Matthew T
Made 2 years after Jaws, this movie pretty much copies the plot scene by scene, right down to a tourist festival that can't be cancelled, and killing the wrong monster and opening its stomach. But that's not entirely a bad thing. Like Jaws, the movie refrains from letting us see the titular yeti until it absolutely has to, and makes very effective use of roaring, chilling music, and point of view shots to suggest the monster early on, with snow and forest standing in for the wastes of the open waves.
I have a special dread of this movie, as I saw it too young, and even more foolishly, did not see the whole movie (I remember my grandad calling me away for dinner in the middle). Thus I never saw the monster entire on first viewing, which was actually worse as my imagination did a better job of creating a horrifying visage than this movie does. I had nightmares for years.
Now that I have seen it all... well, the monster does rather let the side down once you see it - it's a man in a rubber fur suit. A good director might have been able to cover for it, but alas. Some would argue the shark in Jaws is silly, but the shark in Jaws works for me, much thanks to clever framing. This, however, does not. And this movie lacks any of Spielberg's flair, and fails spectacularly to make me care about any of the characters enough to worry whether they might get eaten or not.
This is very much a B-movie, but it has a promising start, ruined rather by the last Act. Still, if monster features are your thing, and you love Jaws, you could do worse....
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
07/31/23
Full Review
M M
Cinematographer gets an A+ here. Amazing that George Lucas and Quentin Scorsese would rip off this movie to make Jaws. I see all the rip offs and ideas stolen. Some guy with authority refused to shut down the resort like the mayor in Jaws. They even kill the "Snowbeast" which is just a bear exactly like the smaller shark caught in Jaws. I am heartbroken because I love Star Wars except for the garbage like the new trilogy, shows, cartoons, prequels, or Return of the Jedi.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/05/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A ski resort becomes a killing ground when…you guessed it…a snowbeast begins to terrorize the slopes and it's up to the owner, sheriff and a former ski champion and his wife to try to stop it.
For a TV movie I kinda dug this. They smartly show very little of the creature except for the occasional clawed hand. Made for a fun watch.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/18/23
Full Review
Audience Member
This creature feature came out 2 years after Jaws, and it shows, but that's also its redeeming feature. Replace a beach resort with a ski resort, and a shark with a yeti and.... you get the idea. Even the way the snow is kept in frame, in the way Spielberg uses the sea, to add threat even to boring talky scenes, is similar. So it's a director's love letter to Jaws. But, unlike Jaws, when we do see the snowbeast (mercifully little), it is rather comically ridiculous (some may feel the same about the shark, but I kind of buy the shark - I don't buy this). Usually though, we just see a hairy arm, or once (hilariously) a leg kicking a pile of logs. The climax is rather underwhelming, and does not have the rising horror of Jaws.
I saw this first as a young teenager and, like its far superior sire, it scared the living beJesus out of me, and spawned many a recurring nightmare (literally, I was being hunted by sharks or yetis most nights, until I learned to escape or fight them within the dreams). This movie's strength (as per Jaws) lies in how little you see the titular snowbeast, the music, the distant roaring, and yes even the freeze frame fade to red when someone dies (that, at least, it can call its own). It kind of works. I would much rather watch this than a lot of the modern CGI creature horror movies where we see the monsters so much that they cease to even thrill.
It's not a good movie - but it does still give me chills - those POV shots from the monster as it rushes through the trees towards a paralysed skier, or that guy hanging off the cliff before the hand comes down... If it isn't a cult classic - it deserves to be!
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/23/23
Full Review
Audience Member
1977 TVM: A huge mountain creature threatens a ski resort and attacks skiers and employees at will. It is up to a ski resort representative (whose grandmothers owns the resort), a former ski champion, the champion's wife, and the sheriff to find the creature and get rid of it. Of course, there is a ski festival being threatened by the beast's presence. Yes, another one of the "Jaws"-style ripoffs that cropped up in the late 70's and early 80's. Other than an occasional paw and a brief shot of its face, the only other presences of the monster are its POV shots and its snarling. Other than nice footage of skiers and snowmobilers, not much else to recommend.
Stars: Bo Swenson, Yvette Mimieux, Robert Logan, Clint Walker, and Sylvia Sidney.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
01/12/23
Full Review
Audience Member
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.
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
02/19/23
Full Review
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