Jack Frost is set during Christmas & starts on any icy road near the town of Snowmonton where convicted serial killer Jack Frost (Scott MacDonald) is being transported from to be executed, unfortunately the prison van crashes into another van carrying some sort of genetically engineered experimental chemicals & is gets splashed all over Frost who melts into a bloody goo. However that's not the end of the story as the chemicals fuse Frost's DNA to the snow & he is revived as a Snowman, a foul-mouthed,wise-cracking murdering Snowman at that who sets out to find & kill Sheriff Sam Tiler (Christopher Allport) the man responsible for arresting him while he was still human. Leaving a trail of dead bodies in his wake no-one in Snowmonton is safe from Jack Frost the killer mutant Snowman...
Written & directed by Michael Cooney this rather silly excuse for a horror comedy isn't half bad & is so gloriously silly & outlandish that it's hard not to like it, sure Jack Frost isn't any sort of masterpiece but I found it passed 90 minutes entertainingly enough. The films silly concept tries to be both scary & funny & in some ways it works on both counts, there are some decent horror & likewise there are one or two amusing gags here although it doesn't always work on all fronts. The story is fairly pacey which leaves the audience little time to pick holes in the story so that's all good & at the end of the day Jack Frost is not really meant to be anything more than a fun horror comedy & in that regard it's a moderate success. The film is basically a teen slasher as it features some novelty killer who spouts one-liners (I particularly liked the one about 'forstbite' when he bit someone...) although the idea that the killer a traditional looking Snowman is probably a first. The character's are played for laughs as is the dialogue & there's one or two nice moments of imagination like the scene where Jack Frost rapes a girl with the carrot that he uses as a nose or how Frost can fire icicles as spears & the eventual outcome where it's discovered the way to kill Frost is to use anti-freeze. As I said Jack Frost isn't the best film ever or even the best slasher film ever but it's watchable & does work quite well overall despite a silly plot that initially sounds less than promising.
Jack Frost does suffer because of it's low budget, the Snowman effects are crude & look very cheap for instance. There's a bit of gore, a guy has spear like icicles thrown at him, there's a decapitation, a strangulation & someone melts at the start but not much else. Now, looking at all the various DVD/video covers the Jack Frost as seen on those is different to the actual Jack Frost featured in the film, the one seen in the film looks just like a traditional Snowman with stones for eyes (none of those glowing green things), has no tongue & a carrot for a nose (not that skull like indentation shape seen on the artwork) so don't expect to see that in the film. Played largely for laughs the film isn't scary & definitely doesn't take itself seriously.
Filmed at Big Bear Lake & Los Angeles in California the production values are alright but the effects often look cheap & it's clear that the makers couldn't do everything they wanted to as some scenes are quite choppy with Jack 'appearing' out of nowhere. The acting is OK from no-one I have ever heard of expect ex-model Shannon Elizabeth who gets raped by Frost in a scene that is hard to describe but not graphic at all, however how she kept a straight face filming that scene is beyond me.
Jack Frost is a horror comedy that works pretty well on both counts & I don't reckon is half bad, worth a watch if your in the mood for something light. Not to be confused with the big budget Hollywood family flick Jack Frost (1998) with Michael Keaton as both films are on opposite ends of the cinematic spectrum & was followed by the direct to video sequel Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman (2000).
Written & directed by Michael Cooney this rather silly excuse for a horror comedy isn't half bad & is so gloriously silly & outlandish that it's hard not to like it, sure Jack Frost isn't any sort of masterpiece but I found it passed 90 minutes entertainingly enough. The films silly concept tries to be both scary & funny & in some ways it works on both counts, there are some decent horror & likewise there are one or two amusing gags here although it doesn't always work on all fronts. The story is fairly pacey which leaves the audience little time to pick holes in the story so that's all good & at the end of the day Jack Frost is not really meant to be anything more than a fun horror comedy & in that regard it's a moderate success. The film is basically a teen slasher as it features some novelty killer who spouts one-liners (I particularly liked the one about 'forstbite' when he bit someone...) although the idea that the killer a traditional looking Snowman is probably a first. The character's are played for laughs as is the dialogue & there's one or two nice moments of imagination like the scene where Jack Frost rapes a girl with the carrot that he uses as a nose or how Frost can fire icicles as spears & the eventual outcome where it's discovered the way to kill Frost is to use anti-freeze. As I said Jack Frost isn't the best film ever or even the best slasher film ever but it's watchable & does work quite well overall despite a silly plot that initially sounds less than promising.
Jack Frost does suffer because of it's low budget, the Snowman effects are crude & look very cheap for instance. There's a bit of gore, a guy has spear like icicles thrown at him, there's a decapitation, a strangulation & someone melts at the start but not much else. Now, looking at all the various DVD/video covers the Jack Frost as seen on those is different to the actual Jack Frost featured in the film, the one seen in the film looks just like a traditional Snowman with stones for eyes (none of those glowing green things), has no tongue & a carrot for a nose (not that skull like indentation shape seen on the artwork) so don't expect to see that in the film. Played largely for laughs the film isn't scary & definitely doesn't take itself seriously.
Filmed at Big Bear Lake & Los Angeles in California the production values are alright but the effects often look cheap & it's clear that the makers couldn't do everything they wanted to as some scenes are quite choppy with Jack 'appearing' out of nowhere. The acting is OK from no-one I have ever heard of expect ex-model Shannon Elizabeth who gets raped by Frost in a scene that is hard to describe but not graphic at all, however how she kept a straight face filming that scene is beyond me.
Jack Frost is a horror comedy that works pretty well on both counts & I don't reckon is half bad, worth a watch if your in the mood for something light. Not to be confused with the big budget Hollywood family flick Jack Frost (1998) with Michael Keaton as both films are on opposite ends of the cinematic spectrum & was followed by the direct to video sequel Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman (2000).