Snowbeast

SNOWBEAST is about the Rill Ski Lodge, its 50th anniversary celebration, and the huge, hairy monster that wrecks it all.

The wanton slaughter starts right away, leaving unwary skiers slumped on the slopes. Of course, lodge owner, Carrie Rill (Sylvia Sidney) won't entertain the idea of closing the place down. After all, what are a few deaths, when a winter carnival is at stake?

Enter Gar and Ellen Seberg (Bo Svenson and Yvette Mimieux). He's an 8 foot tall man in need of a job and a confidence boost, and she's his long-suffering wife. Can they put their soap opera marriage on hold long enough for Gar to help track the creature? When 9 foot tall Sheriff Paraday (Clint Walker) gets involved, it takes a while to convince him, and then the hunt is on.

As made-for-TV, killer Bigfoot movies go, this one's not too bad. It's also fairly talky, and has several lengthy shots of people just skiing along, like they're in a travelogue.

THE BEST PARTS ARE: #1- When the beast attacks the lodge, ruining the night for the winter carnival queen! #2- The monster's assault on the sheriff's camper! The yowling yeti unleashes an avalanche of -conveniently placed- logs that defy physics and all logic, by hopping into the camper sideways!

A frigid feast of furry fun!...

I saw this on late night tv in the early eighties. I was staying at my grandmothers house and I was in a sleeping bag. She had one of those Ye olde toilets where you had to go outside to pee. Needless to say I was to scared to go out side lest the Snowbeast would get me. There was no snow but I was too scared and peed in the sleeping bag. I'm still scared of the dark. And sleeping bags. And my grandmother. She's dead now though which is fine cause she was crazy. Also don't watch scary movies if you have to outside to pee, it may not end well.

I loved Snowbeast when I first saw it. It could never be accused of being a great film but it is very good.

Some Sasquatch type creature is butchering people staying at a ski resort and no-one seems to be able to locate it or kill it. Throughout the movie it kills people and causes some carnage.

You don't actually get many glimpses of the monster. You will see a claw here or there but if memory serves me right, you actually only get split second glimpses of it's face at the end when it is cornered by the good guys. Of course, this doesn't spoil the movie; on the contrary, I think it helps that you don't see the monster every five minutes, it makes the whole thing more authentic. It's much better to hear a few growls here and there and to see the victims reactions.

I recommend Snowbeast to anyone. If you notice it on the TV, make sure you record it.

This was filmed partially in Crested Butte, Colorado for the ski slope shots, and 30 miles away in Gunnison, Colorado for fill shots. They shot the 'Winter Wonderland' High School dance sequence in the gym at the high school. This was a pretty big deal for all of the students. A real "Hollywood" movie! I remember Yvette being very petite and very quiet during her on-camera parts. One of the shots has Bo sitting in the middle of a bunch of students in the bleachers. Look close (and quick) and you'll see a geeky guy in glasses behind him. I remember wearing a bright shirt that day. We all had to sign the waivers and promise to be polite and quiet. The director would lay out what was going on in that particular shot and how we were supposed to act. They replaced the glass in one of the gym doors so the Beast could stick his arm through it. They seemed to be careful to not let us see the whole beast. Only parts of it. Bo was a large guy, as I remember. And nice. I was a freshman or sophomore at the time so this was being filmed in the 1976-77 time frame. My friends dad was principal at the time. I remember him being very stressed about all the diversions. Not education friendly I guess. But it was a neat learning experience in another way. And I get to say I was in a movie with Yvette and Bo. Thanks.

Good looking actors like Mimieux and Svenson and pretty scenery can only do so much to save a poorly written story. Snow Beast is a typical 1970s monster horror film and plays out like an over-long ancestral episode of the X-Files without any of the subplots that made that show tolerable. Of course it's about a yeti terrorizing a ski resort. But since the yeti itself (also a pretty good looking creature) only appears in the film for about 2 minutes scattered over the entire 86 minutes of the film, the resort is mostly inhabited by bad actors. Frankly, only Mimieux gives a performance worthy of recording, though Svenson seemed to at least be enjoying himself.

Svenson and Mimieux's characters are married, though seemingly becoming estranged because of Svenson deepening depression. Bob Logan plays a good friend of the couple who appears to be interested in Mimieux for reasons that go beyond friendship. Svenson's problem is that he regrets having given up skiing after winning five gold medals and becoming a champion. This sets up a subplot which is used to justify about 30 minutes of Corman-esquire scenes of people skiing. Svenson is a pretty poor skier for an ex-champion. The hunt for the yeti, which really couldn't justify more skiing scenes, instead explains why most of the last 15 minutes of the film consists of the principle cast riding around on snow mobiles. And lest I forget, Clint Walker shows up, playing himself in a County Sheriff's uniform and leads the snow-mobile brigade.

Like many "shockers" of the 70s, Snow Beast avoids an adequate special effects budget and an R rating (it's a TV movie) by not allowing the audience to see the beast itself or really, any of the horror scenes. You only see the beast when the actors do. And when they see it, they die, while you are only likely to experience narcolepsy.

It took me four nights to get through this one. I have read through some of the more enthusiastic reviews, and all I can say about them is that I am glad that diversity thrives here on IMDb.