Michael_Elliott
Snowbeast (1977)** 1/2 (out of 4)People at a Colorado ski resort start turning up brutally murdered and one witness claims to have seen a large hairy monster. Gar (Bo Svenson) witnesses the monster in action but the Mayor (Sylvia Sidney) refuses to do anything fearing if word got out it would hurt business. Soon more people are killed and something has to be done.This made-for-television picture really isn't that bad as long as you're not expecting some high-class piece of art. Like a lot of the television movies from this period, this here contains a small budget and obviously the main goal was just to get something on the screen for families to sit around and watch and get a few chills. This one here does benefit from a nice cast as well as a rather good monster.There were quite a few Bigfoot movies made during the 70's and looking back on the quality of some of them you could argue that it was the Golden Era for that type of film. I really liked the monster costume here, although one wishes that it was put to better use at times. There are some point of view shots that were clearly influenced by JAWS but they're effective. The attack scenes are also pretty good, although most of them end on a "fade to red," which originally sent you to the commercial.Svenson is good in the lead role and Yvette Mimieux and Robert Logan add some nice support. As was the case with a lot of these movies, a former star appears and in this case it was Sidney. It was certainly great seeing her in the picture and she too turns in a fine performance. Add in a nice music score and some great locations and SNOWBEAST is certainly worth watching.
arfdawg-1
In this made for TV film, an enormous and angry bigfoot creature begins to terrorize a Colorado Ski Resort during a winter carnival, by eating several skiers. At first everyone insists it is just a bear.Until ski patrolman Tony Rill sees a white shadowy beastly shape disappearing into the woods. Although Tony's grandmother Mrs. Carrie Rill, who owns the Ski Resort and the town sheriff, Sheriff Paraday disagree, it soon becomes clear when the creature finally attacks the town. This is a tedious slow moving TV film.Not worth the watch at all.
Wizard-8
Although this made for television movie takes place high in the mountains, it's pretty clear that it was somewhat influenced by the theatrical movie "Jaws", which came out two years earlier. Both movies take place in vacation spots and with authority figures fearing bad publicity from a homicidal animal. But the movie's unoriginal strokes didn't really bother me. Indeed, there are signs that it could have been pulled off. The production values are decent, showing some expense was put into making the movie look good. And the snowy landscape does occasionally add a little atmosphere. However, the acting is a mixed bag, with some below average performances. Also, monster fans will probably be disappointed that they only get to have one (brief) look at the creature. The biggest problem, however, is how slow and uneventful much of the movie is. There's endless skiing footage and not that much plot, and soon the movie gets to be pretty dull for minutes on end. The movie could have been a lot worse, I admit, but it's not worth seeking out.
Aaron Carpenter
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!
AD
