When it comes to creature features, there are a variety of ways a filmmaker could go about unleashing a deadly monster upon their victims. Some choose to lean into a bit of tongue-in-cheek camp and let audiences laugh with their fear, done well in the likes of Alexandre Aja’s Piranha remake and Ellory Elkayem’s Eight Legged Freaks. Others go for a more directly terrifying route, effectively done as recently as Kiah Roache-Turner’s Sting. Unfortunately, Gene Gallerano and William Pisciotta can’t seem to figure out which route they wanted to go with The Yeti. The movie starts on such a refreshingly atmospheric and tonally unique note that sets it apart from many of its genre compatriots, but as it goes on, the duo’s objectives seem to change for the worse. By the end, the proceedings have become predictable and underwhelming.
The Yeti Should Have Stuck With The Pulpy Vibes Of Its Opening Act

Written and directed by Gallerano and Pisciotta in their feature directorial debuts, The Yeti centers on Ellie Bannister, daughter of renowned adventurer Hollis Bannister and a cartographer in her own right, who is approached when her father goes missing while on an expedition in Alaska with oil tycoon Merriell Sunday Sr. She is hired, alongside a team of fellow experts, by Merriell Jr. to help track them down and rescue them. Upon arriving, the group are immediately met with a harsh winter storm, isolating them from the staff aboard the boat that they traveled on. Their struggle to find the camp that their fathers created inadvertently leads the rescue team into the titular monster’s territory, resulting in a new fight for survival against a bloody, prehistoric threat. To the directors’ credit, The Yeti starts off strong. As we are introduced to the members of the original exploration team and the tragic fate that befell many of them, the pair make effective use of the fear of the unseen to build the tension for the eponymous creature. This culminates in the film’s first gruesome death, also well-executed in a practical manner. Even more exciting is when the film transitions to introducing the rescue team that Merriell Jr. assembles to find his father, as it shifts into a pulpy tone that resembles similar homages like Captain America: The First Avenger’s throwback style.

…things are so straightforward that The Yeti fails to really register any kind of tension or scares…

This is also, unfortunately, where the movie sets itself up for failure. Once things shift to the Alaskan forest setting that much of the movie takes place in, it entirely eschews this tone for a more straightforward horror structure. In fact, things are so straightforward that The Yeti fails to really register any kind of tension or scares, but instead proves so dreadfully predictable. Scenes of characters wandering through the forest, cut off from the rest of the group, ring hollow, as their fates are so obviously signposted that there’s no real interest in waiting for them to die – especially given the first few attacks happen largely off-screen. The Yeti isn’t at all helped by Gallerano and Pisciotta’s largely thin script, which, even as it tries to dive into some of its characters’ personalities and backstories, is unable to raise any stakes. A few characters are so woefully underwritten that when it came time for their death scenes, I had genuinely forgotten they existed or confused them with others, to the point of feeling nothing as they were killed off.

William Sadler’s Hollis on his knees in front of the Yeti in The YetiCourtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment

That’s not to say there aren’t a few memorable standouts in The Yeti’s cast, as the directorial duo have assembled a solid ensemble. Brittany Allen, now fresh off a heartbreaking recurring arc in The Pitt season 2, offers a unique mix of cynicism and heart in her turn as Ellie, helping her stand apart from the rest of her testosterone-fueled group. Jim Cummings, who also executive produces with creative partner and co-star PJ McCabe, is nicely present as one of the rescue team’s few male figures willing to listen to her. One of the few other things The Yeti has going for it is that Gallerano and Pisciotta at least prove to have a stylish directorial eye. Teaming with Twin cinematographer Joel Froome, the film does make remarkable use of its location and period settings to really drench the proceedings in an atmosphere, raising the tension at least a little bit. Additionally, the way the pair choose to keep the titular entity off-screen for most of the 93-minute runtime makes its eventual appearance a little more chilling.

Unfortunately, in spite of much of its initial promise, The Yeti can never quite rise to the occasion to overcome its flaws. Between scenes that slow the pace to a crawl for character exposition, the mismatch of tones, and an ending that wants so badly to be more emotional than it actually is, we’re going to have to wait a little longer to get a good horror movie about this creature of legend. The Yeti releases in theaters and on VOD on Friday, April 10.

Release Date

April 10, 2026

Runtime

93 minutes

Director

Gene Gallerano, William Pisciotta

Writers

William Pisciotta, Gene Gallerano

Producers

Johnathan Brownlee, Ross Meyerson, William Pisciotta