Critic Reviews

With its sharp narrative focus in episodes two and three, the series creates an unease that also parallels the absolute need to know what’s going to happen next. “Sasquatch” is compulsively watchable in that way, as Holthouse’s obsession with a deadly myth becomes our own.

Director Joshua Rofe makes great use of sparse, graphic-novel type re-enactment animation to augment the usual assortment of interviews and archival footage. “Sasquatch” also greatly benefits from having Holthouse as our narrator and anti-hero, who doesn’t believe in Bigfoot but definitely believes in leaving no stone (or marijuana plant) unturned in pursuit of the truth.

While we get explanations, or more accurately, tentative answers, about the murders, and the connection to Squatch, this is one of the few series that might’ve benefitted from an increase in episodes, further diving into the historical antagonism between the pot farmers and the conservative fight against them. Despite these small qualms, “Sasquatch” is a particularly compelling, binge-able, show that hides a complexity under its simple title.

Holthouse is a compelling guide. He also brings to bear his own understanding of monstrosity. ... It is a shape-shifter. Intrepid both in its pursuit of truth and its readiness to interrogate why that truth is interesting to us, “Sasquatch” is an impressive, propulsive piece of work.

Sasquatch may not prove to you one way or another that sasquatches actually exist, but it’s an entertaining true crime story with some interesting twists and turns.

Told over the course of three sharp and entertaining episodes, Rofé’s wacky docuseries benefits from having an expert protagonist to guide us through this wild saga. Holthouse has a casual sensibleness and good humor that makes him instantly likable and trustworthy.

The shadiness of the characters in Sasquatch gives what feels like real stakes to Holthouse’s research, but it also leaves Rofé few details to work with. As a result, the same facts are re-stated over and over again, and new ones are doled out piecemeal. ... Sasquatch ends on a note of eerie ambiguity, before putting a button on the tale that doesn’t exactly recontextualize it, but does clear up a few lingering questions.

Holthouse is an engaging storyteller and the series’ many animated recreation sequences effectively transport you into his investigative headspace. But when so much of his pursuit is one-sided phone calls and pixellated conversations, there’s only so much that “Sasquatch” can do before the drama seems manufactured.

Sasquatch is three or four different stories told half-way and then a rushed, over-explained attempt to unify them. The stories are all interesting and several have the potential for real gravity, leaving me wanting more in the end — which I guess is better than wanting less?

Even with the spookiness of the California wilderness at their disposal, the team behind Sasquatch never cobble together a tale worthy of their title.