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| From http://www.dvdkitchen.com/uploads/4/3/2/3/4323557/frozen-scream_4391064.jpg |
Dir. Frank Roach
USA
Film #13 of The ‘Worst’ of Cinema
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| From http://strangewitness.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/vlcsnap-2010-11-16-06h45m30s194.png |
As with another video nasty that
I have written a review for, and will be published at some point, I am baffled
by how the entire 1984 Video Recording Act even made sense in hindsight with
the films it targeted. There are still many films for me to see from the list –
including the entire string of Naziploitation films in their distasteful glory
– but within the deep cuts of the DDP Prosecutions List beyond The Evil Dead (1981) and Cannibal Holocaust (1980) there are
some baffling additions on it, from unredeemable and inoffensive schlock like Toxic Zombies (1980), and even more
surprisingly, a based-on-true-events-drama I
Miss You, Hugs and Kisses (1978). That even The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) with Dolly Parton was confiscated by police
during their raids of video tape stores in this era, even if it was a minor
incident within one of them, shows how no one really had any idea what they
were doing with the campaign, enforced even more when you go beyond the
justifiably gruesome films to the utterly forgettable and terrible films that
were prosecuted or nearly were. It also pops the bubble one has growing up of
this mythological list of forbidden treats as well, even if there are
legitimately great films and masterpieces on it. At first, it’s dumbfounding,
and disappointing as it was for me, but after the third you merely shrug your
shoulders and consign something like Frozen
Scream to the bin of your mental cortex.
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| From http://members.multimania.co.uk/hhahscreens3/uploads/GT-FS4.jpg |
Two scientists are striving for
immortality, only to create zombies that are kept un-living through cold
temperatures. When they have the husband of a woman killed for their plans,
they will have to deal with her and her former lover, who is a detective,
before they find out what is going on. This plot line is dragged out for a mere
75 to 80 minutes as Frozen Scream
conveys all the worst of a genre film, tediously put together and populated by
robotic acting. The bizarre pronouncements of the scientists, Lil Stanhope (Renee Harmon) and Sven Johnsson (Lee James), are fascinating to hear in
their awkwardness, how the actors’ natural accents mixed with horrifically
wooden performances. The film doesn’t go anywhere, and despite being solidly
made, it is bad in its plotting and in trying to engage with the viewer. None
of the mystery is interesting because we the viewers already know who is
responsible for the deaths, and the horror of the film, including its ending,
is generic. The only merit of the film is the mistakes that raise the heart for
a smirk. The reinterpretation of Rock
Around The Clock to Jack Around The
Clock because of the lack of money for music rights. The abstract jump
scare where a man in black robes, and a knife in his hand, is screaming ‘Die!’ at
a pumpkin only to nonchalantly say hi to the main female protagonist who passes
around the corner on him. And then there is the narration of the detective. It
can appear at any time, and even plays over scenes where the actors onscreen
are still saying lines of dialogue
that can be heard underneath the narrator. It could have been some Godardian
flourish if done on purpose, but here is a sound design disaster.
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| From http://www.b-movies.gr/UserFiles/Image/frozen%20scream/frozen%20scream%206.jpg |
Frozen Scream from its first scenes was atrocious, and I passed its
length completely numbed. It is a legitimately awful film, though it’s merely
touch the glass floor of my truly worst film viewings, for this season, bad to
the point that it’s difficult to actually write a lot about it. Bad films for me,
the worse, are defined by having little redeemable to them even if it was
unintentional, and for its occasional moment of amusement, Frozen Scream is scrapping the bottom of the barrel for filmmaking
and as a video nasty.
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| From http://s3.amazonaws.com/auteurs_production/images/film/frozen-scream/w448/frozen-scream.jpg?1290439932 |
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