Prichards12345 What a terrific little film this is. Made in 1973 on what was presumably a very low budget, this two-hander about a pair of research scientists experimenting on apes in a remote mountain science station is a lean and mean horror-thriller, put together with maximum conviction, a haunting atmosphere and stratospherically good performances.Robert Culp and Eli Wallach brilliantly portray the disintegrating relationship between the two men, as each comes to suspect the other with tampering with the heating systems, despoiling the food, and generally fouling things up.Having discovered the previous lone occupant of the research outpost frozen to death, it seems something very sinister is haunting the men. What could it possibly be? I won't spoil things by revealing the solution to the mystery - it works extremely well, and the moment when the nearly frozen Culp manages to get back into the station and confronts Wallach, axe in hand, is one of the classic scenes of horror, t.v. or otherwise.It's a film which draws you in gradually, relying on small moments to unsettle and rivet the viewer. This in its own way is as good as Spielberg's Duel. A treat for a first time viewer.Please, please, please somebody somewhere get this released on DVD. One of the best things ever produced by the medium, it deserves remastering preservation on a grand scale.

CatTales What could be so frightening and irrational that a scientist would choose to freeze to death rather than confront it? You'll find out.While we think of scientists as being unflinching heroic seekers of truth, they can be pretty nutty people in denial of reality (it's true!). The movie is about two different types of scientists who are trying to complete some research involving monkeys in a remote freezing mountain environment. The experiment was left uncompleted by the death of a scientist who seems to have gone insane, and died freezing to death. Regardless of the fact that the audience can more-or-less figure out who the culprit is, the last 30 seconds are incredibly chilling to see. Imagine characters debating if a shark was involved in the deaths in JAWS, but only in the last minute of film you finally see a fin circling the hero. Or a ventriloquist who insists his dummy is alive, and at the end you see it move. Worth watching in the dark for the very creepy climax. Kudos for the director's long-takes and Gil (Andromeda Strain) Melle's unsettling score.

snowleopard During the 1970's the three major networks (mostly ABC) made a slew of Made for TV movies. Many of them were junk, some were imitations of Hollywood hits at the time, and more than a few were excellent films. This is one of them. I'm fortunate to own this movie and watched it just last night. I won't recant the plot, for you can find that here. but I will say this - this movie holds up very well as the years have gone by. The look and feel of it really captures the isolation and situation. The script isn't filled with old 70's clichéd dialog, and is very well paced. It's very well shot, and very well acted by two solid actors. Gil Melle's synthesizer score, while dated, fits the film quite well. Some of the effects are old, but there aren't very many, and don't detract from the story. If you are fortunate to get a look at this old movie you won't be disappointed. Although I see the point of another reviewer who stated this movie's obscurity is part of it's charm, ABC (and the other networks) need to dig into their archives and re-master and release some of the good old TV movies to DVD. This one, A Short Walk to Daylight, Dying Room Only, many others.

J'Ennui I, too, saw this on my L.A. ABC station as "A Cold Night's Death", when I was a teenager. I was really caught up in it -- the tension, the atmosphere, the mystery. And the ending was great, at least at that time. All of this was attributable to several factors, including the writing, directing, acting, sets, and sound effects. I wonder how I'd react if I saw if for the first time now? By chance, I worked with the director, Jerrold Freedman, many years later. At one point during that harried shoot, I managed to tell him how much of an impression this movie had made on me. Obviously so, since his name stuck in my head over the decades between.Here's another person strongly urging the release of this obscure gem on DVD, perhaps now, while it's still winter!