The Snow Creature, Horror of the Beauracracy

1954's "The Snow Creature" is a brutally honest horror film.  We are used to shrieking at the sight of machetes, gore, lunatics, and mutations in our horror films.  Truth be told, the horrors we face every day in actuality may be a bit more frightening. For instance...running into a nine-foot tall beast from the Himalayas...who hasn't done that? Dealing with government agencies who insist your paperwork isn't in order...eek!  Misinterpretations of customs regulations causing your experiments to cease....that gets me all too often.  So let us take a look at this horror film directed by Billy Wilder's brother, W. Lee Wilder.

An ill-equipped expedition heads into the Himalayas.  Dr. Frank Parrish (Paul Langton) is a botanist, who will quickly become a cryptozoologist.  Uh oh....trouble!  Soon after they begin their climb, the Yeti abducts the wife of Frank's guide.  The Sherpa know Yeti as 'the marauder of women.' As the wives of the Sherpa are usually homely, Frank insists on pursuing his quest to find Himalayan plants. The chivalrous guide, Subra (Teru Shimada) leads a Sherpa mutiny, and now Frank's expedition is a search and rescue effort. After the Yeti kills a pursuing Sherpa, the newly arranged posse corners the beast in a cave.  By luck, a cave in kills the Yeti's child and mate, and allows Frank to capture him alive. Frank has a bright idea (I guess he never saw "King Kong"), bring the Yeti back to Los Angeles and display him in a museum. What could go wrong?  Government regulations and over burdensome Customs regulations....another eek!

While customs officials at LAX try to figure out if the Yeti is a man or beast, the Yeti escapes from his refrigerator cage.  'The marauder of women' is then loose to maraud aspiring actresses and other California beauties in L.A. This is a welcomed change for the Yeti, who up to now has been limited to chunky Sherpa wives.  He eludes capture, but Lt. Dunbar (William Phipps) of the LAPD is determined to save L.A.'s women, and end the Yeti's reign of terror. As the U.S. Customs Department remains insistent on proper classification, Lt. Dunbar plods on.

Will our Yeti receive proper government classification?  Will proper classification increase the fees which Frank will have to pay for his find?  Will our marauder of women find love and fulfillment in L.A.? A minor B movie, "The Snow Creature" is a lot of fun for all of us who have been hampered by government regulation. Available on YouTube, enjoy "The Snow Creature."