Snowbeast (1977) (Blu-ray Review)
DIRECTED BY: Herb Wallerstein
STARRING: Bo Svenson, Yvette Mimieux, Robert Logan
RATED: UR/Region: O/1:78/1080P/NUMBER OF DISCS 1 (BD-r)
AVAILABLE FROM Leomark Studios
If someone walked into a pitch meeting and said, “What if Jaws… but with Bigfoot… on a ski slope?” the correct response should’ve been, “That’s ridiculous.”
Instead, someone handed them a budget, and we got Snowbeast.
Thank goodness.
This made-for-TV creature feature is pure ’70s comfort food for horror fans. It’s got snow-covered mountains, terrified skiers, local officials making terrible decisions, and a mysterious hairy monster that’s apparently very passionate about ruining everyone’s winter vacation.
Honestly, this is why you always buy the trip insurance.
The plot is delightfully simple: people start disappearing at a ski resort, everyone ignores the obvious warning signs, and the body count slowly climbs while officials spend far too much time debating whether closing the slopes would be bad for business.
Spoiler alert: being eaten by a giant snow monster is also bad for business.
The pacing actually holds up surprisingly well for a television movie. There’s enough creature mayhem sprinkled throughout to keep things moving, and while the monster doesn’t get nearly as much screen time as you’d probably like, that’s almost a blessing. The less you see it, the scarier it becomes… and probably the less time the special effects department has to panic.
Speaking of the Snowbeast…
He’s… trying his best.
The costume isn’t exactly going to fool anyone into believing Bigfoot has migrated to a ski resort, but it has a certain lovable charm. This is peak “guy in a furry suit” cinema, and I mean that as a compliment. Before CGI gave us hyper-realistic monsters, filmmakers had to rely on creative camera angles, clever editing, and the hope that nobody looked too closely.
The cast takes everything wonderfully seriously, which only makes it more entertaining. Nobody ever stops and says, “Wait… are we really hunting an abominable snowman with ski patrol equipment?” Nope. They just accept that this is their life now and carry on.
That’s professionalism.
The snowy locations are a huge plus, giving the film a unique atmosphere that separates it from the countless forest-set creature features of the era. There’s something genuinely creepy about isolated ski lodges and empty slopes after dark. Plus, it’s nice to see a horror movie where the characters are bundled up for once instead of making terrible decisions in tank tops.
Sure, there are slow spots, the effects are dated, and modern audiences will probably chuckle at a few of the action scenes. But that’s part of Snowbeast’s appeal. It’s sincere, charming, and never pretends to be anything other than an old-fashioned monster movie.
In the end, Snowbeast is exactly the kind of goofy creature feature that horror fans love discovering. It’s equal parts suspense, cheese, and shaggy monster antics, wrapped up in a cozy blanket of ’70s television nostalgia.
Will it make you afraid to go skiing?
Probably not.
Will it make you suspicious of every oversized patch of fur on the mountain?
Absolutely.
Just remember: if a ski resort manager tells you everything is perfectly safe while people are mysteriously disappearing… maybe spend the weekend somewhere with fewer yetis.
