A few months ago we discussed Kaiju and giant monsters that have attacked Canada. In my research for the article, I missed the biggest instance of Canadian monster rampage. Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century features a very humanlike Yeti trouncing through and destroying Toronto. This is not a film that hides its Canadiana like many Canuxploitation films, no this film is front and center a Canadian monster movie. The titular Yeti walks around Toronto’s city hall and is even said to be found in Newfoundland. When the creature sets out down a road they’ll openly declare that he went down ‘Younge’ street. There are Canadian flags everywhere and the accents while not accurate are intended to display Canadian dialect. Despite the sheer unabashed Canadianess on display this film was directed by and primarily features Italians.
The plot is pretty typical of giant ape movies. A giant ape is found in a remote location where it then falls in love with a woman and is brought to the modern world to wreak havoc. The weird part of Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century is that it slightly alters this story by allowing the Yeti to live. There is nothing more stereotypically Canadian than having a giant Yeti tear up the downtown of our city only to have the authorities decide it’s all water under the bridge. The other trope it reverses is the fact that it does not involve a big building crawl, which is a bit of a loss as it would have been amazing to see the Yeti climb up the CN Tower. The Yeti’s rampage starts at the top of a building and it climbs down, which was surprising. Still the trope of “Monkey Mascot” is on display as this film features yet another company that wants to advertise its wears with a giant ape mascot. This film is clearly made to be on the curtails of the 1976 remake of King Kong, however, the ‘Kong’ as company mascot trope seems to have started with King Kong vs. Godzilla in 1962. Similar to King Kong vs. Godzilla, Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century features an eccentric and greedy corporation who knowingly cuts corners and puts the public in danger. Hilariously, the Hunnicut corporation has an extremely small logo on its building, clearly being placed there with what seems to be a paper banner.
The only prints of Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century available are in terrible shape. This works in the film’s favour as it tends to cover up some of the films weaker special effects. The Matte work is noticeably low rent, but the film never lets budget constraints or believability stop it from going all in. There are giant hands, giant feet, and a whole lot of broken glass. Funny enough, this movie is more of a faithful adaptation of the Rampage video game series than the film of the same name. This is on display specifically in the sequence where the Yeti crawls down a huge building and you see his feet smash through various windows on his way down. The miniature to master this effect must have been a sight to behold as it looks pretty impressive on screen.
Unlike a lot of monster films Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century does not shy away from showcasing its main creature. The Yeti crushes his foes without hesitation, including a giant prop toe that strangles people. You get a lot of the Yeti and a lot of the Yeti’s face. Unlike every other giant ape movie made in this era, you get to see the actors full face, which means you get to see the facial expressions and the acting is a lot more prominent. This is a thing missing in a lot of these films and the addition of a full face helps to convey emotion. Albeit this is not the height of acting as the Yeti mostly yells or looks curious. Still, the full face makes this film stand out in comparison to other Kong ripoffs of the time. The suit itself looks pretty good all things considered, however it does have some very visible monkey nipples that we get to see our heroine accidentally touch early in the film. The gender of the Yeti is implied to be male throughout the film although the main character specifically states ‘Man or Woman’ in the final goodbye sequence. This could be our first gay Kong story if you chose to view it as a Female Yeti falling in love with a human woman.
The best character in the film is a dog named Angel. A name deeply iconic as the dog straight up dies from a knife in this film, only to miraculously come back to life for the films oddly happy ending. The dog shows up in a ray of light and charges down a hill like Gandalf at Helms Deep. This movie doesn’t just feature giant Yeti’s, it has a Jesus dog. Actor Mimmo Crao who portrayed the Yeti appeared in an actual Jesus movie the same year as the release of this film. However, we all know the deeper religious symbolism was handled more aptly in this Toronto monster movie.
This is a one of a kind monster movie. It features everything you’d want from a giant monster movie from this era and it even has educational value. Did you know that during the 70s and 80s that Toronto police cars were yellow? I did not and as such this film will now go down in history as educational. A kickass funk soundtrack and a familiar story, this is a worthy entry into the Canadian monster movie hall of fame. Hopefully a better print is found one day, however, that may actually hurt the enjoyability of the film as this was clearly a movie never meant to be seen in the high definition world we now live in. Thank you Gianfranco Parolini, who tried to play down his heritage by putting the pseudonym of Frank Kramer in the credits. We stand on guard for thee, Yeti.
