Himalaya


Look at this hideous thing. Gods, how I hate it.

In 2022, Chase Daley hosted a live, internet broadcast from the Sato Institute near the Himalayan Mountains. The Institute is known for its exploration into supernatural phenomena, specifically those related to the Yeti, or as the local legends refer to it as, The Snow Ghost. The purpose of the broadcast? To follow Yuma Sato as he explores a newly reopened cave structure that was reportedly the source of many Yeti sightings. But something went horribly wrong and the footage of the live broadcast was scrubbed from the internet, with only second hand recordings of the broadcast remaining. And then those recordings were mysteriously scrubbed too. This is the last copy that remains…



Well, just my luck, I found a Yeti movie to watch for Cryptid Month, and it turns out to be yet another found-footage film. Yay. And because the universe is trying to teach me a lesson about not complaining, it of course ends up being much worse than Exists. I should really learn when to keep my big yap shut. But whatever. I watch most of these films so you, dear reader, don’t have to. Though judging by my very meager research, and the film’s even more meager online footprint, it doesn’t look like all that many other people have watched the film either. If that tells you anything.


Maybe this stock footage guy has seen it?

Anyway, Himalaya is a low-budget American found-footage horror film from 2024. It was written and directed by Brandon Walker, who seems to have made a small name for himself within the last decade by making other, equally low-budget found-footage horror films like Stay and Ghosts of Hiroshima, with two more films scheduled to release some time soon (and though it doesn’t say anything anywhere, I’m just going to assume they’re both found-footage horror films. So I’m calling it now). None of the films, perhaps unsurprisingly, are rated all that highly and, as in line with my glorious fortune, Himalaya ends up being the lowest rated of the bunch (around 3.2, for those who don’t want to look it up). Meaning, clearly, I have the best of taste. But though the films aren’t rated all that highly, interestingly his first three films all have a surprising number of overlapping cast members. Which at least suggests that the actors liked working with Walker well enough that they kept coming back to be in his little projects. And not just because of the money, I assume, because it looks like most of them are still getting fairly steady gigs from other sources. In a time filled with countless stories about the toxicity in Hollywood, that speaks well for Walker. Still doesn’t really do shit to help the film though. Cause this poor thing has…issues.


Oh dear…

To be fair though, I think the film almost works. And by that I mean that it could have probably worked really well (or at least much better) if it had been executed differently. Because I do think there’s a good idea here, it’s just that they focused too much on the wrong parts of said idea. The movie is set up as a live, simultaneous broadcast with three sources. The first involves the ‘host’ down at the Sato Institute as he fills in the audience with some historical information and interviews Sato’s wife and Dr. Frost, a scientific skeptic.



The second feed centers around JP, who is located in a tent near the cave and whose job it is to monitor all of Sato’s vitals. And, I guess, to also keep track of and relay all the viewer comments to the host, though I’m not sure why the host isn’t doing that himself. He does so much inane yammering that it’s not like he couldn’t have found the time for it, but whatever I guess.



And the final one is a direct feed to Sato himself as he explores the mysterious ice cave and, naturally, runs into problem after problem, because that’s the kind of film this is and there’s no point in denying that fact to any of you. Oh, and you also get to watch him become increasingly annoyed by JP and the host because they keep interrupting his fun cave crawling and are telling him what to do every 5 minutes.


You just know he’s internally cursing them with every Japanese phrase he can think of.

Now, the problem with this setup is that the last feed is the only one anyone cares about, and is the only one worth watching. Because the guy who plays Sato, Akihiro Kitamura, is an absolute GEM who manages to carry the whole damn film and is really the only reason to watch the movie. That dude is selling his part and his severe case of debilitating altitude sickness like it’s nobody’s business. Bless him.


Though every time I see him I’m still wondering how there’s that much snowfall in a cave…

So naturally, that’s the part of the movie we see the least of. *whoomp whoomp* Instead we get to spend most of our time with the host, which are the segments that are composed of the dullest characters and the most inane dialogue the film has to offer. Half of the time you spend with them you’re forced to watch them awkwardly try to inject some forced humor into the script. And occasionally it works, but most of the time it doesn’t, and so the cast and the viewer are sort of forced to awkwardly sit there in silence for a few seconds and hope that the movie will mercifully switch to one of the other feeds so that it can end everybody’s suffering.


Please, end our suffering…

The worst part though, is that the host comes across as almost completely detached to what’s going on around him. The only time he seems to show genuine interest in anything is when Mrs. Sato is getting ready to open the ‘mystery box’, or towards the end of the film when he realizes ‘oh, shit, my life might actually be in danger.’ He seems so disconnected from everything that I legitimately question how he managed to become some type of internet personality. Say what you want about some of those ‘personalities’, but most of them get where they are because of (at least a somewhat) engaging persona. But when it comes to Chase? I feel nothing. He’s a dull, dully, dullard. Or like Oprah trying to give an interview, but without the panache. Which begs the question of how someone who seems so removed from the current situation going on around him could have ever gotten popular enough to accumulate enough money to be able to justify a trip to Nepal?

I don’t know. But thankfully everyone else fares a little bit better in the ‘emote’ department. Still not great, mind you, but they still manage to do a better job at displaying believable emotions at various points. One of them even gets their own ‘Samuel L. Jackson’ moment, which was kinda cool. But again, we spend most of our time staring at Chase’s nearly expressionless face most of the time and that… Well, that just sucks.


He MUST have had family money. That can be the only explanation.

Another issue is that the story simply winds up being…well, very confusing. They frame the whole expedition as if they’re looking for a Yeti, even though they rarely seem to want to call it that. But then there’s also this side-story about a crazy monk that was supposedly over 100 years old who reportedly lived up in the mountains. And you don’t think much of that until you get a brief flash of gnarly feet and robes walking by and you think “oh, maybe it’s not a Yeti, maybe it’s just some looney-toon living in the mountains.” Except monk-dude never shows up again, so it ends up being an annoying red-herring.


Here’s his feet though.

But here’s where things get really puzzling. Because then they introduce the idea of a ‘curse’ in the form of a Yeti ‘scalp’ (which is clearly just a fake fur hat.) And they don’t really expound on why or how the scalp is cursed (as opposed to the Yeti hand, which they also conveniently have). It’s just mentioned so that they can link the Yeti into some supernatural angle, which rears its trippy head towards the end during Sato’s aforementioned altitude sickness. Except it might not be sickness, because through his camera feed we can somehow see the weird hallucinations he’s experiencing like ghosts and shit, but yet the camera he’s positioned on the wall is seeing everything as it should be. So it’s really unclear what the hell is going on. Is it supernatural? Is it real? Does it have something to do with that monk, or does the Yeti just want you to think that? Who knows! It’s all very mystifying. I guess you have to come to your own conclusions about what’s going on with the big, furry beast.


You may have to do some research.

And just to be clear, the Yeti IS here, by the way. You do get to see it, quite clearly and at several points towards the end of the film. So the film does at least grant you the small mercy of ‘the money shot.” But seeing the Yeti itself sort of highlights the film’s last great pitfall, which lies in the money department. Because, good gracious, does that thing look bad. When you can just see short glimpses of it it’s fine. But once you get a good look at it it’s painfully obvious that it’s just some dude in a white fur-suit wearing a very cheap mask. I mean, you can easily tell that the mouth can’t even move, so it doesn’t seem real in the slightest. It feels like a downright travesty that THAT was what the film was building up to. Forcing Sato crawl through all the fake foam rocks and asbestos snow? That’s…also not great, but I can at least deal with it. But that level of cheapness easily pales in comparison to the lack of believability of the film’s main monster.


I was going to make a Harry and the Hendersons joke, but then I realized that would be a criminal insult to Harry. Harry is a GOD compared to everyone in this movie.

Again, I like the idea behind Himalaya. I think there’s a nugget of a good plot buried deep, DEEP within it. But the execution is… not great. It spends too much time with the lame brains and not enough time following what SHOULD BE the real meat of the film. Because THAT PART is actually pretty decent and well acted. So with some editing, I still think this could really work. But Himalaya, sadly, is not that film. The way it’s laid out winds up being too boring, unfunny and just…not all that well acted or written, I’m sorry to say. The actual parts involving the search for the Yeti, however, were still pretty decent, so the movie isn’t a total wash…. Just most of it is. If you’re a die-hard Yeti or found-footage fan then there are at least a few minutes here that you may find interesting. But if you care about neither of those things, then this film won’t change your mind and is easily skip-able.

Himalaya is available on a wide variety of streaming services, many for free, so for gods sakes don’t pay for it.

As far as I can tell Himalaya is currently not available to purchase on any physical format.

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