Tonight’s Movie: Snowbeast (1977)

Tonight felt like a good night for a cheesy B-movie.

Right from the get-go, a young woman is killed by a mysterious beast on the slope at a ski resort. As if the death of a skier isn’t enough, the annual Winter Festival is about to begin raising the potential for more attacks. There are a few more deaths and a couple of guys that work for the resort, go out looking for the Snowbeast.

There is also a skeptical Sheriff who serves no real purpose in the movie other than to claim that there is no monster, and that all these people were killed by a crazed grizzly bear.

The actual monster isn’t seen much in the film. We get footprints, growls from off-screen, a lot of POV shots from the Snowbeast’s perspective, brief glimpses of a paw here and there, and people talking about a Bigfoot-like creature in the forest. All of this is used to build up the suspense, and it works fairly well until you actually do see the monster. This creature’s appearance is pretty laughable, but again, you don’t see it that much. 

The acting isn’t great, but it could’ve been much worse and aside from a couple of dull scenes the film moves along at a decent pace. There are a few cringe-worthy lines of dialogue and the way the beast is killed at the end is pretty anti-climactic.

Overall, while not a great movie by any stretch, it is entertaining. 

I give this one a 1.5 out of 5

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