Bill Whitman (Tim R. Morgan) is the head Ranger at Indian Legend State Park at Mount Chocura. He is notified by another Ranger, Stillman (Mike Magri) that one of the other Rangers is missing. Two Rangers, Slappy Tello (David Mica) and Ranger Bradford (Lissa Breer) were up on the mountain. Bradford was found by a man named Dick Sargent (Bill MacLeod). Tello disappears. Whitman decides to send Stillman and Sargent up the mountain to look for clues on the disappearance of the missing ranger. Whitman asks Charlie Perkins (Charles Majka) for help searching the mountain.
On the mountain is an old hotel called the Wild Goose Lodge. It is run by Dave Sheldon (Bob Harlow). When some of his customers go missing Whitman wants to shut down the lodge but Sheldon refuses. His reasons end up being more than just monetary. Some people in the area believe that the mountain is subject to an old Native American curse. They say that a totem that is up on the mountain is possessed by demons and that it comes to life.
The totem on the mountain turns out to be a gateway to hell. What results are many demons coming to life, killing and eating anyone who ventures too close to mountain top and the totem.
“Winterbeast” was released in 1992 and was directed by Christopher Thies. This is the only movie he ever did. The film began production in 1985. By 1989 the movie still hadn’t been completed. The producer of the film, Mark Frizzell finally stopped production in 1989. It wasn’t until 1992 that the movie was again picked up and completed. The completed scenes were filmed using different equipment. The net result was a movie done partially with 16mm film and partially on Super-8.
This movie is the definition of cobbled. It may have taken years to shoot but splicing it together seems to have been done quickly and with little thought to continuity. Sandwiched in between the bad acting and the floppy Claymation monsters are some gratuitous nudity and a surprisingly unsettling picture of lodge owner Dave Sheldon wearing a creepy mask and lip syncing to “Oh Dear What Can the Matter Be”.
Outside of the huge helping of camp, the music score, done by Michael Perilstein, was the best, and most professional, part of the film. The second-best part is the make-up work that Steve Fiorilla did on the Winterbeast character. The Winterbeast, was played by Chris Lenge and shows up mostly at the end. It’s a bad movie, but a lot of fun despite the confusing everything.
Some of the actor’s names are spelled differently between the opening and the ending credits. It is a regional film that was shot in Massachusetts and includes a landmark or two. There may also be a few scenes that were shot over the border in New Hampshire. The special effects include a bunch of random monsters made out of clay as well as a few random victims.