Leofwine_draca This pretty typical made-for-television thriller plays as you would expect it to and never deviates from that clichéd 'monster movie' plot line : small, isolated attacks lead to a remote locale being attacked by unstoppable monster. Heroes hunt the best while young females scream and die. Hold your fingers up while we tick off the plot points: we've got the authorities who will do anything to cover the story up (check), we've got the nosy female reporter who risks her neck (check), we've got stupid people going off on their own to investigate and getting butchered (check), we've got an attack in a popular place leading to screaming crowds and general chaos (check), we've got stilted acting, unnecessary padding, and lots and lots of B-movie atmosphere.In the thirty years of similar television movies which followed this, nothing much really changed. You can guarantee that there will be no sex, violence, or profanity; and you just know that for the "horror" effect we'll get to see some brief glimpses of brutalised corpses to whet the appetite. These come and go with little effect. Where the film does succeed is the splendid location - we're in the snowy mountains here, and at every opportunity we get location shots of forests, slopes, mountain tops, and endless masses of snow. Having been in similar locations myself (except without the snow, this is Britain we're talking about) I can vouch for the silent, menacing atmosphere in these sort of places and you can almost feel something lurking in the bushes, just out of sight, ready to pounce.Okay, so it's atmospheric. What else does this anaemic thriller have to offer us, besides the endless shots of people skiing, that is? How about the hilariously cheesy acting of the three leads. Bo Svenson "stars" and sleepwalks his way through a career in oblivion as a past-it skiing champion who hasn't been on the slopes in ten years - yet predictably finds himself confronting his inner demons and biting the bullet when the time comes for him to. Let's face it, you can't get much more wooden than this, folks. What about the local lawman, a butch guy known only as "Tony", who appears to have been picked for his male model looks rather than any acting skill whatsoever (there were lots of '70s actors around like this). For the female lead, who better than than middle-aged Yvette Mimieux (so alluring in THE TIME MACHINE). These B-movie types are fun to watch and there's even a not-bad Clint Walker on hand as a tough sheriff.Elsewhere we get plenty of poor actresses screaming loudly as they get attacked, far too brief shots of the yeti's ugly mug as he jumps out of the darkness, and a really tacky gimmick which has just about every scene fading into a blood-red colour (trust me, this gets old very quickly). And check out that cheesy dialogue: "I'll be able to identify her when I see her face", "She ain't got one!". The "thrilling" ending has the wounded yeti (shot several times) being stabbed to death with a ski pole - not exactly a glamorous way to go. In all, SNOWBEAST is good fun, and when all is said and done, you can sit back and watch all the JAWS rip-offs to enjoy yourself. Not bad at all.

mark.waltz After the attack of the giant great white, there were bound to be rip- offs. Octopuses, whales, ants, and even tomatoes got in on the killer klutch, leaving nothing but bones behind in their wake. For this suspenseful T.V. movie, a great cast not only dealt with snowy, cold conditions, but the mystery of whom this abominable snow monster would get next 1930's movie star Sylvia Sidney is preparing for her winter inn's annual carnival, of which she was the queen of at the first one 50 years before. Now the grand dame of the winter carnival, she isn't pleased to learn that it is being haunted by some creature from who knows what lagoon.Sidney's grandson, Robert Logan, teams up with Olympic hero Bo Swenson whose wife, reporter Yvette Mimieaux once loved him. Putting aside old feelings, they work alongside sheriff Clint Walker to get rid of this thing who violently (and intelligently) gets his victims no matter what it takes. A scene with the creature pushing a collection of cut giant logs is pretty crafty, but deadly for one of the people on the hunt. Ordinary but fun, this never explains anything about the snow beast other than the fact that it us viciously dangerous. Pretty snow covered mountain scenes make this a feast for the eyes as well as the heart because it does keep you hooked. Not bad for standard 1970's T.V. movie fare when they were for the most part pretty mediocre.

Rainey Dawn This is in the Drive-In 50-pack Collection. I remember seeing this one on TV a long time ago. I watched recently and the film is adequately good. One of the better films in the Drive-in pack to me.The film is not your top-notch Hollywood Horror film but it is worth watching if you are a fan of horror and Bigfoot / Yeti (Abominable Snowman). Just keep in mind when watching the movie is was made for TV in the 1970s.The story is mediocre, nothing extraordinary, but the film does have a story. It's not overrun by a Yeti just out killing people which is good to me. I like a good horror story not a monster on film just mindlessly killing throughout the film.I would say worth watching if you ever catch it on TV or acquire it in a film pack.6.5/10

Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki Mediocre Jaws variant has a Yeti terrorising a ski resort in midwinter during its anniversary celebrations. No one on the resort staff, nor police, want to believe anything is wrong and close the place down and lose all of the money coming in, so skiers line up to be Saqsuatch-bait in this watchable but forgettable TV-movie of the week.A couple of semi-grisly deaths, beautiful scenery on the snow-covered mountains, are all in the film's favour, but too much soap opera background noise brings it down considerably. The creature is rarely seen, always obscured by snow drifts or darkness, or through the use of lurking POV shots, which, on one hand is effective handling of it, but after a while becomes most disappointing, especially when we don't even get a look at the creature after it is killed.