The Snow Creature 2002 Horror Movie Review

It’s 1954, a golden age in the monster movie genre, a time when foreign cultures existed only to be exploited and ridiculed, when botanists never left home without a syringe and an ample volume of heavy duty sedative, when the idea of capturing a monster on the other side of the world and transporting it back to the States still seemed like a good idea, and when you could put a fur hat with earmuffs on some bearded dude and cast him as a monster (heck, you could even put some scrawny guy in a bedraggled fur outfit and pass him off as the self-same monster, despite the fact that the two could not be more dissimilar in appearance). 


Our story begins with Dr. Frank Parrish (Paul Langton) and photographer Peter Wells (Leslie Denison) rounding up a guide and a crew of Sherpas (whom they compare to pack mules), then heading up into the Himalayas in order for Parrish to study the area’s plant life.  Things are going fine until Subra (Teru Shimada), the only English-speaking guide they could find, receives word that his wife has been kidnapped by a Yeti.  Naturally, Parrish laughs off such a preposterous story and insists that Subra stay and do his job.  A small mutiny later, the two dumb Americans find themselves with no choice but to accompany Subra in his search for the creature.  Once he’s made to eat his condescending words, of course, Palmer - like all dedicated scientists - thinks about nothing but the fame and fortune that would surely come his way if he brought the Yeti back home with him.  After all, what could possibly go wrong?


The Snow Creature does provide the viewer with a few memorable moments.  Personally, I thought it was quite funny when a cop asked for a description of the snow creature, and you can’t help but chuckle when the beast’s immigration status is debated.  My favorite stupid moment, though, comes courtesy of the remarkable logic demonstrated by the L.A. inspector responsible for tracking down the escaped creature.  Once the Yeti is spotted in three different locations, he connects the dots on the map and insists that the exceedingly hairy fugitive has to be somewhere in the middle of that triangle.  This guy makes Inspector Clouseau look like Sherlock Holmes. 


The only thing that makes The Snow Creature stand out from the crowd of other highly forgettable 1950’s science fiction/monster movies is the fact that it was produced and directed by W. Lee Wilder, who just happens to be the brother of Billy Wilder.  Billy reportedly described his older brother as a boring son of a gun (well, something like that, anyway), and The Snow Creature makes it easy to see why.