Film Review: Snow Beast (2011)

Snow Beast (2011)

Director: Brian Brough
Writer: Brittany Wiscombe

Crack animal research team comprised of Jim (John Schneider THE DUKES OF HAZARD), Rob (Paul D. Hunt) and Marci (Kari Hawker-Diaz) head to the wilds of Canada for their annual check up of the local lynx population. Jim's daughter Emmy (Danielle C. Ryan) is dragged along as well as some sort of punishment for getting into a fight at school. Little does our team know that the local yeti has eaten all the lynx and turned its attention to the biped buffet.

Sure, the DVD cover is poorly photoshopped and looks terrible and I should have known better than to buy it but I couldn't resist the allure of a snow beast attacking people. The second mistake I made was not looking at the MPAA rating. PG-13. PG-13? A modern day monster mayhem film and it's not rated R? That's two red flags I chose to ignore. I paid the price with 88 minutes of tedium.

The film might not have been so bad if it was less Dad and Daughter fighting and eventually reconciling like in a Lifetime film. I get that it's a low budget film with limited locations and so will be heavier on the talk and lighter on the action. At least make all the talk interesting for the audience. There's only so much teenage angst I'm willing to put up with. I've lived through those years and have seen it onscreen too many times to count. Put a new spin on the Dad / Daughter relationship.

Let's not get into the amount of runtime eaten up with watching people driving a truck or snowmobile.

Jason London (DAZED AND CONFUSED) puts in an appearance as Barry the Park Warden.

What about the snow beast action you ask. I liked the costume even though the actor in it obviously had trouble moving about while wearing it. The distributor, SunWorld Pictures, apparently liked the monster mask so much they slapped an image of it on the DVD cover. The filmmakers had no qualms about showing the beast early and often. That's the extent of the F/X praise I can give. It is a PG-13 film after all and the blood and gore F/X are kept to a minimum.

Horror fiends will not find much to keep their interest with the lack of thrills and gore. The average lifetime or Hallmark viewer will be put off by the ugly yeti mug on the cover. Is this film meant for John Schneider and Jason London fans? All others can skip it.


*1/2 out of ****