Hammer’s follow up to The Quartermass Experiment reunited writer Nigel Keale and director Val Guest. It’s an entertaining film, which Joe Dante calls the best of the abominable snowman genre (there was such a thing – it existed during the brief yeti craze of the 50s). Dante admits that isn’t much of a claim, but insists this was a good movie - and it is.
The bulk of the plot concerns scientist Cushing joining an expedition led by Forrest Tucker to find the snowman. Cushing played this role originally on TV with Tucker replacing Stanley Baker; Tucker's part is very Stanley Baker-type, all driven ruthlessness, but Tucker is quite good. The black and white photography is beautiful and the second unit mountain footage is great, although sometimes it cuts in awkwardly with the studio stuff.
This isn't a classic but there are effective moments, such as Cushing and Tucker hallucinating, the atmosphere of the mountains, the quality of the acting and the dialogue. We never see the snowman properly, although considering the crappiness of the snowman's hand, that is probably a good thing. This was made shortly after Curse of Frankenstein and was soon overshadowed by that movie, and it certainly doesn't fit the traditional idea one has of Hammer horror, but time has been kind to it, I think.
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