SXSW Online 2021 Reviews: “Sasquatch” and “The Lost Sons”
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter - Uphill Both Ways Podcast)
You’ll come for Bigfoot massacring three men on a California pot farm and you’ll stay for the mind-boggling rabbit hole that investigative journalist David Holthouse goes down when trying to get the facts behind that story in director Joshua Rofé’s three-episode Hulu documentary series Sasquatch.
Holthouse was working on one such farm when two other employees arrived one night in 1993, breathlessly recounting how a Sasquatch had torn three men limb from limb. As hard as it was to believe that night, the story stayed with Holthouse for decades until he finally decided to research it. He phones up old acquaintances and arranges interviews with an assortment of characters, ranging from aged hippies who tried to go back to the land to current meth heads to people of secretive backgrounds who refuse to be shown on camera.
Rofé’s film also documents some interesting side stories, including how government authorities came in and destroyed pot farms in the area. But the director always brings the focus back to Holthouse and his deep dive into what really happened on that fateful night in 1993.
Fans of Bigfoot and true crime documentaries will find plenty to enjoy about Sasquatch. It’s a tantalizingly paced, well-crafted documentary full of surprises and engaging oral histories from people who live off the grid.
Another intriguing documentary is director Ursula Macarlane’s film The Lost Sons, in which Paul Fronczak attempts to unravel the mysteries of his past, starting at age 10 when he discovered that he had been kidnapped from his mother’s arms at a Chicago hospital years earlier. He supposedly had been found abandoned on the street in New Jersey and, a couple of years later, reunited with his parents.
But something nagged away at Fronczak for decades, and he wondered if he was really biologically related to his family or if the FBI had just rushed the reuniting so that it could simply close the case. Once he started his search, he became obsessed — he considered it being committed — and relationships with his wife and parents began to crumble.
The Lost Sons is often heartbreaking, for several reasons that would go into spoiler territory if discussed here. It’s well worth seeking out and has wonderful production values. Fronczak comes across as polarizing — some viewers will admire his tenacity, while others will see his drive as selfish and inconsiderate of others (which he addresses in the film). There are no teasers here or cliffhangers here; Fronczak found the answers for which he was looking, as jaw-dropping as they are, and they are presented here.
Sasquatch and The Lost Sons screened as part of SXSW Online 2021, which ran from March 16–20, 2021. Sasquatch also premieres April 20 on Hulu.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/) and Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast (decadesofhorror.com/category/classicera/). He also writes for the film websites Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Ghastly Grinning (ghastlygrinning.com), and Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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