Ice Quake

Suspend your beliefs, and just enjoy a movie that hits all the cliches that a low budget movie is expect to check off. If one streams it for free, that is the appropriate price to pay. Yeti is their dog that disappears when they are going into the mountains to cut their own Christmas tree, and perhaps one of the more talented actors in this movie. It is not great, yet it does not scrape the bottom of the barrel for movies of this type. Some nice snow covered mountain scenery although having a snow cave to survive in is not suggested to have an open front. The so called science presented is absurd, then that is not the core audience the movie is intended for. Perhaps 4 is a bit generous for a rating, but at least it is a family film.

Geysers of ice are erupting in Alaska near the city of Fairbanks. They seem to be moving, and if not stopped could cause great peril for the families on Christmas.

I could make lots of complaints about this film (and will shortly). But I want to say that despite all the bad things, it was still enjoyable and used far less CGI than typically seen in a SyFy film. I appreciate that they seem to know the film will be cheesy and try not to make it more than it is. I see too many films that take themselves seriously and just end up being boring (most recent example -- "Don't Let Him In"). This one is a fun movie.

That being said, it has some questionable aspects. You have a father far too young to be the parent of a teenager. You have methane gas causing people to die just by touching it. You have Alaska, on Christmas Eve, with bright green grass. Methane apparently does not dissipate after causing cracks to the surface and can be directed by explosions...

As far as preparation, Brendan Fehr explains, "We have about two weeks max and usually about a week before the whole thing gets rolling." So it is a very quick process from landing a role to filming. So you have to give a little bit of credit to Fehr and co-stars for picking up the characters quickly, knowing the lines, working against events that are not really there... and not getting paid much to do it.

I would still recommend this... to a point. It is not award-winning, it is not the best film of the year (or even the month). But it is a good party movie. This is the kind of film you can enjoy with a friend, a beer and a pizza. You do not have to pay close attention to grasp the plot. And sometimes that is okay.

a new sci-fi channel (don't you hate calling it sy-fy? i sure do.) Christmas adventure set on a potentially volcanic Alaskan mountain that spawns earthquakes, endless, bottomless fissures and avalanches, as well as spewing uber-cold gas that freezes things instantly. will the brave scientist and his family (who just happen to be out getting their Christmas tree at the time) get out in time and find a way to stop the chaos before the town is destroyed? we sure hope so. this would make part of great night of icy movies with "frozen" and then "ice spiders", which was the CGI sci-fi channel movie from last year around this time. i actually kind of liked this one; they don't really get around to telling you what the problem is right away, and there aren't nearly enough scary movies full of death and destruction set during the holidays.

While I do not like most of Syfy's movies, I do watch them to see if there are any decent ones or any with novelty value. Ice Quake isn't a terrible movie and Syfy have certainly done much worse. The scenery is quite striking, the story was interesting in concept and to start with, Brendan Fehr is cute, charming and does show at least a bit of charisma and the female didn't grate on me or strike me as too bland. However, Ice Quake isn't particularly good either. The acting, excepting the leads, is nothing to rave about, and I also couldn't connect to most of the characters, so much so towards the end I honestly didn't really care about whether they lived or died. The effects are rather generic, the film does have some dodgy flashlight technology and while it is not as bad as other Syfy movies there are many inconsistencies and errors, the one regarding the methane is just one of these. The direction and pace are both uneven, there are times when the direction is tolerable but others when it is sloppy and hackneyed and in regards to the pace the middle drags and the end feels rushed, while the script is really quite poor and clichéd. Overall, Ice Quake has its moments but it is nothing great. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Awful, just bloody awful. It is difficult to decide what negative aspect of the movie to discuss as there were so may. In fact, I would speak of a positive aspect if I could find one.

I am a Canadian and cringe whenever I see that I am about to watch a Canadian movie as I have rarely seen one that did not leave me constantly saying "Oh, come on, really?"

What bothers me the most is that movies such as these are funded, in part, by tax revenue in the form of government film grants. We have people living on the street, children going to bed hungry at night, and the government feels it is more beneficial to put money into dismal productions like this.

I am not one who turns off a movie once I start watching one. Perhaps I am a glutton for punishment as this movie (using the word loosely) left me feeling like I threw away the portion of my life that was devoted to watching this. It is as if it was a class project done by students from a high school film class.

I honestly do not understand how it is that people can produce a work like this and feel that it is good. Spend the money needed to create something of this calibre and release it on the unsuspecting public.

I seldom write reviews, but I am so tired of seeing my tax dollars going to make such horrible movies that I had to vent. If given the opportunity to watch this movie or scrub toilets in a subway station, go for the toilets. It will surely be far more rewarding and enjoyable.