Jack Frost (1997)
Director: Michael Cooney
Writers: Jeremy Paige (story), Michael Cooney (story)
Stars: Scott MacDonald, Christopher Allport, Stephen Mendel
As
a young child in snowy Minnesota, this movie not only horrified me but, to my
mother’s dismay, caused a severe aversion to venture outside in the winter
months. Watching it again, now I’ve realized that while this movie is
technically a horror flick it, like the chest burst scene from Freddy’s Revenge, is only scary in my
adolescent memory.
Jack Frost, a 1997
so-bad-it’s-good horror/comedy, features serial killer Jack Frost (Scott
MacDonald) who, through a Marvel-worthy accident, involving a genetic research
vehicle on the way to his execution, turns into a mutated snowman. Freed from
his death sentence and given a new body, Jack travels to the fictional small town
of Snowmonton in order to extract revenge on the sheriff (Christopher Allport)
who sent him away. As you can imagine, death, destruction and even a mild
conspiracy plot involving the FBI ensue.
The
technical aspects of this film aren’t anything to get excited about, the acting
isn’t that great, and the effects are cheap at best (the snow looks more like
coconut flakes than anything that could have ever come out of the sky) but it’s
all of that cheese, along with the comical editing and over-exaggerated
expressions from the actors, that makes it so fun to watch. There are more puns
in it than an episode of CSI, and the
amount of foreshadowing is near nauseating, not to mention the film seems to
drag on forever (who knew a mutated snowman would be so hard to kill) but that’s
all easy to forgive. From the intro alone, it’s obvious that this movie isn’t to
be taken seriously and by the halfway mark its status as a cult favorite becomes
inarguable. It’s no Silence of the Lambs but
considering the basic plot you shouldn’t expect it to be.
When
it comes to this movie, just lower your standards, turn off your brain and
allow yourself to both laugh with it and at it while you decorate your Rocky Horror themed gingerbread men or
try to get hammered off eggnog. While I certainly wouldn’t recommend trying to
watch Jack Frost for scares or
thought-provoking dialogue (although some of it is surprisingly clever),
putting it into your Holiday movie line up is a must.
- Marysa Storm
Trailer:
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