Snow Beast

Quite some runtime has focus on the daughter and father, on their dysfunctional relationship. Will they fix their relationship? Well guess - you won't get it wrong.

A yeti runs amok, killing senselessly, most likely because the characters aside from our main four blatantly don't matter, and don't contribute much aside from... actually, with most kills occurring offscreen the "body count" characters don't really add anything and receive little screen time.

An unambitious creature feature, "Snow Beast" has nothing for anyone with experience watching creature features.

I had never heard of this movie and was a bit hesitant about watching it, thinking that this would be just another movie loaded down with lame digital special effects. I decided I'd record it on my DVR while I was at work and watch it the next day. I've actually never been this glad to be wrong about a movie. I was happy to see a monster movie that used good, old fashioned real effects instead of relying only on digital effects. Of course, the effects don't really make up for the predictability of the film. It was just a little too easy to figure out which characters would survive until the end and which ones would end up dead. Overall, not a totally awful movie, but not one I'd pay money to see.

There is a wise lesson to be learned from this movie. Whenever you are in some precarious or dangerous situation, you should never let some hollywood actor take control and make the decisions. He is bound to do exactly the opposite of what is sound.

SNOW BEAST is the low-budget remake of a '70s creature flick I saw and enjoyed years ago. The difference being that the 1970s version was a proper film, whereas this is a shamelessly silly B-movie that lacks a proper script and the kind of money to make a film that even slightly resembles the earlier version.

Instead, we're bogged down in SyFy Channel territory, with only a handful of cast members and a film that takes place in a single location for the most part. While I enjoyed the icy Canadian backdrop of the story, for the most part this film focuses on a father/daughter relationship which includes one of the most irritatingly obnoxious characters ever...can't we ever have one normal, friendly teenage character in a film for a change?

Spliced into these shenanigans are some tame kills committed by some kind of yeti, although when you see the costume (which looks like something somebody would wear at Halloween) you'll be laughing rather than screaming. The PG-13 rating hurts this one a lot, and you'd hardly be tuning in just to see the cast, either. John Schneider has form battling monsters (having appeared in LAKE PLACID 2, which, while bad, was a lot better than this) but the appearance of Jason London (JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS) makes you wonder what happened to the guy's career for him to be forced to appear in this dreck.

In the Canadian wilderness, furry white "Snow Beast" attacks a young man while snow-boarding. Unaware of the precise danger, animal researcher John Schneider (as Jim Harwood) arrives to investigate. When the next attack occurs, you'll know before it happens. Also predictable is the subplot involving Mr. Schneider and his ungrateful teenage daughter Danielle Chuchran (as Emmy)...

Schneider handles the acting assignment well. However, all is lost when he appears to forget all about his friend Paul D. Hunt (as Rob) and leaves him in a cave. Making this particular scene even worse is the fact that Schneider momentarily wants to save a dead woman over his living friend. In a serious story-telling error, the hatred for Mr. Hunt's very likable character is never explained.

** Snow Beast (10/4/11) Brian Borough ~ John Schneider, Danielle Chuchran, Paul D. Hunt, Jason London