Plot
An English botanist and an American scientist lead an expedition to the Himalayas to search for and prove the existence of the Yeti.
Review
One of Hammer's early sci-fi/horror films is yet another prime example of just how good their output was during their
early years before they hit it big with Gothic horror. The Abominable Snowman
had a badly timed release shortly after Hammer's breakthrough film, The Curse of Frankenstein.
With that pushing the boundaries of on-screen blood like never before and
bringing horror to life in vivid colour, this black and white film seemed rather
outdated. The Abominable Snowman tends to get overlooked and it's a shame too because it's a quite brilliant film.
Like The Quatermass Experiment, this owes it's excellence to yet another amazing script from Nigel Kneale. Not a line of dialogue is wasted as Kneale uses every moment he has to add something to the story or the characters.
Kneale loves writing about the unexplained mysteries of this planet and
conceives all manner of weird and wonderful explanations for their existence.
Here he has given the myth of the Abominable Snowman a whole unique spin - what
if they were a species waiting patiently in the Himalayas waiting for man to
destroy itself? I loved the characters of Dr Rollason and Tom Friend - the two
sides of man that come out in the face of scientific discovery. Rollason is the
scholar who wants to learn things for the good of man and to further man's
progression in evolution. Friend is the entrepreneur, taken over by greed and
the desire to make a name for himself at the cost of these advances. There's no
middle ground between them. It's no coincidence that the rest of the cast are
expendable enough to leave these two men bickering and squabbling until the very
end. Even the whole characterisation of the Yetis are done in way so that we don't know what to expect from them
when they appear - they could be a Rollason and use their hunger for knowledge
to further their existence or they could be like Friend, out to destroy all that
is alien to them. Not knowing whether the Yetis will be the rampaging monsters
they are usually depicted in film or peaceful and enlightened is one of the
highlights of the film.
Peter Cushing is excellent once more. I get sick of writing this statement in my
reviews but it's true - the man is arguably the finest actor I've had the
pleasure of watching in a horror film, in fact any film period. He just brings
so much depth to his roles, even the ones which are badly underwritten. Forrest
Tucker is also excellent in his role as the American. He has all of the
qualities you would expect from a brash American and plays this to advantage.
Val
Guest's direction also helps the film greatly. There are some wonderful shots of
the Pyrenees (doubling quite nicely for the Himalayas) which create the sense of
isolation that is needed and the sets that are used aren't too bad - black and
white certainly helps them look better than they probably did. Guest manages to build tension up gradually and once the
expedition starts, it's just constant suspense as you know that the group are
being watched all of the time. The Yetis' wails of misery are
just some of the most haunting sounds I've heard and thankfully the Yetis
themselves aren't shown until the finale. Once more, "less is more" and the less
we see of the Yeti, the greater the mystery is.
Verdict
Another intelligent, thought-provoking and superbly-made gem from Hammer, The Abominable Snowman is highly recommended to anyone looking for classics from the past.