Der teuflische Mr. Frost

For a movie which had little special effects, and no CG stuff this was great. Made back in the days when all you had going for you was good writing, good acting and good directing. Its been so long since I saw this, I can't even remember how the production quality was. I wish this would be released on DVD, though. I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Blows away most of the recycled garbage seeping out of Hollywood today by a mile. Great example of a good medium-low budget movie. I like Goldblum in these types of roles. I liked him in the Invasion of the Bodysnatcher remake with Southerland (better than the original, actually) Help me get this released on DVD so our kids don't have to watch crap like 2012, The Day After Tomorrow, and the last 3 Star Wars episodes.

This is an interesting, entertaining and a little disturbing story. Horror and suspense is created with minimal optical hints and effects. Jeff Goldblum is a smart, erotically tempting devil. The struggle between good and evil is very well acted. Whoever finds this boring, is probably "high-thresholded" from the various horror movies with multiple visual trauma.

`You should fit in well here then. We have one patient who calls himself Lucifer and another calling himself Mephistopheles.' `There's one difference. They're obviously insane.' With this dialogue the tension begins to mount in Director Philippe Setton's thriller. Writers' Derry Hall and Brad Lynch have created a perfect showcase for the quirky acting talents of lead, Jeff Goldblum. Goldblum's character is arrested at the beginning of the movie for the savage torture/murder of 24 people. We become aware of these murders as we see the investigators watching the tapes he made. Their reactions intensify the impact more than actually viewing it our self would have. Frost is immediately incarcerated in a psychiatric institute where he begins to make the claim he is actually the Devil and his mission on earth is to cause people to regain their belief (faith if you will) in him. Strange things begin to happen shortly after his arrival, which cause Dr. Sarah Day, played by Kathy Baker, to consider his claim. The movie leaves it to the viewer to decide if Frost is really causing things to happen using Demonic powers or just `brilliantly' insane and everyone, including the hospital staff, is falling prey to his psychosis. It is a well-directed and written story with a standout performance coming from Goldblum. He instills in his character a certain evil slyness, which will cause you to glance quickly behind you when Mr. Frost lays his eye on you.

23 May 2010. Jeff Goldblum insidiously and scarily with intelligence inhabits the role of of the Devil in this occult horror thriller that avoids the usually overt bloody mess of its genre. Instead while there is the narcissistic and pretentious characters, it is never about the movie itself, it is about the mental and emotional conflict between good and evil. This movie is scary in its seductive illusion that evil can be good and funny, cunning, and diverting. But in the end it is nothing to be trifled with. Mr. Frost is a cold, manipulating and debonair creature that fools even the audience in calculating the emotional enrapture in a sinister way that even Hannibal Lector cannot, because Mr. Frost is the essence of evil. The movie is engrossing and wicked in its pacing, eerie music reminiscent of the 60s and 70s that even twenty years later screeches with mystery and fear. This movie is a densely "horrible" movie made all the challenging and impressive by its ability to still evoke terror, hatred, revenge by its omission of the more visceral physical depiction of raw and bloody gore allowing the audience to focus on the deeper, substantive essence of evil.

Ranks with THE FLY as Goldblum's greatest performance. He is mesmerising from his opening scenes with Alan Bates as the detective on a real mission impossible.

Way too intelligent for most audiences of the new millennium, here in Goldblum's character and given the ring-melting sequence, there is no real enigma as to who he is - we have "cool" utterly personified.

Awesome in its contemplation even - the Devil's reincarnation as a means to "renew the faith" as it were, Goldblum is hypnotic and absolutely commands attention and respect for every little nuance he projects in his time on screen.

The end is only anti-climactic for the average "boofhead," who would more than likely have switched off long before the final reel anyway. It never was a question of "who won?" There ARE no winners! I have seen this film several times and only ever known it incidentally as "The Deadly Mister Frost" as is titled my own recently-acquired DVD copy.

Rare and thought-provoking little gem.