Quick: name a yeti movie! While there have been a handful of films involving killer abominable snowmen over the years, there aren’t that many. Fortunately, writers/directors Gene Gallerano and William Pisciotta have arrived to try and fix that with their new film simply titled “The Yeti.” Apparently, making a yeti-themed creature feature has been a longtime goal for both filmmakers. Now that they’ve achieved their dream with “The Yeti,” they’re ready to pull back the curtain on how they made it happen. Like most creature features, the movie has a simple premise. After an adventurer, Hollis Bannister (William Sadler) goes missing in northern Alaska, his estranged daughter Ellie (Brittany Allen) goes searching for him. Once they’re where Bannister’s group was last seen, Ellie and her compatriots discover that old legends about a killer snow monster might actually be true. 

It turns out making “The Yeti” wasn’t so simple, however. As Gallerano and Pisciotta told THS in our exclusive interview, the directors had to fight for their vision of how to make the film. They also had to figure out the best way to bring their titular creature to life, a process which involved as much trust as it did trial and error. Meanwhile, lead actress Brittany Allen had her own process to contend with. Cast in the role shortly before shooting began, Allen used her extensive history with the horror genre to help her believe in the reality and the terror of “The Yeti.” 


‘The Yeti’ is a chilly creature feature shot entirely on a soundstage

One of the most unique aspects of “The Yeti” involves how it was fully shot indoors on constructed sets. This methodology used to be standard practice for almost every Hollywood movie, especially during the early days of the sound era. Given that the film is set during that same era of the 1940s, Gene Gallerano and William Pisciotta wanted to have that aesthetic be part of the film. In addition, they knew it would make shooting conditions comfortable for the crew and the equipment. On the other hand, the choice made things a little more difficult for the actors, as Brittany Allen and the cast had to work harder to believably be freezing cold as well as terrified. 

All of this makes “The Yeti” a fascinating mix of a variety of styles from different eras of genre filmmaking. From the all-indoors ‘40s element to the animatronic creature effects of the 1980s, “The Yeti” is a love letter to creature features as well as the titular monster. Check out our exclusive discussions in the interviews here for more, and check out the film in theaters and on digital on April 10th!