The Thaw (V)
| release date | October 6 2009 |
| studio | Lionsgate |
| director | Mark A. Lewis |
| writer | Mark A. Lewis and Michael W. Lewis |
| starring | Martha MacIssac, Val Kilmer, Aaron Ashmore, Steph Song (War), Anne Marie DeLuise, Sebastian Gacki, John Callander |
| rating | R |
| trailer 1 | Trailer #1 |
18 Comments
After just watching this movie, Im left with a Horrific lasting impression.
The message this movie sends is a sad hint of our reality. Its one of those movies that could have went horribly wrong and cheesy. Yet they stayed in the safe zone. I wont ruin the movie for anyone, I will say this though. This movie opens your eyes and speaks to you threw pure Horror. No this movie isnt really all that Gorey, and the acting is just so so. Val Kilmer plays the most evil/saint/Crazy/Sane/ Character I have ever seen. With his intention being for what he believes to be for the best. The writer for this movie, really has a grasp on the way us people treat our planet. Despite the bad acting and no real follow though of completeness. The message its self is over whelming and will have me telling everyone I know about it. There forth doing its job as a true great horror film. Actually horror.
Hmmm, it was O.K. The real problem with this film is the fact that it never seems to really “get going”… like, just as the plot starts to pick up a little, the movie ends.
I loved the whole IDEA behind the movie but was hugely disappointed in the horror side of – the “gore” is terrible and mostly seems pushed, rather then flow properly with the story. It just tries WAY too hard to be like The Thing, and unfortunately fails miserably.
I give it a 6 because a few of these scenes were interesting to watch and the overall idea behind the “bugs” was really cool.
It may not be the most original idea, naysayers will whine that it rips off John Carpenter’s The Thing and the first season episode of The X-Files titled Ice. But that is like complaining that Friday he 13th 1 & 2 rips off Bay of Blood or that 28 Days Later sucks because it just ripped off The Day of the Triffids. It is still a good little movie with a tight & simple story with a logical conclusion.
it was differnt yes it did remind me of the xfiles episode from season 1 ICE it was good but it had an unnessary endding at the end if u watch u will see ill give it a 7 fun but not worth a buy
A good time killer.The bugs were cool though.
Descent enough creature feature. I expected it to be alot worse then it was.
This was a very entertaining film. Well shot, scripted, acted, etc. If you’re a fan of old skool flicks, and sick of cheezy modern gore-a-thons, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. It kept my interest throughout with nary a dull moment. I’m sure I’ll watch it again.
I didn’t expect much from this film, but was pleasantly surprised and give it high marks for being different, interesting, and gruesome. The small, burrowing bugs here are much more effective than in the disappointing Infestation. And I like that their very nature was the threat (the bugs had no desire to kill, just feed, lay eggs, and survive.)The characters are mostly uninteresting, and more could have been done with them turning on one another to save themselves. This could have ratcheted-up the drama by adding another threat and layer of suspense to the story. However, I didn’t need to fast forward at all as I watched.
The sparse, remote sets and setting work, and the eco-friendly idea at the center of the story is not shoved down our throats. There are so many crappy straight-to-video releases flooding the streets and wasting my time, it’s nice to find something actually worth watching.
Yup, variation on The Thing with Kilmer sleeping his way through this movie and really only there as the name on “the” Dvd box. Still, it had some good build up and tension with the grue being more suggested than actual.
I thought I was watching a comedy…
i thought it was pretty good
It was a very, very decent movie. If you are in for a thriller, sit down and watch this definitely. I enjoyed it.
The storyline is down the beaten path a bit, but it is still an enjoyable and well made flick. The suspense generated and the effects were much better than I anticipated going in. Did kind of wonder whether Kilmer’s performance or his check for his performance was in the mail first (lol), but it was still cool he was in it. The rest of the cast does just fine with the material it has. Would have given this another 1/2 skull if it were just a little more daring—-still would recommend this as a rental–liked it!
i gave it 8/10 because i saw it “on demand” for comcast (free). I would have given it a 6.5/10 if i had to pay 3.99$ for it. very good for a free movie from comcast
Highly intelligent and extremely interesting parasite/infection-movie in the vein of “The Thing”. Apart from a wonderful setting, a decent cast, great tension and some beautifully disgusting gore scenes, we get a well-conceived and logical story with an intriguing message (you could say it’s a ‘green’ horror movie).
Please, more movies of this nature!
I liked this movie but it could have been a little better
I just saw this a couple of nights ago. I give it a 5/10. I actually liked a lot of the movie. I thought it was well done: good special effects for its budget and good suspense. Unfortunately, all of the heavy-handed proselytizing about global warming didn’t warm me to the film. Don’t get me wrong, I believe anthropogenic climate change is a fact and I agree with the message being conveyed. I just don’t like how they tried to convey it. It would have been a much more solid film if they JUST showed us that this scientist is going to conduct studies of global warming in this area of the arctic etc. and just left it at that. It would have been subtle and would have put the fact that it is a horror movie further in the foreground where it belongs. But it’s hard to take the media clips and preachy discussions seriously because they take away from the movie so much. It was disappointing.
This movie shocked me, I didn’t expect it to be as good as it was. If you like infection films you’ll most likely enjoy this. I wouldn’t mind a sequel as I think a sequel could be even better and more disturbing than this.
it was pretty good !!
It is simultaneously bleak and inspiring, its level of suspense, squick, angersome blood is intense — those with hypertension beware. The Earth is thawing out — and some very old things are waking up.
If you are afraid of bugs and/or disease, this movie should do a fairly good job of completely scaring the shit out of you. My hats off to the Lewis Brothers for a fine production — rarely a forced line or moment lacking realism, and the shock and awe tactic of barraging the audience with a digital-media channel surf (complete with buffering) is clearly a homage to Romero but is done so amazingly well I had the tendency to forget it was fake.
Once the movie gets full steam ahead it never lets up, and it doesn’t disappoint. From egg sacs in flesh to thousands of bugs devouring a corpse in a gigantic frenzy — the imagery will stick with you. I dare not give to much about the plot away save those tantalizing clues. The film revolves around the concept of unforeseen consequences, in many ways. Its not just industrialization that will sting you in the ass but unprotected sex, not following lab protocol to the letter, not being paranoid enough…
Secondarily it focuses on the validity of ecoterrorism and thus on a broader scale the use of political terror in general.
And on a subtler note – perhaps the explicit theme is reinforced by the level of care put into this movie to make you squirm and scream. Is terror the only cure for nihilism? While the ending monologue cares to differ; me – I’m not so sure.
If terror it must be, then long live the guillotine!
Despite the overall good reviews I think this movie wasn’t well executed at all. The acting performance was good but what made the whole story unbelievable was the awful dramaturgy of the script. The director seemed to base the suspense solely on scenes that would never have come to be if the characters hadn’t been so blatantly dumb. I know how it sounds but when dialogues are constantly interrupted by a character performing some affective action, the fun ends violently.
This movie could have been good, really good. But either the script writer or the director himself did something SERIOUSLY wrong here. Another fine example that a big budget doesn’t make a good movie.
The skull I’m giving here is for the mask, which was really good – in contrast to the rest unfortunately.
This movie could have improved in some aspects, but it was generally a good move.