From Japan on one side of the globe to the United Kingdom on the other the second film in the Halloween festival comes to us from Hammer Studios, the people who made stars of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee while pioneering the bloodshed and bosoms style of horror films.

Short on both bloodshed and bosoms and written by Nigel Kneale, the man who also created the Quatermass stories, The Abominable Snowman follows an expedition to the Himalayan peaks as a small band of men search for proof of the Yeti’s existence. What might have been just another ‘chased by the monster’ story is instead in Kneale’s capable hands turned into a thoughtful character piece that explores some mighty big themes, including man’s place in the world. There are plenty of wonderful character moments in this film. The lhama’s careful verbal bombs as he sabotages the expedition without revealing the true depth of his own knowledge, the open conflict between Rollason a scientist and ‘Friend’ (we never learn if that was his true name) a con man looking reclaim his tarnished image, and other members of the expedition slowly snapping under the stress all come together very nicely.

The cast performs quite well, particularly Peter Cushing as the scientist John Rollason who is driven by the quest for knowledge and Forrest Tucker, best known to baby boomers as a comedic actor from television shows such as F Troop, turns in a very credible performance as Tom Friend, a man with too many secrets. The Abominable Snowman starts with the premise that the Yeti is a dying species, an evolutionary dead end but by the end  the story has turned that cliché on its head.

The film does suffer from the period in which it was produced. The staged mountain tops are clearly dressed sound stages and match up poorly with the location shooting from high in the European Alps. Being the 1950s the film also suffers from ‘yellow-face’ casting where European actors play Asian roles leaving only bit parts to be played by actors that match the ethnicity of their characters.

A lesser-known production of mighty Hammer Studios, my sweetie-wife obtained a copy of the film for me a few Christmases ago from an on-demand service. (Or it may have been for our anniversary which occurs the same week. And if you think a movie is a poor anniversary gift you don’t know me. Movies are ALWAYS a good gift.)

If older films with a more sedate pacing are you speed, this one is certainly worth a look.