Snow Job

For savvy horror and sci-fi fans, the name Bryan Senn on a book cover has long been a reliable indicator of an authoritative, enjoyable read. Now Senn expands his horizons a bit with Ski Films: A Comprehensive Guide (McFarland), covering a sport which his usual readers may not know is another of the author’s longtime passions.

Would you be surprised that this winter sport has figured into enough movies to fill a 400-plus page volume? I was. Off the top of my head, I came up with Downhill Racer (1969) and Aspen Extreme (1993), and, in an earlier era, the musicals of Sonja Henie. But in this book, similar in format to his The Werewolf Filmography, published a couple of years ago, Senn provides a comprehensive overview of films covering a century of filmmaking. Each film is evaluated both for its overall merits (or lack thereof) as well as comments on its depiction of skiing. 

At times, you’ll be glad Senn sat through these movies, so you don’t have to. He awards the apple for “absolutely the stupidest ski scene” to xXx (2002) for “a five-minute snowboarding sequence that must be seen to be disbelieved,” while making mention of “charmless” Vin Diesel’s “bland expressions and blah delivery.” Coming in for more affirmative coverage is the aforementioned Downhill Racer, which scores well on both the “Cinematic” and “Ski-Matic” ratings that the author assigns to each film. 

Useful appendices provide a handy guide to ski movie tropes (such as avalanches), a chronological listing of films covered, and a best-to-worst ranking (including the author’s Top Ten ski films). Whether you read cover-to-cover or browse, this is a fun book, one that amply displays Senn’s gifts for both research and readability.

NOTE: I was furnished a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.