Don't Believe the Hype

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

The Thaw: Another SF/Horror film set in the Arctic which owes a debt to The Thing. This time its the look and feel of the base rather than the creature involved. Arctic areas are thawing due to Global Warming, Dr Krupien (Val Kilmer) discovers a mammoth corpse being chewed on by a polar bear. But both mammoth and bear are now infected by a burrowing vertebrate parasite which lays eggs in humans.The doctors team are infected and more students who arrive are in jeopardy. Good, had me itching all over. 6/10.

Some Movies Deliver Their Messages, or Agenda in a Subtle Subtext of Symbolism or Analogous Connections. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) for Example is Often Stated as a McCarthy Era Reflection.However, Others State Their Intention in an Outright, Often Overwhelming Oratory of Stated Purpose and There is No Doubt Where "The Thing" Stands and it is On With the Show.This Horror Show is of the Latter. It is Quite a Horror Show and it Has Its Moments of Terror and Gore. But, This is Not Done For Laughs or Prurient Intent for the Teenage Crowd. It has a Cold Atmosphere of Isolation and Intrigues to a Point. Yes, There is a Bit of Questionable Behavior of the Grad Students, but the Film Makes Up for it in Outright Horrific Displays of Bug Infestation with Some Good SFX and Makeup. The Cast Waivers from Overacting to Believable. Overall, This is a Thoughtful Entertainment and it is Certainly Topical. This Might Seem Derivative, and it is, but is Handled Professionally and it is a Pertinent Picture in the Eco-Horror Genre. Above Average for This Type of Low Budget Message Movie.

You know.. Sometimes they have a great idea, good cast, even a budget, and they could have had a great movie, and instead produce a mediocre one. All because of a few tiny mistakes, a couple dumb choices, and boom. A failure. This movie could have been great. It could have been the next Thing. This movie is totally gross. It's totally going to creep you out no matter what. It's totally disgusting. It will turn even a Nurses stomach. ( mine) OK so let's talk about what made it lame. They took away the realism of it by making the actors do really stupid things that no one could ever rationalize away. With movies , we have to believe what we are seeing. When actors do probably the dumbest Things ever , we can't excuse it. I think filmmakers make this mistake , because they are trying to extend the suspense. With this movie they didn't have to do that. Like for instance. The Doctor knows there is a bug infestation. Yet, when the students and his daughter show up at the lab with the infected polar bear, he neglects to tell them anything and doesn't tell them to stay away from the polar bear. Why? Then, for some reason, another doctor shoots everyone because she is obviously dying of the big infestation and drives to the lab and super infects everyone. Just in case they weren't infected yet. This movie really suffered from those dumb ass choices. The graduate students who can't seem to figure anything out either really perturbed me. We of course , figured it all out right away . With as much info as they had. Brilliant graduate students that are as dumb as rocks. Uh huh. How about the mourning scientist girl that just needs to wipe away the green vomit from the ladies mouth? And then even attempt CPR. I think any dimwit or scientist esp would know to stay the hell away from anyone as sick as that as soon as they showed up. Isn't that just every day logic? But then pretty boy with the gun, he just really did the movie in. He was so Dumb, that I think we all just wouldn't have knocked him out asap. And then tied him up. Anyways. If you want to watch what would happen if a bunch of really dumb people found a new species of bug that devoured humans go ahead. It's good for a lot of gross out moments. Anyways.

'Thaw' is basically a warning against global warming where, because if the polar ice caps melting, a woolly mammoth's body is discovered an unfrozen. Bugs are unleashed from its corpse which then set about infecting and killing your average bunch of American teenagers who always seem to end up in these sorts of situations.Thaw seemed like a bit of a remake of 'Cabin Fever' due to it having a group of dopey teens in a secluded setting, turning on each other as they don't know who's definitely infected and who's not. However, where as Cabin Fever had a fair share of humour to its gore, Thaw plays it straight.That's not to say that Thaw's a bad film. It has its plus points - the bugs are well animated (as far as inch-long beasties can be) and there are some nice moments of gore to keep those with a strong stomach happy. The film goes along as you'd expect. Sure, if this happened in real life, we'd probably do something different, but, luckily for the plot (and bugs in many ways) the group of teenagers contains a prize chump who seems to choose the wrong decision at every turn (which results in another death or amputation).Thaw is no classic (it has Val Kilmer in it after all), but there are worse horror films out there (like most of the studio 'After Dark's' output). Don't expect too much and you may enjoy it.