TV Snow Monster

 

 (themoviedb.org)

SNOW BEAST-1977-At the Rill ski lodge winter carnival owned by Emma (Sylvia Sidney), a snow monster kills a skier. Her grandson, Tony (Robert Logan) wants to report it but Emma is afraid it will hurt business. Then a ski patrol member is killed. Meanwhile, former Olympic gold medal winning skier, now disillusioned, Gar Seberg (Bo Svenson) and his unhappy reporter wife Ellen (Yvette Mimieux), Tony's former lover, come for a visit (Gar is looking for a job). Tony believes in the monster and wants to hire Gar to kill it but Gar is more sympathetic. They try to convince the sheriff (Clint Walker) that a Bigfoot is running around. The white hairy creature attacks the lodge and Ellen gets lost in the woods. Gar and Ellen get trapped in a cabin with the monster outside. The sheriff kills a bear and that seems to close the case even though everyone at the lodge saw the attack! Gar, Helen and Tony convince the sheriff to go hunting just in case. After the sheriff is killed, Gar has a snowdown, I mean showdown with the monster. 

The dumbest part of this made for TV movie is the monster POV shots including one with a ski pole. Written by Joseph Stefano (PSYCHO (1960) and directed by Herb Wallerstein who directed many TV show episodes but Snow Beast is his only full-length movie.

 Unfortunately, he was killed in 1985 by his live-in maid who claimed self-defense.

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Underwater Antics

 

THE NEPTUNE FACTOR-1973-Navy commander Blake (Ben Gazzara with Southern accent) commands a special submarine to try and rescue some scientists trapped in an undersea lab after an earthquake. Dr. Andrews (Walter Pidgeon) and Dr. Janssen (Yvette Mimieux) work above water. Two divers Mack (Ernest Borgnine) and Bob (Donelly Rhodes) accompany him. They check it out but Blake thinks it's useless to try and returns to the surface. Mack convinces him otherwise and they return to the sea, this time taking Janssen with them. Following a trail and some pinging they go very deep and find huge coral and plants plus giant fish. Mack is almost eaten by a fish and a giant crab menaces the ship. They manage to rescue the scientists who are trapped by giant eels. 

The SFX are laughable. Footage of normal fish blown up and a toy sub in a fish tank! Director Daniel Petrie later made THE BETSY and FORT APACHE THE BRONX. 

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