DEADLY DESCENT: THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN (2013)
Tagline: Beach party lovers make hey! hey! in the moonlight...while the Monster lurks in the shadows! Just kidding. This thing doesn't have a tagline.
(Action, Adventure, Jon Dies at The Middle) [PG]
Note: This movie was not given an MPAA rating. I believe it would have landed a PG-13 because it was released with a TV-14 rating. Just as a heads up, this movie was originally released as just DEADLY DESCENT. It is also known as ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN. A lot of this stuff is due to the market it’s sold in, but also because sometimes there are DVD releases and re-releases where the marketing team thinks a name change might help sales.
Get that ugly Chewbacca off my damn helicopter!
In this one, Brian goes out to a secluded rocky area in search of something at Glacier Peak. He is obsessed with the area and won’t tell anyone why. Nina his sister becomes concerned and gathers a search party to go look for him led by Rick McCabe. Of course, there is a storm coming so, clearly, it’s the perfect time to do all this. All of them have military or mountain climbing backgrounds. The group has history and the trip is full of tension, but nothing could prepare them for what lies in the rocks and snow.
So some of the positives about this thing include the fact that we get some cool-looking skiing scenes if you are into that sort of thing. The area they filmed this in around Sofia, Bulgaria is amazingly beautiful. I also loved the snow creature designs. They give these things some crazy-looking teeth and a stout build that makes them pretty menacing looking. The bad news is that in several shots the CGI pretty much ruins the design work.
Acting wise I can’t really say that anyone is bad, but they do not come across as “credible” if that makes sense. Lauren O'Neil is okay as Nina, but the performance is uneven. She actually seems more tense hanging out in a bar than she did in a snowstorm. Lauren has been in a lot of stuff I am completely unfamiliar with. Nicholas Boulton (GAME OF THRONES) is good as Rick McCabe. He is probably the most believable role in this and he actually reminds me a lot of Martin from ARMY OF THE DEAD. He is mostly known for voice work in video games. Sam Cassidy is actually pretty good as Jon and I am kind of surprised he’s not in more roles. To date, he hasn’t done anything I am familiar with. Elizabeth Croft (TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT) is more than adequate as Stacey and she does a good job of delivering the proper emotions at the right times. It does look like Croft might have stepped out of acting around 2018.
The negatives include the dialog. We get riveting conversations about old flames, misunderstandings, and the price of toasters. We get some weird slow-motion shots and flashbacks that don’t make any sense. The CGI in most shots is ridiculously bad when it didn’t need to be. We actually get a live shot of a helicopter and they decide to throw in some CGI of one a few seconds later. Choices like this are how we get from just a regular b-movie to a terrible b-movie. I think the score in this might have worked for other movies, but I felt it was pretty terrible for this thing. This movie is also jam-packed with really bad lighting and cinematography, so, you know…be ready for that.
Unfortunately, even though we do get a few reasons to like these characters the lulls and weird storyline in this movie kill the experience overall. Things like running into a building, then running out, then running in, then running out again. Bloody Hell. The final product would have been vastly improved with better production (including more “practical footage”, you can’t tell me that in 2013 you could blow up something in the desert and superimpose a “real” explosion into the movie rather than giving us garbage CGI) and a better score, but overall this isn’t the worst b-movie out there and it’s certainly not so bad it deserves the bashing most critics are giving it.
DEADLY DESCENT gets a 3 out of 7. It’s watchable, but that makes it just okay.
GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF UFO INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTIONS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.
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