DVD Release
A team of arctic researchers studying the effects of global warming happen upon a rare find thawing in the ice, an intact wooly mammoth! When additional researchers are flown to meet the team they discover half of the team dead and the other half infected with a deadly parasite, something they believe may have been transmitted by contact with the mammoth. It quickly becomes apparent that this parasite must be stopped before it spreads to the entire team and eventually into the world’s population.
Hey these “horror films with a message” are getting quite good! The Thaw is sort of an environmental horror film mixed with rampaging bug cinema so, trust me on this, it’s definitely going to give you the goosebumps as well as make you think. The acting is all above average and the CG was surprisingly solid but The Thaw suffers from predictability, we can see the unstable character a mile away, we know who survives and we know, in the end, we’ll get a “shocker” finale in which the threat isn’t entirely eliminated. It was all pretty by-the-numbers.
Now that Val Kilmer seems to be slumming it for a paycheck, I fully expect to see him attached to more duds than gems, thankfully in this particularly case the film ended up succeeding. The Thaw is a decent flick, with some chilling sequences, believable characters and a solid message to boot. It’s certainly not a memorable film, and not nearly better than The Last Winter, but there’s some really cool, gory bits and Kilmer’s character holds a startling secret about the winter-bug infestation that will make people think twice about mixing recyclables with food waste!
The Thaw isn’t a bad film; Ghost House Underground fans should enjoy it. I really wasn’t expecting it to be as disturbing as it was so I suppose you could say that I was mildly surprised and entertained. Most gross bug flicks give me the creeps but this film really got to me, the minute you see these little things creeping around beneath people’s skin and laying eggs, you’ll understand. I wouldn’t purchase this myself but it’s worth renting so give it a shot.
