JACK FROST (1997)

 

DIRECTED by Michael Cooney

SCREENPLAY by Michael Cooney & Jeremy Paige

STARRING - Scott MacDonald as Jack Frost

Christopher Allport as Sheriff Sam Tiler

Stephen Mendel as FBI Agent Manners

F. William Parker as Paul Davrow

Eileen Seeley as Anne Tiler

Rob LaBelle as FBI Agent Stone

Zack Eginton as Ryan Tiler

Shannon Elizabeth as Jill Metzner

Jack Lindine as Jake Metzner

Kelly Jean Peters as Sally Metzner

Marsha Clark as Marla and Little Girl (voice, uncredited)

Chip Heller as Deputy Joe Foster

Brian Leckner as Deputy Chris Pullman

Darren O. Campbell as Tommy Davrow

Paul Keith as Doc Peters

Charles C. Stevenson, Jr. as Father Branagh

Nathan Hague as Billy Metzner

PLOT - After a killing spree that lasted for several years serial killer - Jack Frost - is finally captured in the small town of Snowmonton by town Sheriff Sam Tiler.

However - one cold, snowy winter night whilst being transported to the local penitentiary, the prison van carrying Jack crashes into a truck that is transporting an experimental chemical across state.

Jack is dowsed in the chemical and is mutated into a being comprised entirely of snow with the ability to control water. Jack takes on the form of a living snowman and rather than going on a magical feel good festive adventure, he instead embarks upon a murderous rampage of revenge on the people of Snowmonton and - in particular - Sherrif Sam Tiler...

PERFORMANCES - Scott Macdonald who plays Jack as both his human self and voices his snowman self gives a suitably OTT performance as the titular villain.

In human form, he appears to be doing some kind of Jack Nicolson impersonation - he's got the psychotic thousand yard stare, the sneering toothy grin and the precise yet drawling way of speaking down to a tee. He's certainly not someone you'd want to mess with but at the same time you can't take him entirely seriously either as he's so deliberately a caricature.

However, it's when Jack gets transformed into a mutant snowman that the fun REALLY begins - put it this way - if Jack Frost and Freddy Krueger formed a comedy double act then Freddy would be the "straight man". Jack literally shoots out cringe worthy one liners left, right and centre as he gleefully goes about his sadistic business. For example the scene where he kills a man with an axe whilst he's enjoying a cigarette - "Christ - I only AXED you for a smoke !" Even Freddy would think twice about using that particular pun.

Obviously it's all meant to be ridiculous and Jack makes for a fun (if unconventional) slasher villain, the thing is (also like Freddy) despite the bad jokes when Jack kills people he REALLY goes all out to be as bloody as possible. The extent of his gory murders still makes him a formidable villain even though he's drenched in utter camp. Partly this is down to the excellent practical gore effects but you've also got to give Macdonald credit for how he inhabits the part and brings it to life.

One of the best things about this film though (and one that makes it a bit of a hidden gem) is that despite the campy central villain ALL the rest of the cast play their roles completely one hundred percent STRAIGHT. This helps to ground the movie despite it's more eccentric moments.

Particularly good is Christopher Allport as Sheriff Sam Tiler who is every inch a tortured hero - he was responsible for bringing Frost to heel but as we see in a flashback scene Frost claims that he'll find a way of surviving death row and will one day come back to take vengeance by killing Tiler and his family. Tiler is genuinely rattled by this and Allport puts this across decently enough. He also gets to do some pretty good onscreen verbal sparing with Stephen Mendell as FBI Agent Manners - a no nonsense but incredibly rude agent who gets assigned to the case. All decent stuff which elevates what would otherwise be a really silly film.

SFX - Basically a man in a snowman suit (which doesn't always hold up that well - it certainly looks NOTHING like snow). It is what it is.

Where this film REALLY hits the mark effects wise though is with the gore which is very well done. Which leads us nicely to...

SEX & VIOLENCE - There's a smattering of very awkward "sex" in this movie - firstly you get a comedic seduction scene where the young lovers involved take about five minutes to undress due to the multiple layers of heavy winter clothing that they have to shed. It's played entirely for laughs and sort of works.

Then you get the big one - the scene in which Jack - in full snowman mode - LITERALLY SHAGS A GIRL TO DEATH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To double down on this - guess which part of Jack does he use for his "penis" ? That's right - HIS CARROT NOSE !!!!!!! It's UTTERLY RIDICULOUS, semi - disturbing (considering it's to all intents and purposes a full blown sexual assault) and massively tasteless...BUT you'll find yourself laughing regardless (or at least I did), We're all going to Hell.

Then we get the gore which is full on VHS era goodness - Jack carries out a variety of "festive themed" murders - including decapitating someone with a sleigh, turning a woman into a human Christmas tree decoration and shoving an axe down a guy's throat (OK maybe not quite as Christmassy that one, but at least it takes place on a snowy winter night).

There's also some good "body horror" moments including human Jack melting into a bloody puddle of red snow after his encounter with the truckload of chemicals. There's also the bits where Snowman Jack gets injured and we see that even though he's made of ice there's still a disturbingly organic looking mess that resides within.

Oh, and he also bites one character to death with his ice fangs - which is deeply daft but looks cool regardless (pun intended).

RATING - Silly, incredibly trashy and a hell of a lot of frightful festive fun. This film is pretty much exactly as you'd imagine it to be if you just took a look at the video/dvd cover and knew nothing else about it and I mean that in the best possible way.

4 and a half mutant killer snowmen out of 5. Put on the Christmas tree lights, grab a beer, sit back and enjoy this absolute trashterpiece.

ART -

Don't ask me who this chap's supposed to be because he certainly doesn't appear in this film...