A college football team must find a way to survive after their plane crashes on a remote mountain during a blizzard. What starts as a battle against the elements becomes a desperate struggle to escape when they discover an ancient creature with a ravenous appetite for fresh meat. Will they survive the sub-zero temperatures, only to be eaten by the snow beast that hunts them down?
Starring: Marc Menard, Carly Pope, Adam O’Byrne, Elfina Luk, Brandon Jay McLaren
Directed by: Paul Ziller
Runtime: 87 minutes
Studio: RHI Entertainment
Amazon USAmazon UKIMDBReview: Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon
Remember when Luke Skywalker was captured by a Yeti in The Empire Strikes Back and a combination of the Force and some nifty work with a lightsaber saw him make a dramatic escape? I remember it well and it’s with that in mind that I turn my attention to this made for TV horror film by Paul Ziller. Naturally, I suspected the film would be about a group of people that encounter a bloodthirsty Yeti in some snow-tipped mountains but I didn’t want to jump to conclusions!
The film follows a college football team whose plane crashes in the Himalayas. Amongst the survivors are Sarah (Carly Pope), Peyton (Marc Menard), Ravin (Adam O’Byrne), Ashley (Crystal Lowe), Dennis (Christian Tessier), Kyra (Elfina Luk), Rice (Brandon Jay McLaren), Andrew (Joshua Emerson) and Garcia (Kris Pope). While awaiting rescue, the friends find they are on the doorstep of a bloodthirsty Yeti that has the college football team on the menu. With a search and rescue team comprised of Fury (Ona Grauer) and Sheppard (Peter DeLuise) on the way, can the college friends survive long enough to be taken from the mountains to safety?
Following the plane crash the group find that their supplies are meagre and that they will not survive for long without food. Two friends, Garcia and Andrew, have a look around and wander into a nearby cave where Andrew is on the receiving end of some Yeti annoyance at the intrusion in its lair. While awaiting Garcia and Andrew’s return, the group are in a quandary about eating the bodies of the dead and though they decide to go down this difficult path for survival one girl, Kyra, puts an end to proceedings by burning the bodies! Worse follows for poor Garcia who returns from his encounter with the Yeti only to be shot by a flare gun! Yes, this group of survivors fare less well than Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck would if their plane had gone down in the Himalayas!
Of course one smile cannot cancel out the many incredulous looks you will give to your screen at just how awful this film is. The Yeti isn’t particularly scary, angry yes, but not frightening, more like a distant relative of the Incredible Hulk though with none of his grace and style. Much has been made of some of the errors in this film such as trees growing at high altitudes and blood spurting out of severed arms rather than the body where the bulk of the red stuff is gathered. Ignoring those elements this is another of those films with a bunch of uninteresting characters, some shoddy effects and a pretty weak storyline. I’d think being in a plane crash is bad luck enough but to come right down on a Yeti’s doorstep is just plain careless!
Yeti: The Curse of the Snow Demon has a couple of amusing moments which I’m struggling to remember but otherwise this is pretty cheap and poor entertainment. The search for the elusive Yeti is one that has intrigued many scientists and explorers but on this evidence I think we should leave them well alone. They’d only embarrass themselves in the limelight.
Verdict: 1/5
(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)
Film Review: Yeti: The Curse of the Snow Demon | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave
