Welcome to 2021, Soldiers! Hopefully if you’re seeing this, you have survived New Year’s Eve and are at least capable enough to still read! Obviously, we have decided to continue our tour of duty for another year, to hopefully inspire you out there to continue to seek out and watch some films that you haven’t see yet, maybe ones that have been on your “Need to See” list for a while, but just haven’t gotten around to them. Maybe this will give you that chance.
For those new to the Army, or not sure exactly what it is, let me take a few lines to explain. Every first of the month, I will post a new “Mission”, which will be to find and watch two horror films during the month and then report back here with what you’ve watched and what you thought about them. Could be a paragraph or more, or just a couple of sentences. The “mission” will vary depending on how creative I can get, but is usually something like two films that have the word Blood or Dead in the title, or maybe something that ties in with an event in history for that month, or celebrating a different country, or any number of ideas. Like I said, depending on how creative I get! But the key element is that these are two horror films that you have NOT seen before. Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it?
So for this month’s mission, now that it is January, and a good part of the country is getting covered in snow, I thought that might be a nice idea for this month’s theme: SNOW! Your two films for this month have to be horror films in a wintery setting with snow. Doesn’t have to be the theme of the movie, but at least the setting. Meaning something like Snow Beast (1977) or Subject Two (2006) would work. You have until January 31st to find and watch your two films and then come back to this post and report your mission report in the Comments section below. You can post them anytime during the month once you’ve completed the mission too, so don’t feel you have to wait. Actually, I would advise at least starting to find the titles you plan on watching right away. You are more than welcomed and encouraged to comment on other soldiers posts too, please let’s keep the comments positive.
Are you ready? Then gear up and head out for your mission. Pack warm clothes because it will be cold out there! Hopefully we’ll hear from you soon. Good Luck!
kitleyskrypt.com 
I used a list of “horror films set in the snow” and was able to find four of them. Sadly, all the good ones I had already seen. (Well, I assume… most of the remainder were SyFy movies.) I also think this first one is misleading, so it’s a good thing I prepared backups.
#1: Whiteout (2009). Probably shouldn’t have been on a horror list. It’s really more of a mystery/thriller, and not a very good one at that. It has a buttload of snow, so there’s that. And Kate Beckinsale, which is always a plus. There are certainly horror elements — blood and gore effects, some really decent corpse designs. A killer who stalks people with an ice ax. The tone isn’t horror at all, though. And again, it’s just sort of blah. A middle-of-the-road movie, not great or terrible, just completely forgettable. Hopefully the others on my list make up for this.
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Whiteout went down pretty similar with me, Gavin. It’s competently made, has enough things going for it, but at the end of the ride you’re left with a muddled feeling (much like the film itself) and the notion that this somehow could have been better.
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Gavin…did you ever post your second title last month? You’re not going to do that to us again, are you???
I never did get around to Whiteout… or did I? I wouldn’t normally pass up a Beckinsale movie, but fore some reason I’m drawing a blank on this one. Dammit.
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Last month I had METEOR and QUIET EARTH. Both were kind of a stretch in the horror department. (METEOR is essentially ARMAGEDDON with Sean Connery… a giant meteor is heading towards Earth and Connery is going to destroy it before the impact. Other than the “existential dread” of all life on earth ending, it wasn’t horror at all.)
This month’s #2 is THE COLONY (2013). I have a few more lined up, so hopefully there’s a clear horror title in there somewhere, because this also isn’t it… or is it? Again, there is a lot going for it. Bill Paxton in a lead role. Julian Richings in a nice supporting role (I didn’t know Richings until recently, but he’s a classic “that guy” actor who does a lot of genre films). Lots of snow — unlike WHITEOUT in Antarctica, this is after a new Ice Age. Probably would have fit last month’s theme. It’s also rather timely, because groups of people live in underground “colonies” when a deadly virus hits. If they don’t recover quickly, they are killed or expelled. The horror elements are minor for the most part, but a group of people isolated when a deadly virus hits should count, right? There is suddenly a MAJOR horror plot twist in the last 20 minutes. Overall, it’s just alright. Paxton and Laurence Fishburne elevate from what would otherwise be a made-for-SyFy movie into something watchable. Not great, but watchable. The director has some CG shots that he probably thought were clever, but I just found annoying. If the twist had been the MAIN PLOT it would have actually been exciting and entertaining.
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Decided to kick off this year’s first mission with two films that I knew had received a good buzz and praiseworthy comments upon their release. What better way to start making 2021 a better year than the previous one, huh?
COLD PREY (2006)
aka FRITT VILT
Having seen the second film (from 2008) in this trilogy as a festival screening, this Kryptic Army mission made me realize I hadn’t actually seen the first film yet. So I caught up with it. I already have the feeling that watching the whole trilogy is what makes it all worthwhile, as I recall the second installment leaving a better impression on me at the time. Still have to see the third film (released 2010), which is a prequel.
It’s basically a slasher film, with the novelty angle of being Norwegian and set in a snow covered mountain region. Main location is an abandoned hotel. We have five twenty-something characters (two couples and an extra guy) and one mean-looking silent killer (who remains largely unseen throughout the film, wrapped in thick & dirty winter cloths and armed with a pick-axe).
Our five friends are initially out on a snowboard trip. One breaks his leg soon enough. They discover the abandoned hotel and decide to take shelter for the night. Admittedly, the film’s material is rather thin on all levels. The kills only start 40 minutes into the film and the death scenes aren’t exaggerated with gore. The story offers not much plot development either and from the start it’s already very predictable who the final girl will be.
But in spite (or because of) this minimal approach, the film is quite effective. The characters aren’t annoying, the villain looks very menacing, the kills are harsh and can happen when you least expect it. During the film’s second half (especially near the ending) there’s a fair amount of tension and the final conclusion is satisfying. The music score worked noticeably favorable at times too.
Cold Prey doesn’t really offer anything to the genre we haven’t seen before, but it doesn’t do anything wrong either. So, well done, Norwegians!
PONTYPOOL (2008)
This one was a kicker! One of the most original zombie-esque films I’ve seen in a while. As an innovating virus-spreading concept, it even gives the previous year’s The Signal (2007) a run for its money.
The most ingenious feeling it gave me, was that for about 1/3 of the film, much like our three main characters in the radio station, I was reluctant to buy into it. The info they get and things they discover – step by step along with the viewer, as we’re not seeing anything of it yet – sound so absurd, you’ll have a hard time swallowing it. All this is aided by one incoming reporter who enhances his news reports with sound effects, faking the fact that he’s ‘live on the air’ from a helicopter.
About halfway into the film, whatever is making people go crazy in the little village outside, finds its way into the radio station. And from then on, all bets are off and survival becomes more and more questionable. The confined interior setting (a church where the radio station is located in the basement) is used to its full potential and, since all scenes were filmed on staged sets, the sound design is excellent.
This was a bold concept in its approach to film making, as the olden rule expresses: show, don’t tell. This film does exactly the opposite, especially during the first half, as we get to rely mostly on what we hear and what gets talked about on the radio. And it works splendid, setting things up for the second half when all start to go bump inside the church.
Stephen McHattie, as rebel radio host Grant Mazzy, eats the cake. Lisa Houle, as the station’s producer, offers solid counterbalance. This is one fine and accomplished little Canadian production. “Sydney Briar is alive.”
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Your thoughts on Cold Prey are pretty much exactly what I had thought when I first came across it. Nothing new, but still a pretty well made film! I actually liked the sequel even better than the first. I still haven’t been able to find the third one but I’ll get it one of these days.
I absolutely LOVE Pontypool. When I first watched it, I had no idea what it was about and just loved the concept of it. I also loved how some of the scariest moments are just shots of McHattie’s face as we hear reports on the radio, such as their traffic reporter. Great movie!
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Took me a couple of viewings to come to appreciate Pontypool. Stephen McHattie is a national treasure!
I was hoping to watch Cold Prey but wasn’t able to get my hands on it.
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Agreed, Stephen McHattie IS a national treasure. He was amazing in Come to Daddy, which I just saw a couple of weeks ago.
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I can absolutely imagine Pontypool being a film that might rub off a bit too much offbeat weirdness at first, Cate. It may have taken me only one viewing, but one of which the first half hour or so also got me doubting of I would dig it as I was supposed to. But ended up appreciated it quite a bit when the ride was over. And true enough about Stephen McHattie. Whatever he’s in, his name featured among the cast is usually the first reason that has me wanting to check out the film.
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It took a little digging to find snow movies that I hadn’t seen, and especially ones I hadn’t seen because they sounded like crap, but it looks like I’m not quite scraping the bottom of the barrel.
THE COLONY (2013)
People are just trying to survive an ice age by living underground, but can’t resist the impulse to be dicks to each other and destroy their chances. I just didn’t see much new or interesting here. We are seeing so much of that lately IRL as the threat of illness and results of inequality are shaping our lives. Laurence Fishburne and Bill Paxton are in charge, or trying to be. Always fun seeing Julian Richings show up in a movie. Oh and it was filmed in a decommissioned NORAD base, that was kind of neat and I ended up watching a CBC doc on it as well (“The Hole in Reservoir Hill”) in which a retiree said it was full of asbestos and secrets.
FROZEN (2010)
Three pals are left on a ski lift for days. There are not a lot of movies I cannot watch but I admit I may have fast-forwarded through this a little because it was so unrelentingly grim. There are a lot of times when I highly doubted that this or that could happen, but…maybe it could, it just takes a whole bunch of little things going wrong all at the same time to make something big and disastrous go wrong. I am a little surprised I had not got around to seeing this before, I think I confused it with Whiteout at times.
Anyway, remember to bundle up when you go out there, you may end up being out longer than you think!
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I remember seeing The Colony hit either Netflix or Redbox when it first came out and figured with Paxton in it, it was worth checking out, but just never got around to it. But it still does sound interesting.
I liked the concept of Frozen, but just couldn’t buy into the story. Maybe for a short film, but not a feature. I know I’m in a minority on that, and I will admit there are a few good nail-biting scenes in there.
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I decided to see some of the lower rated snowy horror movies that had been on my list for a while.
Dreamcatcher (2003) is very silly. It stars a group of friends with psychic powers who go to a snowy cabin for their yearly reunion. But this time, aliens invade, hoping for a better chance at survival given a cold atmosphere. The movie definitely could’ve been scary but the monsters are, well, butt worms. They incubate in people’s guts, making them fart a lot, and then they burst out of their butts. Dreamcatcher is highly recommended for a bad horror movie night because it’s so nonsensical.
The Snowman (2017). I wanted to see this one because the trailer looked pretty good, then I didn’t because of the awful reviews, but after seeing Dreamcatcher, I figured another snowy bad movie might be fun. This one is more of a thriller (although I don’t think I ever found it thrilling). An alcoholic detective works to track down a serial killer who builds snowmen to commemorate each kill. Very basic but what makes this film special is that they were only able to film 85-90% of the script and then had the glue the film together in the editing room. My husband and I had fun trying to identify where and what those missing scenes might be.
Overall, I’m glad I gave both these bad movies a chance this January. They added a lot of silliness to an isolated winter.
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I remember catching Dreamcatcher when it first hit DVD and couldn’t believe how silly it was. I had never read the novel so I had nothing to compare it to but just didn’t work for me either.
Never heard of The Snowman but the cast looks pretty impressive. Might have to check it out!
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Okay I picked real winners this time around. *sarcasm* First was The Chill Factor (1993). A bunch of friends get trapped in an abandoned bible camp – or something – after their friend is injured during a snowmobile accident and a winter storm blows in. Then some other crap occurs, maybe it’s Satan, there’s a devil’s eye board (as opposed to a Ouija) and people die. Whatever. It takes sooooo long for anything to happen, and when it does, it doesn’t make sense. I like a slow burn, but nothing was burning here. Just slow.
The second film was The Snow Creature (1954). A botanical expedition in the Himalayas stumbles across a yeti. Naturally, they capture it and take it back to civilization. And of course it escapes, wreaks havoc, and has to be put down. It’s pretty slow, kinda dumb, and the yeti is a guy in a fuzzy teddy bear costume with an almost wolfman face. Not particularly terrifying, or even any good. But there was snow.
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Thanks for jumping on those grenades for us, Peggy! I’ve honestly never even heard of Chill Factor. Not sure if I’ll seek that one out.
But I definitely will for Snow Creature. Anything made in the ’50s is going to get my attention. And with a 3.3 rating on IMDB?!?!
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I’ve been away for awhile, but decided to try to get back in the swing of things by jumping back in for January and my least favorite form of precipitation.
Curtains (1983)
I often tell my friends that if a horror movie was made in the 1980’s, I’ve seen it, as that was when my fandom took off and coincided with the rise of mom and pop video rental stores who unknowingly stocked their shelves with some pretty obscure titles. So it’s always a big shock when a horror film from that era pops onto my radar that I’ve not seen before. In the case of Curtains, I’d not only never seen it, I don’t really remember ever hearing about it, even though it has a Synapse release. So, I was excited for this one.
First the bad news. Though I normally sing the praises of Amazon Prime for being the modern rendition of those video stores of yore and having so many obscure old horror films available for streaming at your fingertips, this time they let me down pretty badly. Their copy, a two-dollar rental no less, is clearly a terrible VHS rip. If you’ve seen this one, you know how much of it, especially the end, takes place at night. The quality renders it pretty much unwatchable for a good third of the film, so a giant F.U. to Bezos on that one.
But the good is pretty good and overall, this little Canadian slasher is enjoyable, and the kills are done with some real finesse. One of my favorites was when the masked murderer chases Christie across the ice. The length of the shots used in the edit are gradually shortened which helps sell the notion that the killer is getting closer and closer. Editors Michael MacLaverty and Henry Richardson do a really nice job with that and in their use of slow motion in the same scene. But the directing and cinematography also score some points. Notably, the scene where Laurain is dancing is hypnotically shot and choreographed and the payoff there is pretty unique.
The atmosphere is part of what sells the film, with that sort of 70’s anything-goes-if-you’re-an-artist vibe. And the acting ranges from pretty good to amazing, with the latter category certainly being inhabited by John Vernon as director Jonathan Stryker (the pseudonym of the real director). Also, I just learned that John Vernon’s real name was Adolphus Raymondus Vernon Agopsowicz, which is the coolest name I’ve possibly ever heard.
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Second one, Dead Snow 2: Red Before Dead
So, full disclosure, I have seen this one before. But I kinda didn’t exactly. See, I belong to the organization that is sort of parodied in the film, Zombie Squad and so the filmmakers rented out a theater for the group and my first and only viewing of the film was with about 50 rowdy, screaming ZS members, everyone losing their shit every time the logo was on the screen. So it didn’t feel like I’d actually SEEN the film. So, I used this as an opportunity to watch it again.
First, I really love horror comedies, and this one works for me. I legitimately laughed out loud a bunch of times, and just enjoyed the hell out of it. Also, much like some of my favorite horror comedies, the things they can explore are so much darker because the filmmakers can rely on laughs to fall back on the “we were just kidding” explanations when the villagers start getting out the torches and pitchforks. The joke of constantly reanimating one poor dude only to have him killed horribly over and over again made me a little angry at one point, which made me laugh at myself, as that was certainly the whole point. The capacity to explore the silly human ineptitude that would plague most undead uprisings is certainly not new to this film, but it’s well done IMO. The thing doesn’t really break any ground, but that’s not the job of every film, and what it does, I think it does well.
I’m sad to see that it did horribly at the box office and hope that it finally made some money back on home video. The budget seems well spent, as the effects look great, and they have a freakin’ tank, man. Super fun film from front to back, I need to own this one. I feel like these films are the best of the Nazi zombie films, a sub-sub genre that I find pretty enjoyable overall.
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I absolutely LOVE the first film and went in to this one with even higher expectations when it opened at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago. While there were plenty of hilarious parts in there, I did find some of the humor a little flat, especially when it came to the American characters. But that aside, it is still a lot of fun.
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Glad to have you back on the front lines!
We had this at the theater I worked at and was always amazed that it doesn’t have a better reputation, because as you said, it is a decent flick. I would highly recommend you picking up the Blu-ray from Synapse Films though.
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I think I will pick up that blu, if for no other reason than more John Vernon. Love that guy.
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I saw curtains multiple times in my late teens on The movie channel or HBO. They played it a lot. I always really loved it and found the killers mask extra creepy! And the scene you mentioned on the ice always blew me away. The way it was filmed really built tension and despite the white snow the scenes seem so dingy and gray! Love it!
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Wasn’t sure I’d get this done in time with Netflix now taking up to 2 weeks to get my movies to me but I made it!
Ice Queen (2005)
Synopsis- An Avalanche at a ski resort traps a group of acquaintances in the building with a cold loving monstrous humanoid and the doctor who is studying her.
Review- Although made in 2005, this movie comes across as a cheap, badly made, 1980’s straight to video release. It is a bizarre cross- between alien and the teen movie “Hot Dog.” Yet despite that, seems to take itself seriously! The special effects, monster costume, and technical effects aren’t that bad but the inane dialogue, baffling and stupid character behavior, and poor special effects are beyond cheesy. For example, characters sit cross-legged and barelegged in short skirts in what is supposed to be snow (but clearly isn’t) and complain about how cold they are. Yet, they never think to stand up and quit exposing their legs and butt to the ice. Even sillier is the female monster attempts to “come on” to the male in the group by gyrating and putting her fingers to her lips, etc. like a pin-up model would. I did find the idea intriguing of a cold loving monster with heat being its weakness, tracking humans down in a cold environment, but they did little with it. This movie also made the biggest offense a horror movie can make. It was not scary, creepy moody or even intriguing. It was just dumb. The bright lighting killed any mood and the silly monster behavior killed any threat it might have imposed. I would suggest this movie to absolutely no one.
Dead Snow (2009)
Synopsis- Dead Nazis come looking for their stolen gold while 8 young people take a vacation in the snowy mountains.
Review- Okay, I am sure everyone here has already seen this but I hadn’t gotten to it yet. For me this movie was a lot of fun and a had a lot of great imagery. The undead were particularly cool looking. But it did leave me with a lot of questions; such as: Why don’t zombies leave tracks in the snow sometimes, or why when you are gutted don’t you leave blood stains on the snow? When you know your friends are in danger from a madman and you spent the night unconscious, why would you waste your time exploring a cavern instead of going back to warn them? How many zombies can die of cold and lay buried in the snow less than a few feet deep in one spot without being found at some point? And why on God’s earth would anyone suck on the finger of a man who had just taken a crap and wiped himself while he is still on the john? Of all the gore in the movie, that outhouse scene might have been the grossest. While I did like this movie a lot, it did make me long for the days when movies like this would have taken themselves more seriously and tried to frighten you instead of trying to be “funny” and self-mocking. Done properly this would have been a terrifying movie instead of a “fun” one. Still, it is a good watch and was done very well for what it is. Good quality production that is worth the rental. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes excessive gore, likes to chuckle at their horror movies, or someone who just loves “cabin in the woods” movies. It also reminds me a bit of the Blind Dead movies in that it gives the undead a great thematic variation.
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I may have to check out Ice Queen for a possible Turkey Day movie, but it really doesn’t sound TOO inviting!
As I think I mentioned before, I am a big fan of Dead Snow. Reminded me of Jackson’s Braindead a lot.
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I could definitely see Ice Queen as a turkey movie where people to get together just to laugh at the badness. It’s not boring at least! Stupid, but not boring,
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Okay! Let’s poke around in this snow drift, and see what we can find:
Snow Maiden (Snegurochka) (1969 / Russia)
This looks encouraging – a fairy tale about a maiden who is made out of snow. Unfortunately, that is pretty much the extent of the fantastic element in this film. There are a small amount of scenes with Snegurochka’s parents (Frost and Spring), and a very few glimpses of some wonderful forest goblins, but that’s about it. Now I’ve not dived too deeply into Russian fairy tale movies, but this one struck me very much as atypical from the rest. Most of the story revolves around love, and Snow Maiden’s inability to experience this emotion. Most of the movie is talky drama, minimal fantastic elements, and way too much singing. I can’t imagine any kid on the planet being captivated by this movie; I surely wasn’t.
Ice Sharks (2016 / USA)
Now this is more like it! A scientific outpost deep in the Arctic Circle must survive against the Ice Sharks! Wait…what’s this…Nooooooooooooooo! It’s a production from ‘The Asylum’! Please dear God, spare me! Let me just say, that I have watched (and, in some cases, even enjoyed) an enormous number of bad movies. I’ve built up quite a tolerance for them, in fact. Didn’t help me here. This movie lost me when the sharks (CG sharks – almost as bad as CG blood) used their dorsal fins to cut through several FEET of ice to separate the outpost from the main ice mass. Then the outpost sinks under the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean – the end. Nope. Just kidding. The outpost is water tight, and can withstand the pressure at the sea bottom. But those pesky sharks just won’t go away. Who lives? Who dies? Who cares!! Another stinker to add to the impressive catalog of Stinkers from The Asylum.
Bonus Movie!
Snow Monster (2019 /China)
Here to save this month’s mission is Snow Monster! Here is the tag used to promote this movie:
“Mammoth Yeti fights Snow Sharks!”
Hell, yeah!! If that’s your response, this movie is a must. If that’s not your response, then what in the world are you doing here?
There is a mammoth yeti (hundreds of feet tall), giant snow sharks, a mad scientist, mercenary military, lots and lots of bullets, and MORE! Keep an eye out for this one friends, it’s a keeper!
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I’m always a sucker for older foreign fantasy films, but they are a tough call since sometimes they are just… strange. So not sure if I’ll be jumping into Snow Maiden right away!
Ice Sharks, huh? Not sure if I could ever swallow a film from Asylum. They are just too crazy, with some REALLY bad CGI.
I’m glad to hear Snow Monster is better than Ice Sharks! I will definitely keep my eyes open for that one.
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One of my favorite things about the Army and why I started it in the first place, it is a great way to bring attention to titles that some may not have heard of before, or maybe had heard of it, but had kind of forgotten about it and never get around to it. So for my two titles came from each of those example, one by a fellow soldier’s report and another one that reminded me of what I would chose for my second feature.
The Snow Creature (1954) – After Peggy’s glowing review, and a 3.3 rating on IMDB, I figured worse case scenario, I’d have another title for Turkey Day (which is now will be at some point), but I also love these kind of films from that era. I had a blast with this one, just showing how they were trying to get away with different things, like apparently how warm a tent can be in a snow storm, or using shots over and over again.
Wind Chill (2007) – I remember when this came out because I remember my wife watching it on her own, but I never sat down for it. And then for some reason, reading through some of the other reports, that title popped in my head. It’s a ghost story set in a backroads mountainous road in the middle of winter. So why the hell hadn’t I got around to seeing it before! That has now been corrected.
Being a sucker for ghost stories, I actually really enjoyed it. Definitely had a few really creepy elements to it and a decent story. Sure a little things that were a bit far-fetched, but it didn’t bother me too much. But if you like ghost stories, I think it is worth your time.
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This month’s mission left me surprisingly stymied for selections. Winter is just the worst, and thinking of a couple of films centered on snow filled my brain with TV static. After you see Carpenter’s THE THING and BLOOD GLACIER what else is there, right?
I sucked it up and wound up accidentally programming a snowmobiling double feature for myself with CHILL FACTOR (1993), available on Tubi, and GHOSTKEEPER (1982) on Prime.
CHILL FACTOR was an Arrow Video release sporting killer new cover art that grabbed my attention as I scrolled through Tubi’s listings. Good thing it did, because the cover art is about the only thing keeping the film from obscurity. Its plot follows the EVIL DEAD formula without much wavering with characters that likewise don’t diverge much from their individual archetypes without much in the way of performance. The kills were ok, though not all that inventive or memorable. Though, out of the two films I viewed for this mission, it did have the superior snowmobiling scenes.
GHOSTKEEPER, on the other hand, had me rooting for it right up to the end. It’s another sinister house in the snow, this time an abandoned lodge explored by a few twenty-somethings hellbent on snowmobiling off the beaten path. Hijinks ensue when one of the characters discovers that the lodge may not be as abandoned as she previously thought. The lodge is a great location with a foreboding presence akin to The Overlook Hotel in THE SHINING (1980), while the story giving off a weird ANTHROPOPHAGUS vibe, though the film itself was in no way as compelling or twisted as either of those previous films. It does feature a protagonist I could root for and a weird menace that made it especially memorable to me, with lingering questions that have lasted with me. I’d recommend it, but it’s definitely a slow burn and may be best seen as the A film paired with a noisier, gorier flick in a double feature.
Thinking about both films now, I’d love to see them mashed together into a new film comnbining the premises of both films with additional characters (both films have very small body counts), more kills, but keeping the look and feel of GHOSTKEEPER. Oh, and more snowmobiling! \m/
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Don’t feel bad, Ken. When it came down to me looking for my two films, I was having a hard time too! I keep seeing these great titles and then saying “Crap…already seen that” and then on to the next to do the same thing! But at least you knocked out a couple that you might have missed otherwise… for better or for worse!
I don’t think I know Chill Factor, though it is the one direction credit from producer Christopher Webster (who produced the first two Hellraiser films). Even with your lackluster review, I have to admit, I kind of want to see it now! Maybe I’ll wait until the next snow mission!
I remember seeing Ghostkeeper some time ago and really wanting to like it more than I did. like it you said, it has a great set up and doesn’t answer everything for the viewer, which I liked and didn’t like. So close to being an amazing film though. I do remember the old lady was pretty fun to watch.
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Movie #1
Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings
I honestly have no idea why I picked this movie. This month was a challenge for me. (I also make it extra challenging, because I like to pick two different movies than Erich.) This movie didn’t make my top worst list, but it wasn’t great either. I have a hard time watching people in the cold/snow and not prepared for the elements. I guess that is the grumbly side of me from living in Wisconsin for 24 years. It’s kind of funny. I can watch people getting eaten alive by giant monsters and totally buy it, but the minute someone is in a thin shirt for winter forget it. I’m out. The gore was fun and pretty much was the only thing that helped me reach the ending. I’ll give it that. The three villains are in the third movie, so I already knew they were going to survive this one. I would’ve liked to have seen a story about their ancestors as a bloody beginning.
Movie #2
Children (2008)
This movie was awesome! I loved the build-up, the characters, the plot, the actors, the special effects, etc. Everything about his one was done right. I like that it doesn’t spoon feed the audience. It made me jump and cringe at scenes. I thought it was going to be another “Children of the Corn” type of movie, but it was much more. What a pleasant surprise!
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I’ve actually lost count of where I am in the Wrong Turn series!?!?! I really loved the first two, pretty sure I watched 3, but it gets a bit muddy after that! And now there’s a remake?!?!?
Anyway, I do love your comment about picking out things about the kind of clothing people where in the winter. For people like us, in the midwest, getting down to the 30s or 40s is like hoodie weather, where in the south, they already have their parkas on! But I do agree, a little bit of realism goes a long way. I know I’ll have to knock out the rest of these films in the series because I’m a completist…or stupid. Or both.
The Children is a movie that I loved when I first watched it but not sure I could handle it again. So well made, but I found it difficult to watch with the children being monsters. Much like Who Can Kill a Child, its a pretty powerful film. But so well made and very effective. Glad you got to watch this one!
And by the way, I just love and have so much respect for you and Erich that you find different movies for each of your own mission. That is going above and beyond!
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Movie 1: Rare Exports
Early January, I was still checking out new (to me, at least) holiday horrors. I happened across this one after reading the brief synopsis. The characters were definitely different and they didn’t spend a lot of time on their unique situations (i.e single father, etc…) They seemed to let all of the uniqueness just fade into the background. Which to me, makes them all the more believable. The artwork of the the Santa from days of old was phenomenal and the idea of this character being frozen reminded me a little of “The Thing.” I was really impressed by how the threat turned out to be something different than what we thought was the culprit, and I really would’ve loved to see the creature hatched in all of it’s glory, but there was some pretty great humor and again, more realism that shied us away from what could’ve been another typical monster movie. The ending seemed a bit off base and raised a lot of questions, but it really had a lot going on, so I’ll let it slide.
Movie 2: The Wolf of Snow Hollow
Wow. The characters, dialog, situations, and reactions from everyone involved really seemed not only very realistic, but was very entertaining. I loved that it was full of all of these flawed characters with their own struggles trying to deal with everything the way we all do. With a bit more relation than a lot of other films. I loved that it was more of a murder mystery with an ominously and heavy horror feel. I loved the ending and would easily watch this one again. “How old was he?” “Late 20s… early 50s.”
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Rare Exports is one film we try to watch every Christmas. So much fun and so damn original. Though, I would recommend Dick Maas’ Sint (or Saint) which is similar, and to Krampus, but pretty entertaining.
But for Rare Exports, not having a clue what it was about before seeing it just made me love it even more, and the story uncovered in front of us. Great stuff.
Going to have to add Wolf of Snow Hollow to my list! Well done, Erich.
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