The Abominable Snowman (1957)
Directed by Val Guest

Film Review

With The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) proving to be a massive money-spinner, the British film company Hammer quickly snapped up the film rights to another Nigel Kneale television play, a ninety minute BBC drama entitled The Creature, broadcast live early in 1955.  Kneale was commissioned to write the screenplay and, having proven himself on Hammer's two Quatermass films, Val Guest was assigned to direct what ultimately came to be titled The Abominable Snowman.  Soon to become a big name after the success of his first Hammer feature, The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Peter Cushing was called upon to reprise the lead role he had taken in the original television play.  Forrest Tucker was cast in the other principal role to help sales of the film in the United States.  What Hammer had thought to be a sure-fire success turned out to be anything but.  But what can you expect when you start traipsing after mythical beasts in the Himalayas?

The Abominable Snowman is one of Hammer's more offbeat horror films, more a psychological thriller than a traditional monster film.  The fearsome Yeti are only glimpsed briefly at the end of the film and our impression of them is formed by the way in which they are described by the human characters in the drama, as towering ape-like giants with faces that betray immense wisdom.  We soon realise that the title is intended in an ironic vein, with man shown to be nature's abomination, not the supposedly primitive beasts skulking high up in the Himalayas.  The fact that there is a moral subtext makes this an usually sophisticated film for a company that, by and large, earns its crust from cheap thrills and even cheaper laughs.

Filmed in the widescreen process Regalscope which Hammer dubbed 'Hammerscope', The Abominable Snowman makes effective use of its panoramic snow-covered setting (notice how well the studio work matches with the location footage shot in the French Pyrenees).  The vast expanse of nothing that fills the screen for much of the film emphasises the insignificance of the human protagonists and constantly reminds us that humanity occupies only the tiniest part in nature's scheme.  The icy wasteland becomes an enemy far more menacing than the supposed Yeti that lurk within it, and we can almost feel the mental torment of the expedition members as, one by one, they succumb to their ordeal, which is more psychological than physical.

After the full colour Gothic spine-chiller that was The Curse of Frankenstein, audiences and critics gave a distinctly cold reaction to Hammer's follow-up.  Filmed in black and white, without any of the traditional horror thrills, The Abominable Snowman was a hard sell and did not perform well at the box office, either in the UK or America.  Its comparative failure led Hammer to turn away from science-based horror and concentrate on Gothic horror, which became the company's main breadwinner over the next decade.  Although it is consistently overlooked, The Abominable Snowman has a great deal to commend it - the direction is superb, the sets are magnificent and the performances gripping throughout.  There is a unique feel to this film, haunting and poetic in a way that is hard to pin down.  It deserves to be considered one of Hammer's more successful attempts at a different kind of horror film, one that draws menace from a place deep within our psyche - fear not of external terrors but those that lie within us...

Film Synopsis

Dr John Rollason leads a botanical expedition to the Himalayas, accompanied by his wife Helen and colleague Peter Fox.  Staying at a Tibetan monastery, Rollason becomes excited when he learns that another expedition, led by the American Tom Friend, will soon arrive, on a mission to find the Yeti, a prehistoric near-relation of modern man that has so far eluded discovery.  Ignoring his wife's protestations and a veiled warning from the ancient Lama, Rollason joins Friend's expedition as it sets out across the snow plains, in search of what could be the find of the century - if they survive...