paulecollier This is a surprisingly solid film for the genre & the time. There are some rather conspicuous flaws. I understand it was filmed in the Pyranees, which look nothing like the Himalyas; some of the technical details are questionable; some of the mountain sets and "avalanches" are unpardonably cheesy. It is artfully directed, maintains a nice ominous atmosphere, & has strong interesting characters; the dialogue is quite good--note especially a brilliant little speech delivered by the Lama to Rolloson about 20 minutes in. Cushing and Tucker are terrific, and it has an apocalyptic/ ecological message that was decades ahead of its time. I love movies with powerful endings, and this one delivers.

JohnHowardReid SYNOPSIS: An American adventurer (Forrest Tucker) and a British scientist (Peter Cushing) lead an expedition into the Himalayas in search of the legendary, huge, half-human beasts called Yetis, who leave their footprints but are seldom seen. They are warned by a mystical priest that it is death to look upon the Yetis.NOTES: 'Scope process not credited in the U.K. and Australia, but credited as RegalScope in the U.S.A. REVIEW: I don't know that this story of the Yeti is all that familiar as some critics have claimed, and I for one found Guest's direction to be well up to his usual fairly imaginative level. In my opinion, the trouble with the film is that the photography of the studio material doesn't match the 2nd unit stuff; and secondly but more importantly, that Kneale's script is far too wordy and also has some characters that are none too believable. The rather ordinary cast doesn't help much, but striking art direction, plus atmospheric music, photography and sound effects, do build up considerable tension. .

swifty77 A nice cross between an adventure film and a horror that places a bunch of character archetypes into the dangerous conditions of the Himalayas. It's a surprisingly good movie although a lot of it doesn't hold up for a modern audience; for example, the abominable snowmen themselves do just look like men. However, the team behind this film played well to their restrictions by keeping the snowmen offscreen until the end, building up the suspense effectively until the big reveal. Cushing's British scientist and Tucker's gruff American are nice contrasts as our protagonists, with their interests and intents being revealed to be more and more different as the film progresses. Director Val Guest leaves us on a rather poignant note, however; using the Yetis as a metaphor for the genuine exploration and endangerment of animals, which was common news at the time.

malcolmgsw It is a strange thing about fans of horror films.The worse the film the more they praise it,particularly if it was made by Hammer.The first disappointing aspect of this film is the monster.Hammer who were so good with their monsters really seem to have no imagination in this case.A sort of large brown gorilla with a misshapen face.Why brown hair in a snowy waste?Then we have the deaths of the various characters,all very forced.After all how can someone with a bad foot go dancing off over the peaks.Peter Cushing gives his usual fine performance but Forrest Tucker is truly wooden and a feeble villain.All in all one for the Hammer fans alone everyone else better find a quieter mountain.