Infamous exploitation impresario Roger Corman hopped onto the '70s disaster bandwagon late with a star studded pseudo-epic about a brand new ski resort on the edge of catastrophe. His film version of Avalanche is universally derided as cheap, dull, and ineffective, but Weverka's tie-in novelization brings the thunder! Weverka was an old hand at tie-in novels, and here his writing is strong and clear as his characters flit about in the best '70s tradition of bed hopping, drink tossing melodrama, while a whiteout storm blankets the scene with one snowflake too many until the inevitable AVALANCHE!
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| Lobby cards for the film |
Weverka sets the scene with economy, laying out the shortcomings of mogul David Shelby's hubristic resort project through the sharp eye of mountain man/wildlife photographer Nick Thorne (how's that for a man of action's name?) while Shelby's ex-wife Caroline is caught in the middle. Shelby has a real blowout extravaganza planned for his suckers guests, with some famous skiers and skaters, plus famous (fictional) superstar TV host Mark Elliot, but nature has other plans as everyone will learn all too soon. Whereas the film version has been dinged for poor chemistry between the leads and inept SFX, this adaptation neatly slaloms around these obstacles. Weverka's characters are flawed but relatable people, thrown into the ordeal of their lives, and he dabs just the right amount of exposition down about snow, ice, and natural disaster. It's a pleasantly professional read and just long enough at 181 pages. If only Corman's film had been as solid!
For Weverka's brutal blizzard of prose, Avalanche gets four terrible tors out of four!
Bantam Books, 1978
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