This one is suspect on multiple levels. Seems like it might be kind of The ThingThe Thing-ish on first cursory glance? And that’s all I need to dive in! Unfortunately, it’s a TV movie from 1973 that apparently nobody at ABC bothered to save the original 1” tapes or whatever they had it stored on, so good luck finding a clean copy that doesn’t have some VCR tracking rolls in it here and there. But even in some lo-res shit presentation, it still is a bit creepy. Just maaaaybe not quite in “The Thing” kinda way. Plenty of paranoia though. And at least the original commercial breaks were left...commercialess, so it makes for a short run-time that is relatively quick-paced, especially for a Scientist Stuck in a Remote Location movie.
Almost at the end of a 4-year experiment in the icy altitudes of the remote Tower Mountain Research Center for astronaut testing or some shit, communications with the scientist there goes dark. A helicopter pilot not named MacCready and two scientists fly out there to see what’s going on and hopefully salvage the Testings. They find things in a bit of disarray and some very cold monkeys, the pilot says there’s another storm coming in fuck this I’m out, and the two scientists are left to uncover the mysteries they find there at 14K elevation and -20 degree iceshitstorms outside. It’s...all suspect.
This probably was a good creepy original movie on the broadcast television ABC network channel back in the day. I mean, consider the release of 1973. This is Waaaaay before cable and VCRs, so if you wanted to watch a new movie on your TV, this was it! Definitely a product of the times, with a bunch of scientific jargon and animal testing themes worked in. There’s elements to the movie where you are like, man, that would piss me the fuck off if I were in that situation too! Plot Details here are spare, it’s one of those ones you can’t really delve into the story much without spoiling, but Robert Culp and Eli Wallach as the main characters do good playing out their parts. And as with any isolated environment kinda stories, yeah, the paranoia and fear get played up pretty good. Is it a Yeti? A Snow Ghost? Is it the Haunted Freezer in the research center just wanting to return to its homelands in the icy winters outside? Only watching will reveal the mystery!
