Who doesn’t love a good sasquatch movie? The hairy giants have encapsulated audiences for decades, bringing about the spirit of adventure, excitement of discovery, and the fear of what lurks in the forests of North America or the vast, unforgiving mountains of the Himalayas. The latest flick to feature these mythical monsters is 2026’s The Yeti, which just hid VOD and rental services this weekend via Well Go USA. The film aims to be a retro throwback to old, campy creature features of yesteryear, even featuring a fully practical Yeti throughout the picture. The Yeti is successful at boasting an awesome, fully practical sasquatch effect, but seems to struggle in finding and carving out an identity for itself. Is it a throwback? Is it a b-movie filled with blood and guts? Is it a character-driven adventure film akin to Indiana Jones or Uncharted? The answer is not clear here, and that may be the film’s biggest downfall.
Our story begins with a wealthy oil tycoon hoping to drill, baby, drill in the forests of Northern Alaska, far away from civilization. He is joined by a well-regarded adventurer who can help him navigate through the harsh, wintery climate, but like all stories about people adventuring into the unknown, even the experts fall victim to the adverse conditions… or whatever else is lurking in the snow. The film then centers on a rescue crew who seeks to find the missing tycoon and adventurer and bring them back home, only to discover they’ve entered the domain of a very angry and very territorial Yeti, who isn’t exactly the jolly, snow cone-making guy from Monsters, Inc.
From there, we get a slow-burning survival horror in which the Yeti picks off the crew one-by-one, in albeit predictable ways. There are shining moments of potential, however, as the atmosphere that viewers are thrown into is relatively impressive, given that they filmed this movie on a soundstage in Buffalo, New York, with some excellent cool colors throughout. The Yeti, of course, is one of the best practical monsters that we’ve seen in recent memory. Every single time that thing is on screen, you feel its gigantic presence. The beast stands twice as tall as any human, and moves like a classic movie monster. While its screen time is limited, and we only get a few glimpses of the full creature itself, it is worth noting that our Yeti has a fully felt presence throughout the film, often roaring in the distance, reminding audiences that he may be closing in at any time. The gore effects are top notch, with some clever kills, and intestine-ripping action to freshen things up when things get a little slow, with a particular highlight being the opening kill that sets us up for the awesome, retro-inspired title card.
Unfortunately, that slow burn is where The Yeti begins to falter. The film doesn’t quite know what it wants to be, starting out as a retro gorefest that feels like a monster movie mixed with something like Terrifier, going full on grindhouse with its title card, but then venturing into other confused, inconsistent tones and ideas. That retro gorefest idea is awesome on paper, and would have made for a fun and “true” throwback piece, but it appears the filmmakers wanted to instead subvert audiences. Because of that, viewers are thrown into a period piece flick that feels more like Tomb Raider or The Mummy (1999), but without the boisterous adventure that those flicks provide. A slow-burn survival film about a Yeti creature stalking our human protagonists is also an awesome idea on paper, but the flipping from retro grindhouse gorefest to character-driven period piece with sasquatch sadly gives viewers a bit of tonal whiplash. If the film had committed to one or the either, or maybe found a better balance between the two, it would have had much more potential.
The Yeti is a decent enough film that will entertain monster movie fanatics looking for a fun way to spend 93 minutes on a Saturday afternoon, but for those looking for something truly grand, this may not be your pick. I will admit that these creature features are never going to be Citizen Kane, and aren’t really supposed to be, but we can still get quality monster flicks that have fully fleshed out identities. The film doesn’t quite know which one it wants to be, and that hurts an otherwise solid creature feature with some potential.
