Going back to THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN OF THE HIMALAYAS, it’s well worth rewatching. I have it on DVD and there’s another Hammer film included as well, although not horror.

Anyone remember that cover from the book STRANGE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN? It depicts a very ferocious beast on a snowcapped mountain, attacking someone with a club. I remember reading this book as a kid and the stories really freaked me out. I think they’re supposed to be true accounts of sightings. I’ll have to dig it up, because my memory is vague. But if you can create a movie or write a story conveying that creature on the cover, I think you’re on to something!

This one had a winter plane crash. The survivors laid the dead bodies out in the snow, and holed up in the wreck. Finally, they got hungry and decided to eat their dead companions. That is when they noticed some of the bodies were missing. The Yetis/Squatches were taking the bodies and eating them.

The cryptos were not into sharing. They began attacking the survivors.

This was a much better move than RotY. It actually had a plot, and did not rely on computer generated images. The critters looked awfully familiar. Except for the color (they were white), they looked just like the creature in the “Messin’ with Sasquatch” commercials.

RotY was strangely reminiscent of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, although the latter had much more realistic animation and story.

Sadly, you won’t find too many decent, serious movies these days with a cryptozoological antagonist. Slash and gore, with lame CGI graphics, is the current staple, and they’re simply out for cheesy (or worse) thrills. If you want some mindless fun and chaos, I guess that’s fine. THE DESCENT from a few years back was pretty good. I liked THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES with Richard Gere too. If you’re looking for some fictional literary entertainment I think you’ll have some better fortune. My book MONSTERS from Dark Regions Press is themed around mythical creatures, and received some great reviews, including from Famous Monsters of Filmland. You might also want to try Algernon Blackwood’s “The Wendigo,” probably the best story ever written which features a cryptid.

As gridbug says it must be the 1957 Hammer film with Peter Cushing and Forrest Tucker. It was made just before Hammer made Horror of Dracula, also with Cushing (and Christopher Lee of course).

Hammer Studios knocked are a surprisingly large number of good films in the 1950s and 1960s.

Speaking of Basil Rathbone (which you did) Peter Cushing (and Christopher Lee again) also starred together in the 1959 Hammer version of The Hound of the Baskervilles which, in my opinion is the best version of that story ever filmed. Cushing was great as Sherlock Holmes though a notch below Rathbone and the even better Jeremy Brett.

Yes, I think that was the one. It was downright creepy, and I think the B&W helped the effect. It did not rely on special effects, but used psychological tension to build excitement.

What did you expect, this is SyFy. The same people who have brought us such gems as sharktopus, dinocroc, dinoshark, mansquito, frankenfish …need I go on?

Oddly they have great series though. Haven, Warehouse 13, Eureka, Battle Star Galactica, Sanctuary, etc.

Used to be.