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

Bigfoot vs. Zombies (2016)

Bigfoot month continues with this odd mashup from director Mark Polonia, who was also responsible for Frozen Sasquatch which I also covered for this marathon, you can find that review here. This one was made a couple of years earlier than that movie, so I suppose he had more Bigfoot fun to get out of his system.

The story here follows a varied group of characters including a nature photographer, some delivery men, a security guard and other employees at a body farm. If you don’t know what that it a body farm is a place where donated corpses are left in different environments to decay for pathologists in training to study so that they can help solve crimes. There are a lot of them lying around the property, which makes for some zombie fun. The head scientist/doctor that runs the facility has been working on a chemical to help decay them quicker so that he can charge more for his services because they would need more bodies that his clients would have to pay for. This backfires when his experiments reanimate the dead and they start to eat the living!

That isn’t the only storyline here. I mean Bigfoot is in the title so that shouldn’t be any surprise. The big fella shows up and sees the zombies in action before anyone else does. When they attack a lady that he apparently likes he jumps in to save the day. Bigfoot vs. Zombies… see where they got the title? After some fighting and head smashing our survivors make their escape, though sadly they have to leave Bigfoot behind because he just doesn’t belong in our world.

The Bigfoot

Much like my review for Frozen Sasquatch I have to warn you that this is a super low budget movie, so you need to manage your expectations. But like that movie this is a decent way to kill some time. Though here the action is even tighter than with Bigfoot vs Zombies clocking in a seventy-five minutes. This is because the movie gets right to the good stuff and never lets up. There always is something interesting happening on the screen, whether it be Bigfoot, zombies, or some of the funnier characters. Not a dull moment to be had here. If you are a frequent reader of my reviews (hey that could happen!) you might remember my mantra for indy filmmakers. I can forgive bad special effects, acting, lighting, and sound due to lack of budget, but there is no excuse for a lousy script. Between the pacing, the interesting setting of the body farm, and mashing up Bigfoot and the walking dead this is a great bit of writing that in turn makes Bigfoot vs. Zombies a fun watch.

The zombies... the movie delivers what it promises!

The special effects work ranges from the basic grey zombies familiar to fans of the sixties and early seventies zombie movies to mediocre rubber masks. The kills are all rather tame with anything interesting happening off screen. Both of these are clearly due to not having the funds or time to get much more detailed with the special effects. Bigfoot is a Halloween costume level of ape suit. But I’m not going to complain because I’m watching a low budget movie that is well shot and again has an interesting script. Remember when I keep saying that if you have a decent story I’m all in and willing to forgive other deficiencies? Well here is the perfect example.

Is Bigfoot vs. Zombies a great movie? Not at all, but did you read the title? This is exactly what I want when I see a low budget flick with such a goofy moniker. I like this kind of movie when it is done well and here it is done very well. I recommend it.

© Copyright 2019 John Shatzer