Snow Beast

SNOW BEAST is the low-budget remake of a '70s creature flick I saw and enjoyed years ago. The difference being that the 1970s version was a proper film, whereas this is a shamelessly silly B-movie that lacks a proper script and the kind of money to make a film that even slightly resembles the earlier version.

Instead, we're bogged down in SyFy Channel territory, with only a handful of cast members and a film that takes place in a single location for the most part. While I enjoyed the icy Canadian backdrop of the story, for the most part this film focuses on a father/daughter relationship which includes one of the most irritatingly obnoxious characters ever...can't we ever have one normal, friendly teenage character in a film for a change?

Spliced into these shenanigans are some tame kills committed by some kind of yeti, although when you see the costume (which looks like something somebody would wear at Halloween) you'll be laughing rather than screaming. The PG-13 rating hurts this one a lot, and you'd hardly be tuning in just to see the cast, either. John Schneider has form battling monsters (having appeared in LAKE PLACID 2, which, while bad, was a lot better than this) but the appearance of Jason London (JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS) makes you wonder what happened to the guy's career for him to be forced to appear in this dreck.

Quite some runtime has focus on the daughter and father, on their dysfunctional relationship. Will they fix their relationship? Well guess - you won't get it wrong.

A yeti runs amok, killing senselessly, most likely because the characters aside from our main four blatantly don't matter, and don't contribute much aside from... actually, with most kills occurring offscreen the "body count" characters don't really add anything and receive little screen time.

An unambitious creature feature, "Snow Beast" has nothing for anyone with experience watching creature features.

I had never heard of this movie and was a bit hesitant about watching it, thinking that this would be just another movie loaded down with lame digital special effects. I decided I'd record it on my DVR while I was at work and watch it the next day. I've actually never been this glad to be wrong about a movie. I was happy to see a monster movie that used good, old fashioned real effects instead of relying only on digital effects. Of course, the effects don't really make up for the predictability of the film. It was just a little too easy to figure out which characters would survive until the end and which ones would end up dead. Overall, not a totally awful movie, but not one I'd pay money to see.

Given the overall rating that "Snow Beast" had received here on IMDb, it was with some hesitation that I decided to watch this movie. And the sole purpose of purchasing it was simply because after having seen Danielle Chuchran in "SAGA: Curse of the Shadow" then I wanted to watch some of her previous work.

Well, with "Snow Beast", then you know exactly what you are in for. And true enough, the movie delivers exactly that, and does so without even a single surprise along the way. But despite its predictability, then "Snow Beast" was still an enjoyable movie to watch. It is one of those cheesy and campy pseudo-horror movies that we all indulge in once in a while and most of us don't admit to.

The story is about a group of scientists who trek deep into the Canadian mountains to study lynxes in the wild. However, when they arrive there, the lynxes are gone, and the scientists come face to face with a ferocious man-like beast, reminiscent of the mythical Yeti.

Campy, cheesy and dim-witted, yes, the movie delivers on every account. But still, it managed to captivate me and hold me all the way to the very end.

There were some mistakes here and there, sure. Such as the feet of the snow beast were painstakingly molded latex in the shape of feet fitted upon shoes. The toes were not even parted or moving separately. And the avalanche scene, well that has to be seen to be believe. It was just bad. And something puzzled me beyond mortal comprehension; why would a scientist venture out into the frozen mountains alone, knowing very well that a deadly creature was lurking out there, and arming herself with a camera and a tranquilizer gun - which was conveniently left behind in the car. It was stupidity on a level where even the most of stupid people would go "wait, what did she just do?"

The characters in the movie were detailed and nicely portrayed, and the people hired for the various roles were doing good jobs in acting.

If you enjoy campy horror, then "Snow Beast" is most definitely worth a watch.

There is a wise lesson to be learned from this movie. Whenever you are in some precarious or dangerous situation, you should never let some hollywood actor take control and make the decisions. He is bound to do exactly the opposite of what is sound.