Deadly Descent (2013) Reviews

• Really lame and terrible effort on most fronts

  kannibalcorpsegrinder2013-01-28

  Attempting to track down a long-lost friend, a group of skiers head off into the wilderness to find him only to find the cause of the disappearance to be a group of giant abominable snowmen in the area and must find a way to get away alive. This here was actually a pretty big disappointment as this had the potential to be one of the better efforts in the style. There's a sense of fun that comes from the attacks inside the abandoned ski resort in the later half, the discovery of the second creature is quite nice and there's a few rather inventive attacks and confrontations with the creatures throughout, but unfortunately this one is plagued by it's flaws. The main factor here is just like every other Sci-Fi Channel outings in truly abysmal CGI that is utterly blurry and impossible to determine what's going on, and the fact that it's set in the snow seems to make the impression that it's supposed to look like that totally moot when the same look is employed on the interior scenes. As well, the dearth of attack scenes in the first half is incredibly noticeable since hardly anything happens with the creatures who aren't even glimpsed at all, and that also happens to lower the body count and by extension the blood and gore. The attacks are also edited in such a manner as to be quite hard to determine what's going on, and that makes it hard to get into it even more. These problems outshine all the good stuff this one has. Rated R: Language and Violence.

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• Not quite abominable, but still rather poorly done

  TheLittleSongbird2013-04-09

  SyFy's movies are often terrible, though there are some tolerable ones out there. Abominable Snowman(aka Deadly Descent) is down there with their bad movies. The good news is that it is a long way from SyFy's worst, and it is certainly better than last year's Bigfoot. And there are a few decent things. Nicholas Boulton's performance is dramatically stern and intense which is in good keep with this type of genre. The reveal of the second creature was very effective also, and Zara Dimitrova is smoking hot. Sadly, that's pretty much it. The acting has been much worse with SyFy, but there is still the mix of blandness and over-compensating. If you're looking for Atanas Srebrev to elevate it, you'll be disappointed, he's only in one scene and that one scene completely wastes him. It is not the actors' fault though that their performances generally don't register. They also have to work with characters that do little more than bore and irritate you and dialogue that just doesn't flow and that is unintentionally funny. The story doesn't engage either, while it picks up a tad in the latter half it is slow-moving and has very little atmosphere. Any comedy is awkward and out of place, the scary elements are diluted by the lack of suspense and that we don't see a lot of the deaths(which weren't that inventive in the first place) and the drama is soppy and lacks any kind of passion. Visually, there's been worse, but the creatures look blurry and quite weird-looking and the editing lacks any kind of fluidity. In conclusion, poorly done but there's worse out there. 3/10 Bethany Cox

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• Confused Title

  Theo Robertson2013-08-02

  The opening sequence of this SyFy production confused me . With a title involving both Abominable and Snowman in the title I was fully expecting the action to take place somewhere in the Himalayas only to notice that the location didn't really look like the Himalayas . Not necessarily a criticism because how many science fiction films have you seen supposedly set on another planet often resemble Earth , especially a strip of land in California if it's a Hollywood movie or a sand pit in Surrey if it's a British television show . As it transpires the setting is indeed North America which leads me to think why is it known by another title when DEADLY DESCENT would be the more fitting name for the film ? Being a Syfy production you know what to expect and just to drive the point home it stars Adrian Paul so you really know what to expect - not much . It does contain all the flaws of the Syfy channel , one of Hollywood blockbuster standards and the budget of a TVM . This probably explains the oft quoted criticism on this page that the monsters are achieved via some very poor CGI that never convinces and one wonders if the producers could have just gone for men dressed up as monsters The story plays out as you'd probably expect with a team of people trekking out to a remote wilderness miles away from any potential help then suddenly realising they are being stalked by a danger that is not human . That said DEADLY DESCENT tries to stop being entirely predictable and is slightly more bleak and nihilistic than you'd probably expect and if it wasn't for the poor CGI might have been held in better regard on this page

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• Abominable!

  wes-connors2014-02-03

  This begins as two mountain climbing men chat happily. They are about to become very, very sad. One appears to be killed by the "Abominable Snowman" of the title. The thing varies in size and looks more like a well-fed wolf than a snowman. It would be interesting to assume the "Abominable Snowman" eats people, but it isn't clear what happens. Next, solo skier Chuck Campbell (as Brian Tanner) hires helicopter pilot Adrian Paul (as Mark Haggerty) to take him to the top of the mountain. It seems strange that Mr. Campbell is left all alone to ski and we're assuming he's really there to find out what happened to the other man, or men. Campbell is followed up the mountain by his distraught sister Lauren O'Neil (as Nina Tanner) and leader-type Nicholas Boulton (as Rick McCabe). He organizes a team of younger actors to go up the mountain in Mr. Paul's helicopter and find the missing people... Paul, the handsome "Highlander" star, smartly soaks himself in the local bar with a notably busty barmaid... Those tagging along are frantic Elizabeth Croft (as Stacey), stressed Sean Teale (as Erlander) and cute Sam Cassidy (as Jon). They all have dramatic moments, with Mr. Cassidy sporting the best hairstyle. At one point, Ms. Croft is angry because Mr. Teale did not try to hit the "Abominable Snowman" with a snowball. The story is difficult to follow and the plot is confusing. Most of the cast has apparently fought together in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Like the Wars, the mountain has been claiming victims for years, and this must stop. If not, we could have an "Abominable Snowman II". Since so much of the story makes no sense, you should forget trying to figure out what has previously happened. One strength is the broadcast of this movie in color. When the main team is assembled, the colorfully styled uniforms help characterization. Best of all is Paul's helicopter, which stays dependably red. *** Abominable Snowman (1/26/13) Marko Makilaakso ~ Chuck Campbell, Adrian Paul, Lauren O'Neil, Nicholas Boulton

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• Syfy stuck in the snow.

  amesmonde2015-02-26

  A sister sets out to rescue her missing brother with the help of a group of her solider friends on leave. Yes, the world needs serious Yeti creature features and one about a rescue for a brother who revenge on a beast which killed his dad is a good idea on paper but the CGI let it down from the outset. Directed by Marko Mäkilaakso and written by Nathan Atkins Abominable Snowman, a.k.a Yeti and Deadly Decscent is a good concept but underdeveloped and poorly executed. There is a budget but Syfy producers and editors appear to rarely, if ever deliver. Abominable Snowman does benefit from Atkins serious story and tone but sadly it never breaks the made for TV production value or script which makes it unintentionally comedic at times. Out of the snow there is hope as the design of the creature works, the scenery is breath taking, there's also some nice skiing, snowboarding and Elizabeth Croft as Stacey is notable. This is one of the passable better ones but how many good made for television Yeti films are there?

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