Coming to DVD Tuesday, October 6
Cast:
Val Kilmer as Dr. David Krupipen
Martha MacIsaac as Evelyn Krupipen
Aaron Ashmore as Atom Galen
Kyle Schmid as Federico
Steph Song as Ling Chen
Directed by: Mark A. Lewis
Review:
If you hate bugs, don’t watch The Thaw.
Because that’s what you get. And I’m not talking about a few bugs here or there but thousands upon thousands of them. Obviously, if the film was terrible I’d be using puns such as “It gets under your skin” har har or “This one will have you itching for more” drumroll please!
But The Thaw doesn’t such that much ass. It isn’t that great, mind you, but it isn’t as good as some of the other Ghost House fare that is available this year.
A group of hippie scientists researching the effects of global warming in the Antarctic discover a woolly mammoth in the ice after a deep thaw of the glacial shelf. At first they proclaim it to be more evidence of the devastating effects of global warming on the planet â a beast hundreds of thousands of years old uncovered after the ice has melted. But inside the beast, they discover something far deadly than global warming.
A prehistoric parasite has come along for the ride – attached the mammoth in egg form waiting for a thaw in order to hatch and continue its cycle of life. And that cycle includes infesting a host, laying hundreds of eggs and when the eggs hatch devouring the host. Of course, when the wheat-grass drinking global warming hippies get infested by the lot a few of them figure this is the best, easiest way for the world to realize the dangers of the Earth’s polar caps melting as well as teach the Earthlings a lesson by purposely killing thousands of people due to the bugs.
About this same time, a number of students from a university were flying to the Antarctic location in order to take place in the research and learn from Dr. David Krupipen (Val Kilmer), the lead hippie that concocts the idea to use the students to transport the bugs back to different parts of the world. While Kilmer (now king of the direct-to-DVD market) is boasted as the star of The Thaw, he is a supporting character as the students flying to the research facility are the main players.
The one thing Krupipen didn’t account for was his estranged daughter coming along for the ride with the students and getting involved in the mess. Soon, the students begin to realize something isn’t right with polar bears and mammoths dead around them and a number of humans oozing bugs out of their bodies. Thus, it begins a struggle to survive and get the hell out of the research facility without becoming lunch to these prehistoric parasites.
It may sound a bit familiar to the horror aficionados out there and The Thaw does have some awful moments including:
The worst dude with his arm cut off make-up everywhere â look he grew wider after they cut off his arm.
The smallest Wooly mammoth you’ve ever see â unless they were more like bears than elephants.
An epic helicopter crash â okay not really, it is pretty lame.
Polar Bear snack.
Luckily, these are kept to a minimum and for the most part this is not a bad offering among the Ghost House Underground titles this year â although The Children and Offspring are decidedly better.
Extras:
Unlike some of the other Ghost House titles released this year, there aren’t as many special features on The Thaw DVD.
The main extra is a “Behind the Scenes” featurette with interviews from the cast and crew talking about the premise of the film, global warming, the special effects breakdown and the original concepts (which as a mean and nasty bed bug that warped into a global warming horror). There are some really good behind-the-scenes looks at some of the special effects include the arm chopping off scene that is pretty brutal (although as I mentioned above the after-effect with the dude wearing a big shirt isn’t as good). Now they do get a bit political in terms of the global warming aspect so if you believe it is bunk you may find yourself getting pissed off.
Other special features include the trailer, trailers to other films and the Ghost House Micro Videos.
