAWED... is about a Northwestern town that is confused by the death of a group of hunters. People do not necessarily believe that it was Sasquatch, but they do agree that a large beast killed the men. A surviving hunter gathers up a few friends and they take to the woods to hunt down the beast that killed the original group of hunters. In the meantime, a group of high school students are camping in the same woods and are video-taping for a school project. Also, a Native American forest ranger (Arcand) is in the same woods and he is trying to understand what exactly happened; he is familiar with the legend of Sasquatch and he is trying to protect everyone involved. Well, it turns out that the hunters find what they were looking for and the students and the forest ranger come face-to-face wi th the legend himself/herself.
The film wasn't exactly bad, but it didn't seem to go to that "next level". Aside from the forest ranger and Sasquatch, I really didn't become invested in any of the characters – which may be a reason for my wavering attention. Another reason for some loss of interest may have been that the film didn't have a strong, steady pace and the Sasquatch action scenes were fairly sporadic. You do see him/her "stalking" the teens and the hunters, but he/she never seems to become really scary and violent. Although, there is one part where Sasquatch is circling around a hunter who is hiding under a truck; that scene was pretty good, as far as scares go, and that was more of what I wanted to see. I know that Sasquatch was not meant to be portrayed as a raging killer and he/she was killing for a reason but, I just wanted to see more of the "wild " side of the beast.
Getting back to the semi-interesting characters, the acting was basically okay; the hunters and the students were convincing – both were annoying and typical (played appropriately by the actors). Arcand, as the forest ranger, was the best actor in the film (which meant the most interesting and least annoying) and John Patrick Lowrie, as the mayor, was also good – for some reason he stood out in my mind because he seemed to have the town's best interests in mind, yet he didn't want to deal with the paranoia of the townsfolk. Whatever way you look at it, the film turned out to be an interesting mix of various strong and weak elements.
All criticism aside, one of the positive points of the film was the cinematography. It was actually pretty strong and it created a nice woodland atmosphere, which definitely supported the storyline. Specifically, the nighttime shots provided the best atmosphere for the story and created some decent suspense (again, the truck scene). By no fault of the camera work, though, the suspenseful atmosphere seemed to dissipate a little in the daytime shots. I chalk it up to that old challenge of trying to make something look scary and formidable in the daylight (I recognize that it is not an easy task). The thing is, Sasquatch looked convincing in the nighttime shots (and strangely, a little like Victor Crowley) but he wasn't as much as a presence in the daylight. Now, the effects were actually fairly good (except for the look of Sasquatch), however, everything tended to look a little better at night and I wish more of the f ilm took advantage of that fact.
Cutting to the chase: CLAWED: THE LEGEND OF SASQUATCH was okay. I wasn't really moved by it, but it was still enjoyable to watch. I tended to accept everyone in the stereotypical roles (gratuitous nudity is included) and I tried to "kick back" and keep an eye out for Bigfoot. It does have some funny moments and for some it might even be that "B" movie that is fun to watch with a group of friends. It did have some cool scenes, like Sasquatch stalking the hunter who was hiding under the truck and the one girl's dream sequence. But, overall, I was hoping for a more serious movie about Bigfoot; and it is in-and-out fairly quickly (about 80 minutes, I think). I was left feeling a little unfulfilled. In short, if you like creature films, the legend of Bigfoot, or "B"-type horror flicks then you may enjoy CLAWED... I give it a 4/10.