Hypothermia

You have to feel for Michael Rooker. He's a great actor, unfairly limited to the B-movie genre these days, passed over by the big name productions and stuck making what are, in effect, routine, low budget flicks. HYPOTHERMIA is such a production, a disappointingly cheap flick about an underwater monster. (At least Rooker's fortunes have started to change more recently, with a guest role in THE WALKING DEAD and an appearance in the blockbuster film GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. Perhaps people are starting to remember what a good actor he is.)

Needless to say, Rooker is the best thing in this tale of a normal family who visit an iced-over lake to do some winter fishing. While there they encounter a couple of city slickers who have the potential to irritate, but before long everyone there is being menaced by a creature that comes out from under the ice. The creature is a guy in a suit that bears more than a passing resemblance to THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, only looking about a hundred times worse.

HYPOTHERMIA is only just about acceptable as a film. The title bears no relation to the plot and the cinematography is too dark and dingy. There are some cheap gore effects and a few scenes of menace but none of it means much. You just wonder why the whole group don't just get out of there; their isolation is self-inflicted, making the whole thing faintly ridiculous. Still, a solid performance from Rooker is always worth watching.

Good story, good acting, bad monster. The monster was literally hilarious. Next time, please leave something to the imagination.

This had potential. Could have been decent. Unfortunately the awful creature design/outfit singlehandedly ruins the film. Decently directed, and Rooker is fun. Not even a 'so bad it's good' type. SKIP.

This movie wasn't that bad really. It had the potential to be a really good little film but even though it had some good bloody scenes the actual "beast" itself was not the best. In fact, for me it was what let the film down a bit. But in saying that it was not the worst creature film I've seen. Michael Rooker was not bad in this and he was the reason I wanted to see this movie. But I thought this film could have been much better if only they spent more time on the effects and the story as it was only 70 minutes long. Again, I liked this movie but it wasn't ground breaking, but it's the kind of film you would watch on a chilly weekend when there's not much else to see. So I give it a 7 out of 10.

An American horror; A story about a man hoping to spend a relaxing holiday fishing by a frozen lake with his family finds the peace and quiet shattered by beasts both human and marine. The film starts with some promise with an eerie and mysterious setting, good photography, and growing tension. However, the characters are a bit flimsy and when a boorish ice fisherman appears, exaggerated to bad effect, it rapidly descends into creature feature territory and low budget design and the tension dwindles. The ending dodders to a dud.