The Thaw (2009)

If you have watched a lot of horror movies over the decades, especially all versions of "The Thing", you know that when you are in the Arctic or the Antarctic you just don't dig things out of the ice. It's nearly as dangerous as taking an alien pod on board your ship in deep space. It's the first step towards the end of mankind.In this case a team of scientists investigating global warming, dig out a woolly mammoth and transport it to their remote lab in the Canadian Arctic.Of course the mammoth, and a dead polar bear they also take back to the lab, are hosts to parasites that have been released as the arctic ice shrinks back. In the best tradition of the genre, the bugs lay eggs; lots of them. Well, Al Gore did warn us.There is a bit of a backstory to the eight characters who find themselves in danger of infestation including the troubled relationship between Dr. Krupien (Val Kilmer) and his daughter Evelyn (Martha MacIsaac).Although "The Thaw" met with generally icy reviews, I think by the middle it really starts to deliver the sort of frission you hope to get from this kind of film. There are a few predictable bits: the guy who is set on self-preservation at the expense of everyone else including his girlfriend, and those who nobly sacrifice themselves for the sake of the others, but as the tension mounts you forget the cinematic je devu.The location on the tundra is superbly desolate, and although the special effects are not on the scale of a James Cameron movie, they produce more than one wince inducing scene – I'll never look at a meat cleaver the same way again."The Thaw" had me going quite a few times. It's a bit preachy on the global warming message, but you could do worse than track this one down, although it may make you think twice next time you go to pull a steak out of the freezer.

'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.

How disappointing ! I was expecting a good movie about a very interesting subject, but the only interesting thing here is the opening credits. Cliché, caricatured characters, spoiled idea, lame acting, After the 15th fist minutes you make your own movie about the deja vu feeling. You can guess the rest of the movie and you'll sure win because it is more than predictable, just add cliché after cliché. No, I must admit there is something I couldn't predict : There is no explicit sex or nudity exposed, not even that to save this poor movie from oblivion.The base idea was good, the cast OK, the layout excellent, and everything went wrong. Why ? I don't dare to say because it is a mundane American low-end movie just to make some money out of minimal investment. Keep this for teenagers willing to spend an evening and needing an excuse to give to their parents while they are doing anything but actually WATCH the movie. And they should really do something else, like homework. and for grown adults, I see no excuse to waste time watching this when there is more interesting things to do, like wash the dish or fix a leaking pipe in the bathroom. Don't be fooled, this is not about ecology, it is a cheap would be horror movie. There are lots of better movies, and a few worse, but you are on your freewill. I just give my own opinion here. If I have sacrificed 1h30 of my own life to spare it to some people I'll be content.

I read one of the one star reviews - unfair criticism, because the reviewer missed some of the plot points. Although there are still a few illogical and improbable bits! This is an average chiller, with panicking youths struggling to survive a threat that stalks them.Acting, pace and soundtrack are so-so. The heroine is a bossy little thing, could be annoying, but there's a good amputation scene where she takes over from the gutless man.The twist at the end is well hidden and worthwhile, so that increases the rating to 6/10.