Netflix And Chill: Hot Frosty (2024)

While people may have been worried about Netflix making the bold move of "poaching" Lacey Chabert, AKA Christmas movie queen, for one of their main seasonal offerings this year, rest assured that there's nothing here to cause concern. Yes, there are a few bigger names in supporting roles than you might see in some other movies like this, and someone had enough cash to ensure a few big songs made it into the soundtrack selection, but the rest is pretty standard and safe stuff featuring someone who has played perfectly in the space that she has now made her main brand.

Chabert plays Kathy Barrett, a young widow who runs a popular cafe/diner in her small town. She is given a scarf by a friend one day, a scarf that may well bring her some good luck and love, and she wraps it around the neck of a strangely ripped snowman that stands alongside some others in the centre of town. A little tinkly music and hint of magic later, Jack (Dustin Milligan) is standing in that spot. And he's wearing naught but a scarf. He is in love with Kathy, for giving him life (of course), and starts trying to convince her that he is the perfect snowman-made-human for her. Meanwhile, the local Sheriff (Craig Robinson) and his deputy (Joe Lo Truglio) are looking for someone new in town who may have damaged a window and exposed himself to a couple of residents. 

Writer Russell Hainline doesn't seem to have been in the movie business for too long, although that's just going by the credits that he has amassed since 2018 (who knows how long he has been slogging away over numerous screenplays and trying his hand in a variety of roles), but he's certainly been busy delivering no less than five Christmas (TV) movies since 2022. Judging him by this alone, he knows the formula, and he knows how to have fun with it. Hot Frosty isn't entirely successful, it's surprisingly jarring to see both Robinson and Lo Trulgio in such prominent roles here, but it works well enough when not trying to turn the central character in a low-budget Buddy The Elf. 

Chabert is effortlessly delightful in the lead role, even when having to make a tiresome Mean Girls gag to justify the now-obligatory reference to other Netflix Christmas movies. Milligan does well as the innocent/naïve Jack, and he does well to bring a fun and energy to the role that saves him from being as irritatingly bland as many of these male romantic leads often are. Elsewhere, both Robinson and Lo Truglio are fun, even if they feel mis-cast, and there are enjoyable moments for the likes of Katy Mixon Greer, Sherry Miller, Lauren Holly, and everyone else orbiting our leads.

Director Jerry Ciccoritti is maybe not known for this kind of stuff, but he's been working consistently on TV shows and TV movies for the past few decades, after starting his career with some darker material in the mid-1980s. He is the very definition of a consummate professional, and subsequently treats the material here exactly how it should be treated. It's sweet, it's earnest, things are done to satisfy viewers who don't want to be distracted by pesky things like logic or plausibility, and it aims to give people a good helping of cold snow and warm loveliness, which I guess could also be referred to as a . . . Hot Frosty.

Like many of these Christmas movies, it's not really good, not when compared to other non-holiday movies, but it's enjoyable enough while all of the snow-dusted silliness plays out.

6/10

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Shudder Saturday: Demonic (2015)

I think James Wan tends to get a bad rap nowadays, mainly for his part in creating the moneyspinning cinematic blend known as "the Wan-iverse". It is wildly inconsistent, as often happens when movie studios can sells something based on brand recognition rather than actual quality, but Wan himself remains a guy who seems to have taken all of his success with gratitude and an attempt to help lift others up as he continues to scale ever upwards.

He didn't direct Demonic, that job is given to Will Canon, who also co-wrote the script with Doug Simon and Max La Bella, but I have started with some praise of his work because his name looms large here (in a "James Wan presents" capacity). Or I should say that his name looms large here and Demonic is a bad film, the kind of film that represents what many horror fans view as symptomatic of the worst in modern horror movies.

The story is hard for me to convey while retaining any pretence of interest. Some young lad has been having dreams about his mother, who died in a strange way in an old house. And that lad is persuaded to go to that same house, in the hope of recording some supernatural activity. It didn't go to plan. We know this quite early on, because a cop (Frank Grillo) is called to investigate an incident at the house, an incident that resulted in a number of dead bodies, and he calls in a psychologist (Maria Bello) to assist him in his investigation. There are predictable twists and turns, all leading to an ending more tiresome than remotely terrifying.

As much as I like Wan, I like Frank Grillo even more, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that he was in this. The same goes for Maria Bello. Which should have made me suspicious from the very start, Demonic featuring both of them and yet not having appeared on my radar once over the past few years. They're both perfectly okay in their roles, and definitely help to make the film more watchable, but the rest of the cast are generally poor. They're so bland and interchangeable that I cannot single out everyone. Dustin Milligan is a rather horrible nominal lead, and Scott Mechlowicz and Cody Horn are the two main supporting actors who are roughly on a par with Milligan.

It's hard to be too critical of the cast though, who are all dragging around the dead weight of a script that somehow seems to think it is being entertaining and scary, when it is actually just packed full of jump scares, overdone tropes, and a plot twist that you will have seen in at least a dozen movies over the past few decades.

Canon doesn't help anything with his flat direction. It's unsurprising to see that this is only his second feature, and his first set squarely in the horror genre. He takes viewers through the very familiar territory with the strange confidence of someone who thinks they are showing you a whole new world of strange visions, not bothering to add any showmanship or real style, beyond what he's seen in a number of other poor horror movies in the 21st century.

3/10

Extract (2009)

Another enjoyable comedy written and directed by Mike Judge, this may be his weakest film to date but it's still a fun viewing experience thanks to a great cast working with a great script.

Jason Bateman plays Joel, the owner/manager of an Extract plant. All is going pretty well for Joel apart from the fact that he can't seem to get home before eight o'clock, which is the time that his wife (Kristen Wiig) puts her sweatpants on. Once the sweatpants are on, Joel gets nothing and he's a bit frustrated by his lack of sex life. When a work-related accident leads to loyal worker Step (Clifton Collins Jr.) losing one of his testicles, Joel finds himself the unwitting payday opportunity for Cindy (Mila Kunis), a thief who realises that she can engineer a meeting with Step before manipulating him into suing the company for more money. Meanwhile, Joel also makes the mistake of following the advice of his friend Dean (Ben Affleck) and hiring someone to seduce his wife, supposedly leaving his conscience clear to begin his own affair.

It may not be as brilliantly wired into the consciousness of all working Joes (a la Office Space) or full of the easy, big laughs of Idiocracy but this still deserves to be appreciated by anyone after comedy that aims higher than most.

Judge is a great talent behind the camera. There may not be too many tricks and flourishes onscreen but he does what's needed to keep things moving along and set up every scene full of that memorable dialogue.

Bateman is good in the main role, playing the kind of role that he can play in his sleep, and Kunis is believably cute and charming. It's easy to imagine her getting away with just what she gets away with. Wiig is also very good in an atypical role, as is Ben Affleck, playing someone slightly addled from a life centred around far too many drugs. Clifton Collins Jr. is a sweet enough "mark" and there is good support from J. K. Simmons, T. J. Miller, Betsy Palmer, Gene Simmons, David Koechner (also in a slightly atypical role, as a persistent and dull neighbour) and Matt Schulze.

All in all, Extract is well worth your time. By the time the end credits roll, there's nothing major to mull over but it's simply a nice, consistently amusing, character piece that won't disappoint.

7/10

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