The Snow Creature

"The Snow Creature" (1954) is a black & white picture notable as the first film to address the topic of Bigfoot or, in this case, Yeti. The atmospheric beginning segues into a relatively dull story about a fake-looking Yeti brought to America from the Himilayas, which ends up languishing in customs while officials debate whether or not the creature is a passenger or cargo, i.e. animal or human. I'm not making this up. Then the creature gets loose in the city a la "King Kong."

"The Snow Creature" is worthwhile only for historical reasons or as an interesting period piece and people smitten with the Sasquatch legend.

The film runs 71 minutes and was shot in Bronson Caves, Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

GRADE: D+

The Snow Creature, half man, half monster. The snow creature monster's costume is a bad attempt to make him look scary and half monster. All it really does is make it look like a man going out trick or treating on Halloween. I think most of the acting was ok. It had a couple of small twists that were unexpected and I think that the second half of the movie outdid the beginning. I rated this movie a 5 but it barely made that 5. If I could, I would have called it a 4+. I bought this dvd expecting it to be a bad movie and was surprised to find that it was actually better than expected. I thought it was going to be worse. While looking back at the whole movie, I must say that I liked it.

Most viewers and reviewers can't think of bad enough things to say about this film, and some of their barbs are justified: the film does take too long to get going, and the title creature (when he finally appears) is not an inspired creation. However, the film does offer certain rewards to patient viewers. The black & white photography is much better than one would expect, particularly the clever use of light and shadow during the film's second half. The use of the soundtrack shows imagination also. Case in point: the scene where the creature pays a late night visit to a cold storage warehouse, and is glimpsed briefly moving between the hanging sides of beef. There's no screaming or loud background music, only faint street sounds. Somehow, the silence of this scene makes it much more unsettling than it would have been otherwise.

Some of the Himalayan scenes are interesting. There is a conflict as to who is running the show. It's typical of Westerners to try to run roughshod over their "inferiors." Anyway, the Yeti is out there and if we bring him (or her) back, we can make a bundle. Everything works out pretty well and they order his refrigerated box. The problem is the customs guys don't know whether he's human or not. In most respects he is. He lives in a family setting. He has tools. He walks upright and is built pretty much like most homo sapiens. What are his rights? Nobody says anything about just barging into his domain and killing off his family. So, like every good monster movie (or bad one), the "guy" gets loose in the city and wastes a couple of people. What should he do? He's trying to survive. While there are issues that keep this interesting, it doesn't sustain itself very well. There are unanswered questions that are forgotten as soon as the Yeti escapes from his box. A film with some courage might have gone beyond what it does, but money or talent got in the way. The monster looks pretty much like a man with a beard (we never get a good look at him in daylight). Pretty poor with a few perks.

I've just watched The Snow Creature for the first time and thought it wasn't too bad, despite being a grade Z movie which stands out a mile.

An expedition travels to the Himalayas to search for Yetis and plan to bring one back to America. They come across a family of them in a cave, two parents and young. After the mother and child are killed, the dad is captured and brought to Los Angeles, but he escapes and goes on the rampage, murdering people who get in his way. He then meets his death in the Los Angeles Storm Drains after being tracked down by coppers.

Despite the ultra low budget, this isn't as bad as you may think with some fairly creepy music to help it along. Worth checking out.

Rating: 2 and a half stars out of 5.