The Yeti

If you ever talk to some American people ( i have met some during my travelling years around Europe ), there is a possibility you will hear that some of them believe that Bigfoot really exists. For example on one of my journeys to The Netherlands, Amsterdam i met an American couple from Idaho who was there backpacking together. They told me that they have been out at Kaniksu National Forest, they were looking around there because apparently some people have seen Bigfoot there including themselves. When i hear something like that im not really convinced, and i told them i was skeptical about their claims that Bigfoot was actually seen there. Both of them were sure that they thought they might have seen Bigfoot from a long distance. Now, i was still respectful and listened to what they had to say, because i still wanted to listen to their story. I didn´t see them more than that day, but i will say that they were nice to talk to. Regarding Bigfoot ( or in some folklore stories also known as Yeti ), we have a lot of different horror films that brings up the subject of Bigfoot, or in some cases the Yeti. I have seen several films over the years and i remembered an interesting title called The Sighting from directors Adam Pitman and David Blair. The film starts off like a foud footage horror film, but later becomes a psychological horror film instead. And there is also a story that seems connected to Bigfoot, while there might be a different twist in there. I think what makes The Sighting worth a watch is the special twist, when you might think this is just a traditional Bigfoot film and it´s actually not. Lead actors Adam Pitman and Nathaniel Peterson both give surprisngly good performances, considering this is a low budget film. I do recommend you checking The Sighting out if you want to see a different kind of Bigfoot film, and if you live in Europe you can get the German DVD or blu ray release cheap these days. Speaking of the Yeti that i mentioned earlier, i had seen a trailer of a horror film called The Yeti. The trailer did caught my attention because this really looked like a horror story, inspired by similar films like classics such as Indiana Jones.  With a combination like this i just had to give this film a chance. is this a must watch this summer, or should you pick up a physical copy of the 2016 horror film The Sighting instead?

When two people named Merrel Sunday Sr. ( Corbin Bensen ) and Hollis Bannister ( William Sadler ) vanished in Alaska,  Merrel Jr ( Eric Nielsen ) and Ellie Banister ( Brittany Allen ) set up an expidition team, to seach for the missing men. But during this expedition they come across a beast, like no other creature they have ever seen before.

While the film The Sighting was a different kind of Sasquatch inspired film, The Yeti definetely feels more like a throwack to old school monster movies of the 1950´s. The fact that this expidition looks like something out of an Indiana Jones film, while looking for The Yeti is a great idea for a film. Because we don´t see these kind of old school expiditions on the big screen these days, at least not like we used to in the 1980´s. I also like the fact that this film tries to capture the feeling of an expidition team, where each character have knowlegde in different areas such as chemicals, science, medicine or happen to be good at handling weapons. Because we don´t want too many people to look similar, each character is supposed to bring something different to the table. Since there are quite a lot of characters in this expidition, let me mention a few of my personal favourites. Lead character Ellie Bannister ( played by actress Brittany Allen, who you might recognize from TV series Dexter: Original Sin ), she feels like a family member of Indiana Jones. She may not have the whip but she is clearly passionate about history, and folklore stories as well. Actor Linc Hand ( who you might recognize from the TV series Revenge ), plays the half masked character Leander Coates. This was the right kind of character for an expidition like this, with confidence in himself and always locked in on survival mode. I do think the half mask adds something different to his personality as well. Legendary actor Corbin Bensen as the character Merrel Sunday Sr. was nice to see here, i wish he had a bigger role though. Lets´dig into other positive details, we do get some brutal practical make up effects which looks pretty good. I enjoy the mystery sourrounding the Yeti, where you hear the beast more than physically see it. I think this works pretty good, makes the atmosphere feel a little bit more creepy when you barely see the creature, until the end of the film when we see the actual beast. I like the creature design, which reminds me of old school monster films. I guess if i have to mention something negative, that is probably that some of the characters in this expidition don´t feel that interesting. They do a little bit of screen time and don´t have much else to offer. Overall, as an old school creature feature horror film i still had a good time with The Yeti. Directors Gene Gallerano and William Piscotta deliver a horror film that´s actually a good choice this summer, if you want to experience something similar to VHS horror of the 80´s.

Rating: DDD