The Yeti
Yeti, set, blow!
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I looked forward to watching period picture creature feature “The Yeti” (now available on Blu-ray, DVD and VOD) as I’m a fan of monster movies and many of the flick’s cast members, i.e. Corbin Bernsen, Jim Cummings and William Sadler. Sadly, despite some decent gore this thing is boring to its core and became quite the chore.
It’s just after World War II and oil tycoon Merriell Sunday Sr. (Bernsen) and explorer Hollis Bannister (Sadler) have gone missing in Alaska’s wintry environs.
A team led by the men’s children Merriell Sunday Jr. (Eric Nelsen) and Ellie Bannister (Brittany Allen) are commissioned to find and/or rescue them. The search party also consists of radio operator Booker (Cummings), demolitions expert Daniel ‘Dynamite’ Hewitt (co-writer/co-director Gene Gallerano) and Leander Coates (Linc Hand), a soldier with a partially prosthetic face.
Unfortunately for these folks they’re on the Yeti’s turf and this creature is pissed.
As co-written and co-directed by Gallerano and William Pisciotta, “The Yeti” is a slow burn with characters I didn’t much care about. These folks talk and bicker incessantly, one of ‘em gets killed, wash, rinse repeat.
Allen, who’s received raves for her guest stint on “The Pitt,” reads like Temu Michelle Williams here. Linc Hand’s Coates is like the Wish version of Jack Huston’s Richard Harrow from “Boardwalk Empire.” Bernsen and Sadler’s characters are important to the narrative, but they’re not on screen much. Cummings has a presence as Booker, but he isn’t given nearly enough to do.
I did admire the special effects from Randall Krautsack Jr. and Bryan Wolcik as well as the makeup effects by Ali Gordon, Amanda Marie Schaefer and Tate Steinsiek. The movie’s best kill is at the beginning and it’s a doozy. Our titular monster looks pretty good, but is often obstructed … probably smart on a low-budget production such as this.
“The Yeti” very much lacks the zing of John Carpenter’s “The Thing.” I’m fairly certain I’d rather watch an hour and a half of those Jack Link’s Messin’ with Sasquatch beef jerky commercials.