It may seem hard for younger people to believe this now but back in the 1970's a lot of people believed in the existence of Bigfoot, so much so that there were even documentaries made on the subject that seem quaintly ridiculous now, such as The Legend of Bigfoot (1976). For this reason it's hardly surprising that creature features of the day were also sometimes about the legendary Sasquatch. Snowbeast is a TV movie of this ilk that plays upon the fact that a lot of folks still thought these creatures could be out there.
Its writer is Joseph Stefano the man responsible for the screenplay of Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller Psycho (1960). With this movie Stefano's writing skills are somewhat more derivative in that the plot-line to Snowbeast is essentially a copy Jaws (1975), a film that had been released a couple of years earlier and one that had been astronomically successful at the box office. There are various ways this flick mimics that Spielberg classic - it opens with an unseen beast killing an unsuspecting young woman, there is a carnival that is so commercially important to the community that the town leader insists on ignoring the grim warning signs, there is an everyman who alerts the authorities of the danger but is ignored until more unnecessary deaths occur, a small group eventually get the go ahead to go out to seek and kill the creature in a vehicle that the monster easily destroys. Also like Jaws the monster here is only seen sporadically, mainly it's powerful arm and a couple of flashes of the head but hardly anything really. It would probably have been better if we were to have seen more but it's not really a deal breaker for me. I actually though the most effective moment when the snowbeast is seen was when it's glimpsed from afar half hidden by trees way up a hill. It's quite a nicely creepy moment.
I've got to be honest and say I kind of like this movie and think it gets a bit of an unfair wrap. Admittedly I have a soft spot immediately for any film set in the snow. And the Colorado ski resort is a great location for me. The snowy expanses are kind of nice and I enjoy watching folks ski. So for this reason I am immediately on board with this one. But not only this, I also think it works pretty effectively as a creature feature. The story and characters are solid enough; while there are some effective enough tense scenes involving the Bigfoot. Overall, this one is a little under-rated I reckon; you could do a lot worse.
Its writer is Joseph Stefano the man responsible for the screenplay of Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller Psycho (1960). With this movie Stefano's writing skills are somewhat more derivative in that the plot-line to Snowbeast is essentially a copy Jaws (1975), a film that had been released a couple of years earlier and one that had been astronomically successful at the box office. There are various ways this flick mimics that Spielberg classic - it opens with an unseen beast killing an unsuspecting young woman, there is a carnival that is so commercially important to the community that the town leader insists on ignoring the grim warning signs, there is an everyman who alerts the authorities of the danger but is ignored until more unnecessary deaths occur, a small group eventually get the go ahead to go out to seek and kill the creature in a vehicle that the monster easily destroys. Also like Jaws the monster here is only seen sporadically, mainly it's powerful arm and a couple of flashes of the head but hardly anything really. It would probably have been better if we were to have seen more but it's not really a deal breaker for me. I actually though the most effective moment when the snowbeast is seen was when it's glimpsed from afar half hidden by trees way up a hill. It's quite a nicely creepy moment.
I've got to be honest and say I kind of like this movie and think it gets a bit of an unfair wrap. Admittedly I have a soft spot immediately for any film set in the snow. And the Colorado ski resort is a great location for me. The snowy expanses are kind of nice and I enjoy watching folks ski. So for this reason I am immediately on board with this one. But not only this, I also think it works pretty effectively as a creature feature. The story and characters are solid enough; while there are some effective enough tense scenes involving the Bigfoot. Overall, this one is a little under-rated I reckon; you could do a lot worse.