Shudder Saturday: The Thaw (2009)

The Thaw isn't a bad movie. Not really. It's just too derivative, and doesn't do enough with the main premise, to become a truly good movie. If more characters had been thrown into the mix, leading to more moments of peril, and if the ending didn't feel so silly then it could have been an excellent little horror flick that would make viewers itchy in between moments of extreme unpleasantness.

Val Kilmer plays Dr. David Kruipen, a research scientist who makes an astonishing, and terrifying, discovery while working in the Canadian Arctic. Unfortunately, that discovery takes place just before he is due to be joined by a group of "lucky" students AND his disgruntled daughter. When the youngsters arrive at the main camp, they find it unsettlingly quiet. I would say it was uninhabited but, in all honesty, something is still residing there. Lots of little, dangerous, somethings that have defrosted and are looking to continue their normal life cycle.

There are plenty of movies I could name here that cover similar territory to this, but with better results. The Bay, Ticks, Blood Glacier, Deep Freeze (okay, not better, but similar anyway), and, of course, the "Ice" episode of The X-Files. That's the biggest problem. Pick any of those movies, or that TV show episode, and you will be more entertained.

Although he's put front and centre on the poster design, and in the cast list, Kilmer is offscreen for a lot of this movie. He's fine in his role, but it's one of those roles that uses a star name to play a character vital to events without having to pay them more for being in more of the runtime. Sadly, none of the younger cast members are as good as Kilmer, with the best of the bunch being Aaron Ashmore. Martha MacIsaac is okay as the grumpy daughter, but Kyle Schmid and Steph Song are far too forgettable, making it hard to care during the moments that try to rack up the tension. Anne Marie Loder (billed as Anne Marie Deluise) is okay as another member of the core group at the camp, and Viv Leacock is good in the role of Bart, the guy who takes everyone up to the base by helicopter and then sticks around to try and help.

Mark A. Lewis directs capably enough, and there are some good gore effects used throughout that mix practical work and fairly decent CGI, but he's let down most by the script, which he co-wrote with Michael Lewis. The two writers seem to think that the core idea is strong enough to carry things along with no need for tension throughout most of the first half, forgetting that they should also scatter some more treats throughout, in the shape of either scares, gore gags, or, y'know, decent characterisation to have viewers invested in the third act.

That's not to say that they weren't almost correct though. Despite there not being much memorable here (from the cast to the score to the set-pieces), this still manages to be worth a watch, all thanks to the fact that it's a creepy-crawly creature feature. But it has nothing in it to warrant a revisit, and the sheer awfulness of the twist in the final act, which I won't spoil, almost undoes all of the good work.

6/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.
Or just click on those links and go shopping for better movies. I win, you win.

Part of a poster that in no way represents the actual movie!

The Shrine (2010)

The Shrine is a strange one, a strange one indeed. It's the kind of dumb horror that we've all seen hundreds of times before, but it's given just enough intelligence and just enough of a twist to make it worth your while.
Cindy Sampson plays Carmen, a journalist who decides to lie to her boss and follow a story that she can't let go of, one involving a missing young man. The young man was last known to have been travelling in an area that has seen other disappearances in recent years and Carmen thinks it's more than just a coincidence. She takes along her intern Sara (Meghan Heffern) and also her boyfriend (played by Aaron Ashmore), who is handy with a camera. When they get to the location of their potential story it's not long until they find themselves feeling distinctly unwelcome.

From the opening sequence showing some strange and dangerous ritual to the scenes of an eye-rolling journalist lying to her boss while following up a "hot lead" to the moments that see some young people being treated very discourteously by angry locals, The Shrine spends an hour or so being a by-the-numbers horror movie. That's why the third act, with one or two twists on the material, ends up being such a pleasant surprise. Once again, there's nothing that hasn't been done before, but it dodges left when you think it's going to go right and vice versa. Will horror fans be amazed by these fake-outs and twists? No, probably not at all, but they do elevate the film by taking the audience to a very different final destination than the one pointed out at the beginning.

The cast all do a good enough job. Cindy Sampson is very good as Carmen, Meghan Heffern is very good as Sara and Aaron Ashmore hasn't put in a bad performance that I can think of in anything that I've seen him in. Trevor Matthews and Vieslav Krystan are also perfectly fine, if a bit nondescript, in their roles.

Jon Nautz (who both directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Trevor Matthews and Brendan Moore) does a much better job this time around than he did with Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer though I am aware that quite a few people liked that movie more than I did. He shows that he knows how to put together some standard genre moments and then goes on to show how easily things can be freshened up ever so slightly. Horror aficionados may balk and say that Nautz brings absolutely nothing new to the table, but I give the guy points for trying. Sometimes that is all you want/need to see in the flood of identikit movies that just keep being churned out nowadays.

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Shrine-Blu-ray-Aaron-Ashmore/dp/B0072HTWNK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1358803544&sr=8-2

The Skulls II (2002)

A sequel to the teen movie that revolved around a secret society that seemed to be the world’s worst secret, The Skulls II almost slavishly follows all of the rules governing how to make a lesser sequel. No stars but a leading man who looks a bit like the leading man in the first movie? Robin Dunne looks enough like Joshua Jackson in a certain light to tick that box. A plot that covers similar ground to the first movie, and includes a number of scenes that feel like carbon copies, while missing any tension and excitement this time around? Yep, that box is ticked. A further lack of care for anything resembling consistency and/or plausibility? Ohhhhh yes.

Robin Dunne plays Ryan Sommers, a young man who gets received into The Skulls but who doesn’t really care for their traditions and rites. He’s only there because his older brother (played by James Gallanders) was there. When Ryan spots what he thinks is a fatal accident it isn’t long before The Skulls are doing what they seem to do best – covering up mischief, ruining lives and blackmailing everyone that they have to.

There’s just nothing of interest here for those, like myself, who didn’t think that the first movie was more than one or two steps above average. We get one gratuitous bit of T & A but nothing more to make the film as “sexy” as it seems to want to be, the twisted situation spiralling out of control isn’t as well handled here and the actors just aren’t as good. Dunne doesn’t really have the charm for the lead role, though he tries admirably, but Lindy Booth brightens up the screen whenever she’s on it and Nathan West and Aaron Ashmore portray their characters with satisfying smugness and more than a hint of menace. 

 

A couple of people wrote the lacklustre script before Joe Chappelle decided to direct the thing without any hint of enthusiasm for the material. In fact, as unbelievable and stretched as the central concept is I’d have to say that I was most disappointed with a second half that piled conspiracy theory cliché upon cliché before turning its back on many of the rigid rules set out from the opening of the first movie. 

4/10 

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