The Snow Creature (1954)

I found another fifties Bigfoot movie for the marathon. Sadly, unlike the earlier Hammer flick The Abominable Snowman this one is less than stellar. In fact, it is downright bad. But I watched it and it’s a Bigfoot movie so we must soldier on.

We have another expedition to the Himalayas looking for plants, this time lead by an American botanist. A day or so into the hike up the mountain they are informed that their guide’s wife was kidnapped by a Yeti but refuse to believe it or go looking for her. That was a mistake because before you know it their guns are taken, and they are hostages in their own expedition as they are forced to go Yeti hunting. Eventually they do catch up to the creature, though not the one that took the woman. It is stunned and the American’s turn the tables by getting the guns and forcing the men to help them bring the creature down off of the mountain top. It’s destination? An airplane headed for America!

What can I say about this movie? Well first up if you have ever wanted to see people walking around on film this is the picture for you. We spend most of the movie watching people either walk up a mountain in the snow or walk back down it. When the action moves to America, we get to see them walking in the street or walking thru some tunnels in pursuit of the Yeti. If that weren’t bad enough pay close attention because they keep reusing the footage of them walking again and again. There is one particular bit with them in a tunnel that I saw at least four times. When not walking we get such high energy action sequences like making coffee or yelling offscreen to someone to make the coffee. This movie is so incredibly boring. Even at just over an hour it was a chore to stay awake.

I could talk a bit about the acting but there isn’t much of it. To be honest we don’t get that much dialogue as this is one of those movies that loves to use the voiceover to explain what you are watching on the screen. But they don’t stop there as it is also used to explain character’s emotions and motivations. Hey who needs dialogue and character conversation when the disembodied voice can tell us all we need to know? Just to be clear that was me being sarcastic.

The creature is not seen too much but I have to say that the costume is decent. While clearly just a tall guy with some fur attached to a body suit it worked. Though again they keep using the same damn shot of it coming out of and then back into the shadows. We must see the same shot ten times during the movie. So somehow they manage to screw the one thing they do well with the same lazy and annoying trick.

The only thing that I found at all memorable about the movie was a plot device used to explain how the Yeti gets loose in Los Angeles. The government shows up when the plane lands with a paper in hand. Seems the headline says Snow Man, so they need to determine if it is a man or not and if it is a man his immigration status. Yep they stick him in a warehouse because he might be an illegal alien… I just shared the only thing interesting about The Snow Creature, so you don’t have to waste your time on it. You’re welcome.

© Copyright 2019 John Shatzer