Himalaya (2024) by Brandon Walker


Director: Brandon Walker
Year: 2024
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Bigfoot/Sasquatch

Plot:
Searching for the legendary Yeti, a famous paranormal researcher conducts a livestream of a colleague scaling an ice cave for the creature in its Himalayan home, but the longer they conduct the search they come to find the creature might not be the most dangerous entity on the mountain.

Review:

This was a fairly fun and likable found-footage creature feature. Among the better features here is the strong setup that allows the film to go for a fine overall storyline with some fun elements present. The setup of the livestreaming event taking place at the location on the mountain while the host takes up residence at a friend’s house to host a special show with pre-programmed segments that help to explain their interest in the subject and his past shows on the subject features a far more professional setup than a person simply broadcasting an expedition searching for the creature. The cut-ins to the doctor on the mission to the cave where it’s supposedly located take on a more impressive quality as they come off as intermittent breaks in the more controlled conversations monitoring the search or talking with his wife about what’s going on, making this appear far more intriguing as time goes on.

The longer the search continues and the series of hardships about the journey start to become more frequent and prominent, the film picks up in excitement and energy considerably. Due to the prominent presence of the emergency systems discussing the expedition he faces, the continued monitoring of the decreasing oxygen supply and the side effects he’ll face due to that even before taking into account the environmental elements offers the kind of intriguing starting point that makes the later encounters come off quite intriguing. Once the cave is breached and the action turns into far more of a potential psychological breakdown with the elements here bringing along a supernatural bent with the way the systems keep breaking down and the visions get more intense and freakier, there’s a fun dynamic to the way this sets up a wholly chilling series of encounters throughout here which give the film a lot to like about it.

There isn’t much to dislike here but it does have some drawbacks to be had with it. The main detriment with this one is the seemingly lackadaisical encounters with the wife and scientist at the house watching everything unfold. A dynamic between the two of them designed for some combative scenarios to pop up is instead wasted as the low-key nature of what’s going on with the two of them tends to be far more restrained than they should be as some more dynamics between them would’ve livened up the pacing a bit more during this section which tends to be a bit more sluggish until the later section of this one. The other issue here is the film’s decision to keep the creature so isolated and off-screen until the last moments that it might disappoint those looking for more of a traditional genre effort with how it’s presented here. Alongside some of the low-budget origins being apparent, these are what hold this one down.


Overview: ***.5/5
A generally fun found-footage Bigfoot creature feature, this one comes off nicely enough that it’s a lot better than expected even though there are a few minor drawbacks featured here. Give this one a shot if you’re a fan of the approach, enjoy this kind of indie creature feature, or are a big found-footage aficionado while most others out there should heed caution.

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