Snowbeast

This was filmed partially in Crested Butte, Colorado for the ski slope shots, and 30 miles away in Gunnison, Colorado for fill shots. They shot the 'Winter Wonderland' High School dance sequence in the gym at the high school. This was a pretty big deal for all of the students. A real "Hollywood" movie! I remember Yvette being very petite and very quiet during her on-camera parts. One of the shots has Bo sitting in the middle of a bunch of students in the bleachers. Look close (and quick) and you'll see a geeky guy in glasses behind him. I remember wearing a bright shirt that day. We all had to sign the waivers and promise to be polite and quiet. The director would lay out what was going on in that particular shot and how we were supposed to act. They replaced the glass in one of the gym doors so the Beast could stick his arm through it. They seemed to be careful to not let us see the whole beast. Only parts of it. Bo was a large guy, as I remember. And nice. I was a freshman or sophomore at the time so this was being filmed in the 1976-77 time frame. My friends dad was principal at the time. I remember him being very stressed about all the diversions. Not education friendly I guess. But it was a neat learning experience in another way. And I get to say I was in a movie with Yvette and Bo. Thanks.

An annual Colorado skiing event is terrorised by a Yeti.

Over the years, I've revisited Snowbeast more times than I care to admit. I first caught it as a child, long before Blu-ray or YouTube, and the film etched itself into memory. For some, it was just another TV movie, but for me-growing up on Tales from the Darkside, Creepshow, and Tales from the Crypt-it struck a chord. Monsters were my entry point into horror, and this snowbound Yeti tale felt both familiar and unsettling.

The film was shown a number of times on UK television, including 20 September 1980 (LWT), 7 August 1987 (LWT), 22 June 1997 (LWT), 24 June 1997 (Sci-Fi Channel Europe), 19 May 1999 (Sci-Fi Channel Europe), and 13 August 2000 (Channel 5). I'm not certain whether I first caught it on one of these airings or via a VHS recording of the UK broadcast. It wasn't available on UK home entertainment releases until 2004 and 2009, so any viewing at that time would have been from TV broadcasts or personal recordings.

Not to be confused with 2011's Snow Beast, veteran TV director Herb Wallerstein's 1977 NBC outing is a competently made, poor man's TV version of Jaws, but it tries hard reach the summer blockbuster's depth, tension, and flair.

Written by Joseph Stefano (who wrote the screenplay for Psycho), it offers the expected slow, talky dialogue, which is broken up by the occasional glimpses of the Yeti, a Bigfoot-like Snow Beast. Robert Prince's music is fitting, notably in a setup where the beast is glimpsed at a window before smashing through it in front of a hall full of children and skiers. Endless Snow Beast POV shots aside, the snowy on-location shoot adds atmosphere, with cinematography by Frank Stanley.

The acting is of its time, but better than today's low-budget attempts. The man in a suit and real-looking blood is still more effective than the bad CGI Syfy Channel productions currently being put out. It has higher-than-usual production values, especially considering it's a made-for-television movie.

As Yeti films go, it's worth checking out-particularly for those wanting a 1970s fashion nostalgia ride.

For those who still hear the call of this snowbound cryptid, the USA's Retromedia released a Blu-ray in 2018; Makeflix reissued a BD-R in 2024 offering both the 72-minute and restored longer versions, which is probably your best bet.

I saw this on late night tv in the early eighties. I was staying at my grandmothers house and I was in a sleeping bag. She had one of those Ye olde toilets where you had to go outside to pee. Needless to say I was to scared to go out side lest the Snowbeast would get me. There was no snow but I was too scared and peed in the sleeping bag. I'm still scared of the dark. And sleeping bags. And my grandmother. She's dead now though which is fine cause she was crazy. Also don't watch scary movies if you have to outside to pee, it may not end well.

As you have read Snowbeast is an awful yet endearing "Yeti" film with an all-(ex)star cast. The shockingly familiar "JAWSesque" plotline is quite at home on the slopes of Crested Butte complete with a washed-up Biathlete (that's the ski and shoot type not...you know), a doubting sheriff, a nervous ski-lodge operator, and the usual cadre of hapless and nameless victims... Oh, and a big guy in a fur suit with scary hands to play Bigfoot.

Other reviewers have mentioned the unintentional humor which abounds here. The script was written by Outer Limits' Joseph Stephano with Roger Patterson as consultant. Patterson is eminently qualified as he was responsible for that now famous shaky film of Sasquatch marching through the woods we've all seen too many times. Since Patterson's Bigfoot looks a lot more convincing than the one in Snowbeast he maybe should have been consulting with the make-up department. He seems to know a thing or two about dressing actors up as manbeasts. Stephano is a great TV writer in most cases. He pulled this off in a couple of days I would think.

While some B-movies are for the aficionados only this one is for everybody. Anyone of any age watching this will appreciate it's lack of merit and it's almost purposeful lack of sophistication. It's silly but fun and might make your next trip to a lonely ski slope a little tingly, if you could find a lonely ski slope anywhere in the country. If you want to see what they used to look like check out "Snowbeast."

Good looking actors like Mimieux and Svenson and pretty scenery can only do so much to save a poorly written story. Snow Beast is a typical 1970s monster horror film and plays out like an over-long ancestral episode of the X-Files without any of the subplots that made that show tolerable. Of course it's about a yeti terrorizing a ski resort. But since the yeti itself (also a pretty good looking creature) only appears in the film for about 2 minutes scattered over the entire 86 minutes of the film, the resort is mostly inhabited by bad actors. Frankly, only Mimieux gives a performance worthy of recording, though Svenson seemed to at least be enjoying himself.

Svenson and Mimieux's characters are married, though seemingly becoming estranged because of Svenson deepening depression. Bob Logan plays a good friend of the couple who appears to be interested in Mimieux for reasons that go beyond friendship. Svenson's problem is that he regrets having given up skiing after winning five gold medals and becoming a champion. This sets up a subplot which is used to justify about 30 minutes of Corman-esquire scenes of people skiing. Svenson is a pretty poor skier for an ex-champion. The hunt for the yeti, which really couldn't justify more skiing scenes, instead explains why most of the last 15 minutes of the film consists of the principle cast riding around on snow mobiles. And lest I forget, Clint Walker shows up, playing himself in a County Sheriff's uniform and leads the snow-mobile brigade.

Like many "shockers" of the 70s, Snow Beast avoids an adequate special effects budget and an R rating (it's a TV movie) by not allowing the audience to see the beast itself or really, any of the horror scenes. You only see the beast when the actors do. And when they see it, they die, while you are only likely to experience narcolepsy.

It took me four nights to get through this one. I have read through some of the more enthusiastic reviews, and all I can say about them is that I am glad that diversity thrives here on IMDb.