User reviews

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.

I really want find out where this ski resort is. For an entire movie we saw people skiing and snowmobiling during a supposed celebration and NO ONE was on the course other than the person the camera was focused on and the shadow of the camera man. But then again this is a film about skiing, and snow-mobiling, and more skiing, and more mobiling, and more skiing and more skiing and zzzzzzz. Oh yeah they threw a monster in to break up the skiing. The sad thing is that this movie does have some close to brilliant points, but then they had to put me asleep with either a morality lesson from Gar or, gasp, more skiing. Best actor nomination for this movie was the kid that found the body, nobody else came in even a distant second. And even in snow pants Yvette was worth looking act, but that about sums up the high points. I am thankful this came in a 20 movie set I got for $8 or I really overpaid.

An abominable snowman turns up at a snow resort and starts killing skiiers. And just before their Winter Carnival! So inconsiderate!

Substitute the snow resort for a Cape Cod coastal tourist town. Substitute the Winter Carnival for the 4th of July. Substitute the Snowbeast for a killer Great White Shark. Boom!

If this was the 70's and this TV movie was on the tube and there was nothing else on then it might be mildly diverting. Otherwise, watch something better.

Aside from the blatant ripping off of Jaws (when they suggest cutting the first "monster" killed open I just about turned it off), the biggest problem this movie has is the mere seconds the Snowbeast has on camera. This probably was either because of a budget constraint or because the director decided to copy Jaws again and not reveal the monster too soon. But Jaws did have a long climactic battle where we see plenty of the shark, whereas Snowbeast just has our heroes repeatedly returning to the same barn and being surprised when the yeti attacks them again. Way too much of the later movie especially is seen from the creature's eyes, and we just don't see it enough. We don't even see its carcass at the end!

Skiing. Yetis. Obviously this is a video game movie of SkiFree. And like most video game movies, it sucks. I also got this in a Mill Creek "Chiller" pack.

Some have described it as "Jaws with snow," which isn't far off. First person Yeti-cam, main character wants to close down the park after a gruesome death. Higher authority says no in the name of profit, and wont cave after more deaths until they see it first hand. i can see the resemblance. Just replace "it wasn't a shark, it was a boat rudder" with "it wasn't a yeti, it was an avalanche." It's low-budget, made for TV B-Grade horror. And although I tend to enjoy a good laugh at a goofy B-Film, this wasn't even all that laughable. I can see why this was included in a $5 set of 20 Films no one had the rights to. Because no one would want the rights to this.

Much like the mutilated body of a Yeti victim, there's not much to salvage here.

A ski resort in Colorado is being terrorised by a creature which is attacking skiers. The matriarch of the Rill Lodge, which organises a festival for the town and is sure to bring in lots of tourists and cash is reluctant to believe it and engages her grandson Tony (Robert Logan looking uncannily like Merrill Osmond) to cover things up. His old friend, the Olympic gold medallist Gar Seberg (played by the giant of a man Bo Svenson) arrives with his wife Ellen, a plucky reporter (Yvette Mimieux), and Tony engages him and Sheriff Paraday (Clint Walker) to track down the beast.

This film is formulaic without any real surprises. The four leads, Logan, Mimieux, Svenson and Walker all play their parts well. Wisely, the beast itself is largely left unseen. There is one big question though. Why did the band feel the need to play "Rule Britannia" during the Snow Queen ceremony?