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Written by Mandroid3000
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JACK FROST
**1/2 out of *****
Genres
1997
Directed by
Michael Cooney
Written by
Michael Cooney
Jeremy Paige (story)
Cast
Scott MacDonald .... Jack Frost
Christopher Allport .... Sam
Stephen Mendel .... Agent Manners
F. William Parker .... Paul Davrow
Eileen Seeley .... Anne
Rob LaBelle .... Stone
Zack Eginton .... Ryan Tiler
Jack Lindine .... Jake Metzner
Kelly Jean Peters .... Sally
Marsha Clark .... Marla
Chip Heller .... Deputy Foster
Brian Leckner .... Deputy Pullman
Darren O. Campbell .... Tommy
Shannon Elizabeth .... Jill Metzner (as Shannon Elizabeth Fadal)
It’s Christmas Eve and serial killer Jack Frost is being transported to his execution through a terrible blizzard. Visibility is terrible, and before long they crash into a truck carrying experimental chemicals. The chemicals hit Jack and merge his body with the snow, turning him into a giant snowman. With a new lease of life, Jack Frost heads after the cop who put him away, killing anyone who gets in his path.
While this may sound like the synopsis of a truly awful movie, the makers of Jack Frost are fully aware the idea is campy and play it up. Some of the killings are pretty gruesome so it’s not a total joke, but they throw in almost every possible joke and one-liner that could relate to a killer snowman. People melt Jack with hair dryers and anti-freeze, he impales a string of Christmas lights in a woman’s head. You get the idea. It’s not sophisticated, but it is crowd-pleasing.
The pace is brisk, and it’s consistently humorous. And unlike a lot of low-budget horrors this doesn’t involve endless bouts of talking between deaths. The acting on the whole is good. There is the genre’s scourge, the annoying cute kid. And while he may not die like the audience wants, his role is thankfully smaller than the first half hour lets on.
Set- and lighting-wise Jack Frost doesn’t look cheap, but the Jack Frost monster does. You very rarely see him move, and he doesn’t have much in the way of articulation. They try to disguise this by shooting him in close ups, and letting him get places by melting and solidifying. Some may find this a cause for complaint, I actually found it added to the movie’s jokey charm.
If you don’t think you’ll be amused by a campy killer snowman movie, then you may think Jack Frost is just stupid (note: this would make you an idiot with a limited sense of humour). But if your idea of a great Christmas film has a pre-American Pie Shannon Elizabeth being raped to death by a giant snowman then give it a rent.
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