Directly before YETI’s premiere on the Sci Fi Channel (ahead of its DVD release from Genius Products January 13), the network had a back-to-back airing of Ryan Schifrin’s ABOMINABLE and Tibor Takacs’ ICE SPIDERS. First, I got my Bigfoot fix, followed by my monsters at a ski resort. By the time they wrapped up, I was primed to enter YETI territory. Personally, I couldn’t think of a better introduction to this gleefully over-the-top little flick than prefacing it with those two equally hammy gems.
In YETI, we’ve got an American college football team headed to Japan aboard their private jet, which just happens to give out over the Himalayas (apparently they got a discount by flying all the way around the entire world, rather than just over the Pacific). Huddled together in the blistering cold, the surviving kids find themselves stalked by the legendary Yeti, an enormous apelike beast that looks like a cross between Jim Carrey’s Grinch and that ice monster that tears Luke Skywalker a new one in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. There aren’t a lot of twists and turns along the way, but when you’re talking about a killer Abominable Snowman film, there certainly don’t have to be. Yeti + College Kids = Cinema Gold.
The cast is fun, and although there are no great standouts, there are thankfully no poor ones. Dashing footballer Peyton Elway (Marc Menard) helps overcome the beast, as well as one of the most ill-contrived names in film history, with the assistance of folks who go by overly badass monikers like Fury and Raven—the latter being a dude so negative that he could singlehandedly ruin a free lunch.
Paul Ziller (who previously helmed the likes of SNAKEHEAD TERROR and BA’AL: THE STORM GOD for Sci Fi) directs, and while the source material is above his usual fare, it’s still…off. The initial plane crash sequence is handled well, but that’s unfortunately where the tense moments let up. The snow monster’s scenes are about as scary as a walk in the park, with the titular creature wandering happily around the well-lit mountainside before snapping up a corpse or tearing off the occasional limb. While the direction is uneven, the script by Rafael Jordan, who previously penned Sci Fi’s amazingly fun snakes-in-the-West flick COPPERHEAD, offers up some truly entertaining moments. A severed arm is used as a splint, the Yeti spoons with a female captive and just like in ALIVE, the survivors find themselves faced with having to chow down on some meaty posteriors to stave off malnourishment.
The locations are a bit giggle-inducing, as numerous scenes were obviously shot at a ski resort. Some blatant stock footage of avalanches shows up near the finale, and while I may not be a geographer, I’m fairly sure that the Himalayas aren’t as green as they appear in this film. Any time I’ve ever seen photos of that region, it’s all snow and dirt—not a tree in sight. The Yeti itself looks great—at least when it’s thankfully realized with practical FX for the majority of the feature. Unfortunately, as in all Sci Fi flicks, the filmmakers chose seemingly random shots in which to digitalize the monster—and when the beast reveals its awesome ability to leap through the air like a ’roided-up kangaroo, you’re stuck watching a blurry, awkward CG ghoulie.
It has a number of faults, but when the day is through, YETI still stands above most Sci Fi Originals. Had the monster taken out a few more kids during the first half with a bit more splatter hitting the slopes, it would have been one of their finest entries. As it is, it’s just a fun creature feature with enough laughs to keep you watching. It’s a huge cheeseball, and you could most certainly do better—but in all honesty, you could most undoubtedly do a hell of a lot worse.
The cast is fun, and although there are no great standouts, there are thankfully no poor ones. Dashing footballer Peyton Elway (Marc Menard) helps overcome the beast, as well as one of the most ill-contrived names in film history, with the assistance of folks who go by overly badass monikers like Fury and Raven—the latter being a dude so negative that he could singlehandedly ruin a free lunch.
Paul Ziller (who previously helmed the likes of SNAKEHEAD TERROR and BA’AL: THE STORM GOD for Sci Fi) directs, and while the source material is above his usual fare, it’s still…off. The initial plane crash sequence is handled well, but that’s unfortunately where the tense moments let up. The snow monster’s scenes are about as scary as a walk in the park, with the titular creature wandering happily around the well-lit mountainside before snapping up a corpse or tearing off the occasional limb. While the direction is uneven, the script by Rafael Jordan, who previously penned Sci Fi’s amazingly fun snakes-in-the-West flick COPPERHEAD, offers up some truly entertaining moments. A severed arm is used as a splint, the Yeti spoons with a female captive and just like in ALIVE, the survivors find themselves faced with having to chow down on some meaty posteriors to stave off malnourishment.
The locations are a bit giggle-inducing, as numerous scenes were obviously shot at a ski resort. Some blatant stock footage of avalanches shows up near the finale, and while I may not be a geographer, I’m fairly sure that the Himalayas aren’t as green as they appear in this film. Any time I’ve ever seen photos of that region, it’s all snow and dirt—not a tree in sight. The Yeti itself looks great—at least when it’s thankfully realized with practical FX for the majority of the feature. Unfortunately, as in all Sci Fi flicks, the filmmakers chose seemingly random shots in which to digitalize the monster—and when the beast reveals its awesome ability to leap through the air like a ’roided-up kangaroo, you’re stuck watching a blurry, awkward CG ghoulie.
It has a number of faults, but when the day is through, YETI still stands above most Sci Fi Originals. Had the monster taken out a few more kids during the first half with a bit more splatter hitting the slopes, it would have been one of their finest entries. As it is, it’s just a fun creature feature with enough laughs to keep you watching. It’s a huge cheeseball, and you could most certainly do better—but in all honesty, you could most undoubtedly do a hell of a lot worse.
Comments (4)
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|2009-09-24 19:07:37 Lorraine Lewallen
This movie was so bad i had to watch it twice just to make sure I wasnt seeing things! There's a part where some of the kids hunt and kill a rabbit to eat and I've never seen a rabbit with drumsticks or wings! I kept waiting for one of the actors to comment on how it tasted and if they would have said that this rabbit tastes like chicken I was going to burn the dvd but they didnt so I kept watching and thats time out of my life I will never get back!
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|2009-08-22 10:51:44 Ivan - worst ever
It is a mockery of an actual tragic event of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. To many similarities- football team, radio in the tail, dying pilots, expedition for the radio, cannibalism, protectinng members of the family from being eaten. Except for the Yeti - poor version of the film "Alive" 1993. Even snatched some sentences (while deciding to eat the dead ones). One dimensional characters. Check out how it really happens in a documentary (also low budget) Stranded - The Andes Plane Crash Survivors. Low budget or not- it is an insult. Not even a B movie. Not even if poor brained scenario is expected.
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|2008-11-13 12:02:33 bill green
hey everyone this new yeti movie was great. i hope there is a sequel in near future. im realy looking forward to buying the yeti dvd in january i hope it has extra footage in it. good afternoon. bill green :)
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|2008-11-11 19:13:17 RYan Nicholson
Thank God you thought our practical Yeti looked good :) We had no time to build it and even though we had a very very small FX budget...we didn't cheap out and reuse any old creature suits from the past...we built it from scratch..although I didn't know how much of a beating it would take :O I should've builkt two or three suits but there was NO money :( Paul Ziller is great...he actually was asking for our input on the deathscenes that weren't ironed out...he's very cool to work with and "Troglodtye", his new one was just as fun!! Cool, great review...RY
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