La Prisión de Hielo

Like Anaconda but in Antarctica and the women are in parkas. But this movie was much better than Anaconda because of the ensemble acting. There were some funny accents just like in Gladiator.

We had to rent this movie like we rent any movie with hunky Dean Cain (who should have been in Gladiator).

We were expecting the movie to be a lot better than it was judging by the packaging on box that depicted a cool looking snake that kind of looks like a box if you know what I mean. Even though the movie wasn't "Oscar" material, it did depict realistically what would happen if an Antarctic prison colony was invaded by a giant prehistoric snake. I, myself, did not think that New Alcatraz/Boa was Epic in the same sense that Gladiator is epic. In that context, New Alcatraz/Boa is no War and Peace. However, New Alcatraz/Boa had a strange twist of irony unlike any film I've seen in a longtime.

If there is a sequel to this movie we would like to write it... imagine a biblical thriller in space with a giant snake.

The movie is best described as any typical poorly produced horror type movie where the characters will do the stupidest things to get themselves killed for no reason (eg.-walking into places knowing that you'll be killed or not taking anyones obvious warnings). The acting itself was not bad but the movie doesn't make much sense as to how a giant snake can move around the prison but can't really be seen until at least the last 45 minutes of the film. Some scenes were just written poorly. for example, dean cain promises a prisoner her safety when she was freaking out about the snake eating her and 5 minutes later, all he did was shoot her (but not the snake) so she wouldn't have to deal with the pain of being eaten... I guess that's still keeping his word. I'm no animal expert but this snake goes around this prison eating a bunch of people...don't snakes eat and then go hide and sleep it off since they're most vulnerable when they are full?? I don't think it's even worth the time watching this film. if dean cain would show some skin, perhaps it's still worth the rental.

The world-leading countries sneakily aligned on opening a top-secret and maximally secured prison in Antarctica, reserved for the worst of the worst kind of criminals, like terrorists, government hackers, and fallen dictators. Construction and drilling works are still in progress, although the facility is already in use, and the workers drill through a hallow rock and awaken a gigantesque prehistoric snake.

Well, you know, these things happen...

Luckily, there's former TV-Superman Dean Cain as a useless paleontologist who gives brilliant advise, like: "Don't shoot the gas pipes" (but the soldiers continue to ignore this) and "Let's release the prisoners because they know more about escaping...".

It's a terrible film, but - in its defense - can anyone name one 'giant snake' horror effort that is actually good? No, of course not. Even the far more budgeted efforts, like "Anaconda" and "Python" are worthless. If you're looking for adequate snake horror, stick to the "normal sized" slithery serpents, like "Venom", "Mamba", "Fangs", "Jennifer", "Rattlers", "Curse II: the Bite", "Sssssss", or "Stanley". The best way to enjoy "Boa" is as a so-called "send in the military cannon fodder" flick. These are horror/Sci-Fi movies dealing with random military men being sent into a top-secret and geographically remote government research facility or underground lab to eliminate creatures much stronger and slimier than them. The CGI effects are terrible, the wardens and (especially) the prisoners are hopeless stereotypes, and finale is downright ridiculous - although it does predate "Snakes on a Plane" by a handful of years.

Somewhere on the frozen ground of Antarctica a high-level security prison is being built which will eventually contain the worst criminals in the world. Unfortunately, because the construction is behind schedule the warden, "Fred Riley" (Craig Wasson) orders his engineers to drill into a hollow rock formation before necessary tests can be made to ensure the safety of the procedure. Sure enough, a gas pocket is hit which causes an explosion that results in some damage to the facility. What they don't realize is that the real problem is yet to be faced because the hole created by the explosion has released a giant boa constrictor which is extremely hungry from his million-year hibernation-and the only available food source is the people within the prison. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that it had a pretty good premise to build upon. Regrettably, this film lacked anything substantive. The suspense was weak, the acting was uneven and the plot was much too simplistic. I especially thought the casting of a female IRA terrorist named "Patricia O'Boyle" (played by Amandah Reyne) was totally laughable and practically ruined the entire film all by itself. In short, this movie had potential but the director (Phillip J. Roth) failed to capitalize on it. I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

Anybody who sees this film expecting the second coming of Citizen Kane is fooling themselves. Folks, it's just a movie meant to entertain us. And in that sense, I think it did a fine job. Sure there were holes in the plot and some mediocre CG effects, but overall it didn't do too badly in my book. My main gripes were in the opening scene. So if I'm flying a giant cargo plane and it starts making funny noises, I'm certainly not going to open up the crates. And that CG snake is pretty badly done. Why a snake? A monkey would have been more convincing, and most importantly, monkeys make us laugh! I was impressed with the set design though. Very effective use of set design to give us the sense of claustrophobia. The main control room was quite a contrast to the rest of the cold blocky hallways. Overall, not a bad job, especially from the typical giant snake movie. Faced between Anaconda or Boa at the video stores, I'd take Boa in a heartbeat.