The Abominable Snowman (1957)

Visiting a Tibetan monastery, a British botanist and his assistant gathering information on the plant life of the area leaves with a friend on an expedition to capture an Abominable Snowman, but as a series of pitfalls plague the crew they all try to escape off the mountain alive.This wasn't all that bad of a film. One of the best features is the wonderful mood in this film as snow is featured often and has a powerful effect on the environment. The mountain scenes are very well done, and the high altitudes, driving thunderstorm and the blinding snow lends a really impressive aura to the feeling throughout. This also helps with it's brilliant, masterful job of building terror and suspense early on and maintaining it through to the climax. Among the key ingredients to this is the fact that it never shows the Yeti in its entirety. All we ever see of the creature are its hairy and wickedly clawed hands and large footprints, and when the whole thing is shown, it is always in shadow or obscured by driving snow. Instead of looking cheap, this technique goes a long way in making this movie scarier than it would have otherwise been as the descriptions given by the characters in their dialog, the glimpses we see, and the haunting, chilling cry of the Yeti are incredibly effective. By also keeping them off-screen for most of the film and only showing them vaguely before that, it is able to make a series of scenes that pull off it's scariness without actually showing it, from the scene where we see the creature's hand creeping under a tent to the later attack on the camp on the highest peaks of the mountain during the driving snowstorm. These here are what work for the film as there isn't a lot wrong with this one. The main issue is that creature itself is rarely even in the film as it's almost an hour into the film before we even see any hint of the famed snowman. It's fun to watch at times, but that's almost an unbearable amount of time before the creature even appears for the main factor in this is the adventure storyline rather than a horror one. Far too much of the film plays out with them trying to climb the mountain rather than deal with the creatures so it takes a while to even get going. The script here, while tightly built and well characterized, unfortunately disappoints in the ending. The whole film is built to an expected confrontation with the Yeti, but at this very point the film then enigmatically fades out with the meeting at the end, which contains only a brief glimpse of the Yeti. While not a cop-out, it's a little hard to swallow and gets some real head-scratching moments. The biggest flaw in the film, though, is the behavior in relation to their environment which is unbelievable. Every time spent in the snowy mountaintops is full of moments where someone would run around without coat or gloves in a blizzard and not seem to notice the cold. If they were really in the Himalayas, they'd be far more reluctant to take off their gloves. These are pretty minor problems, though.Today's Rating/PG: Violence.

Survival in the harsh environment of the Himalayas and the relationship between the characters is in the forefront giving the viewer a damned good drama. The search for the yeti brings in the sci-fi horror. This movie is well worth watching - if for nothing else the drama itself.This is definitely one of Peter Cushing's best films and performances. I quite enjoyed him as Dr. Rollason. If you are into Peter Cushing movies or just love older horror films then I highly recommend this film - it is one of the better horror films of the 50's.If you are looking for blood and guts type of horror you will want to look for another movie. But if you are looking for a great movie with an awesome script, character interaction, and a suspenseful horror then look no further than this film.9.5/10

English botanist John Rollason (Peter Cushing) joins with American Tom Friend (Forrest Tucker) on an expedition in search of the Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas. The two men couldn't be more different, however. Rollason is searching for the creature just to prove its existence, not capture it. Friend fully intends to capture it and brings along weapons and traps to see to it. Eventually they come face to face with the elusive creature and get more than they are prepared for.This is one of my favorite Peter Cushing movies. I'm a big fan of Yeti or Bigfoot stories and I'm also a big fan of Hammer and Cushing, so this was right up my alley. I first saw this movie as a teenager before I had seen any of the color Hammer horror films. As a matter of fact, it was through this movie that I discovered Cushing and subsequently Hammer. It's a great movie with an intelligent script and good performances from Cushing and Tucker.

I finally decided to write a small review of this movie because I truly believe it deserves higher than the 6.4 currently on IMDb. When the feeling of a movie sticks with you decades later - that means something. The eerie mournful monastery in the Himalaya's was terrifying to me when I first saw this film as a young teen. The bale of the Abominable Snowman was much more frightening than any special effects creature. And Peter Cushing was at his best in this film. Forrest Tucker also gave a great performance as the rugged, uncaring hunter. It had just that right element of unease and unfamiliarity (the Himalaya's) that made it all the more creepy. If you are looking for an entertaining 91 minutes of that special Hammer tingle - especially on a dark snowy night - check out The Abominable Snowman. It does not disappoint.