Ice Queen

Imagine

Anchor Bay

R4 DVD

Ice Queen is a B grade horror thriller from MTI, distributed by Anchor Bay. It is a difficult film to review as it is very much within the schlock horror category with very average acting, a ridiculous plot and some fairly tragic special effects. That being said I am a sucker for sci fi horror and there is something unusual enough about the plot that made me stick with the film.

The plot involves the discovery of a prehistoric humanoid dating from the ice age. But this is not missing link or ape-man, she is a sexy young babe who must be kept below freezing point for her to survive, if she perceives you as a threat she transforms into the “Ice Queen” and drives her fist through your body turning you to ice from the inside. All she wants to do is kill and mate and she supposedly has the internal organs of a lizard ! Being a low budget film you don’t see any of her more unusual attributes, they are mainly communicated in the dialogue between the scientists, still, she looks pretty good for a low budget horror creature.

Of course with such a truly momentous discovery everybody wants in on the action. While she is in the hands of the military she is stolen and her body transported by plane to a secret location. Along the way, just as another double-cross is about to occur, something goes wrong with her life support system and she re-awakens – cold, hungry and very pissed off. You imagine thawing out after thousands of years !

The plane crashes into a ski resort below triggering an avalanche. Now the Ice Queen is in her element, a frozen wasteland, filled with prey ready for the picking.

Ice Queen is a strangely paced film, for the first hour we are primarily given a “teen” movie with a wet T-Shirt competition, partying, lots of tits and arse, a relationship crisis and lots of young dumb teenage boys saying “dude”. It does set the stage for the later appearance of the Ice Queen but goes on way, way too long. . There is a lot of “background” in the film which fills it out including skiing action, avalanche shots and, of course, party action. While this makes the film look good it tends to confuse the tone of the film; is it a teen movie or a horror ?

The CGI is not badly done for a low budget film with lots of explosions, action shots and then there is the Ice Queen. She is really quite a unique horror character and alone adds something of interest to what at times is a cheesy horror flick. For all its faults I enjoyed Ice Queen and it is definitely worth a rental.

The DVD includes a featurette on the making of the film.

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This review will appear in Volume 2 No.6 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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