Below Zero took a lot of pointers from Misery. The story of a writer who holes up in the snowy wilderness to write and then crosses paths with a batshit crazy woman, first featured in Misery, was not improved upon in Below Zero. The film doesnt just borrow from Misery. Below Zero bore similarities to The Shining, Jacobs Ladder and several other films as well.
The way that the writing process intertwined with reality was weird, and, then a little confusing, as the viewer tries to keep track of which reality were watching. The same actors were used for both realities, but played different people. Being keenly aware that the scenes where Jack was envisioning his script werent actually happening made all of the intensity of those scenes anticlimactic. Since they were just playing out in Jacks head as he penned the script, it was really difficult to get invested. It was like a film within a film. That whole angle hindered any tension from building. Moreover, the plot of the script kept changing as it was re-written, which rendered it even more monotonous. The film really should have picked one or the other of the two storylines or been split in to two different movies. Combining the two didnt quite work. It was a creative idea for a script, but it didnt translate seamlessly to the screen.
Kristen Booth was too much as Penny. She oversold her performance as a country bumpkin. Her snorting got really obnoxious, really fast. Just for good measure, she went ahead and overacted in her role as Paige, as well.
It was nice to see genre vet Michael Berryman return to familiar territory as the villian. He wore the role well.
Edward Furlong was okay as the tormented writer. His performance was a noticeable improvement over Night of the Demons.
The first 55 minutes of the film irritated me in the same why that Slaughter High irritates me every time I watch it. You invest your time in to the film to find out that the entire movie was a dream. Below Zero is up front about the script come to life being the work of Jacks imagination, but it doesnt make the time spent watching it any less tedious.
At about one hour in, the primary story got a lot more interesting. At that point, there was a twist that wasnt entirely predictable. It served to make the last thirty minutes of the movie a little more tolerable. And, the final twist actually made sense of some of the nonsense that preceded it. The problem is that the twist ending basically negates all replay value.
As far as horror elements, the body count is pretty low. The film positions itself as if its going to be a torture flick, but there is nearly no torture and really no body count. When all is said and done, Below Zero is more of a violent psychological thriller with fringe horror elements.
Below Zero is now available on DVD. I guess it’s worth a watch, but its not a “must see.” There are plenty of other new horror flicks that need your attention before you turn to this sometimes tedious flick.
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