Genre:Horror - Fantasy Release Date: Run time: minutes Director: Actors:
Snowbeast is a 1977 American made-for-television horror film starring Bo Svenson, Yvette Mimieux, Robert Logan and Clint Walker which premiered on NBC on April 28, 1977. The film was shot at Crested Butte Mountain Resort in Gunnison County, Colorado.The film details the attacks of a ravenous creature (a Yeti or Bigfoot/Sasquatch) on a Colorado ski resort. The teleplay was written by Joseph Stefano, who wrote the script for Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1960 thriller Psycho. Stefano reportedly used a book by Roger Patterson (who claimed to have encountered a Sasquatch in 1967) as his primary inspiration, though no credit is given.Snowbeast was directed by Herb Wallerstein, a veteran of many television shows such as I Dream of Jeannie, Star Trek, The Brady Bunch and The Six Million Dollar Man.Former 1968 Winter Olympics gold medal ski champion Gar Seberg (Svenson) and his wife Ellen, a television presenter (Mimieux), return to his home, a ski resort in the Colorado Rockies where the faded star seeks a job using his skiing skills. As the Sebergs arrive, the town's annual winter carnival is spoiled by the disappearances of a series of vacationers, later revealed to have been brutally killed by an unknown animal. There are eyewitness accounts that the culprit is a Yeti or Sasquatch, which are met with ridicule. The owner of the ski resort (Sylvia Sidney) declares that there is no such being, because she doesn't want to lose her business, and she arranges for her grandson Tony (Logan) to keep the disappearances a secret. The local sheriff (Walker) spreads the story that there is a lone savage bear on the loose. Tony gives Gar a job with the ski resort and confides in him about the monster. Gar's first job is to stalk and kill it. Gar keeps an open mind due to his wife's former work on a documentary about Sasquatch sightings, but is reluctant to kill it, feeling that it would be murder. He changes his mind when he sees the remains of the first victim. The monster comes to town and not only panics the population but kills the mother of the Snow Carnival Queen.