The Station - Ghiacciaio di sangue

A team investigating climate change discovers a mysterious organic substance that has the ability to transform both animals and humans into terrifying mutations.

This is an entertaining well made eco-horror film in the vein of the Thing (1982). Director Marvin Kren as with zombie flick Rammbock delivers a satisfying and interesting entry into a saturated horror genre with surprisingly effective at times well realized gory effects. There's some jump moments, old and new school special effects and It benefits from an un-Hollywood quality cast including Gerhard Liebmann as Janek and Edita Malovcic as Tanja but the real star of the show breathtaking Alps setting and H. G Wells-like impressionable provoking ending.

While not as tense or physiologically claustrophobic as The Thing (1982) this German language science fiction is adult orientated for those tired of glossy, poorly directed, teen beef and pork dripping tripe. Recommended

Went in to this after reading many IMBD reviews that compared it poorly to John Carpenter's "The Thing" (a masterpiece of horror and most importanly suspense) so my expectations were low. Even poorly made copies of the original ( and yes I know Carpenter's version was a remake but so much better than the original, a rare thing itself) can be entertaining. So I went in with an open mind, willing to forgive and not make comparisons .

Unfortunately this movie has zero suspense, bad acting ( although you can't really blame the actors given the purile banal script, no one could pull that off seriously). Pseudo-scientific explanations that a second-grader would doubt, characters reacting moronically to further the plot, and a seriously dissappointing ending.

Also, if you read some of the reviews that propone that the special makeup/creature are good, prepare to be dissappointed. Sub-par and usually shot in low light so you can't see how crap they are.

Giving this a 3 out of 10 and tht's generous.

Walking through my local DVD shop I came across this title, "The Station". Quite plain sounding, but it was the comment at top of the case that caught my attention; "A slice of horror reminiscent of John Carpenter's 'The Thing' ". Being at massive fan of that film, I decided to take the chance and in some regards the Austrian made "The Station" comes close. Hey I even enjoyed it more than the prequel / remake that came out a year or two back. What it has in common with Carpenter's film is more so the ice setting, an unknown threat that is a single-form alien organism transforming the local wildlife into gigantic monster mutations and hybrids. It's like "Day of the Animals", but on steroids! Then there's the ending that only paints the apocalyptic mood playing out. This is a basic straight-face creature-feature at heart with a climatic cautionary warning, which tells a simple story that effectively lays it out with a strong grizzled protagonist (a very solid showing by Gerhard Liebmann), well timed suspense, gruesome thrills and a sense of mystery of mankind's fate. The final frame of the film is surprisingly effective in its suggestion, but they spoil it on an uncalled for tacky jump scare.

The premise is far from unique and quite down-pat; a group of scientists/ technicians discover a glacier of blood (an inspired image when shown) high in the mountains, which after testing the liquid discover it contains an alien organism. As they try to survive and hold up against the effects of this organism, on a hiking trip to the station for an official visit is the Minister of the Environment.

The feature is slickly photographed (despite some shaky camera movement early on) and makes excellent use of its vast, breathtaking backdrop. There's a definite sense of isolation and uneasiness, but never does it struck a feeling of claustrophobia and dread. The tension seems to unfold from threatening situations and the punctuated shocks. Its momentum is fairly sedate, but it becomes crazy, excessively so as it goes along and the director keeps a fairly tight hold.

What I got a kick out of was that CGI was virtually little, if unseen, opting mainly for traditional special effects and they do pay-off. The creature designs are creative and horrific with beetle-fox hybrids, giant wood lice, flying crossbreeds. There's a whole range of beasties… and they're not friendly. Squamish moments are plentiful and there a creepy developments. While the generic script doesn't over feed itself, still it had some issues like an appearance of a sudden character for them to only disappear with a poor explanation. The performances are adequate, without anyone really standing out, other than Liebmann.

Clichéd, but fun, strange sci-fi / horror monster romp.

And the title "Blood Glacier" sounds so much better.

Really, how many movies feature ibexes, let alone a mutant ibex-fly that gets a drill in the noggin by a feisty granny? This may entice you to watch "Blood Glacier" next time you see it in the Netflix lineup of terrible, terrible horror/scifi movies. If you dimly remember having heard about this Alpine tale of terror, it's worth a six-pack and a bag of chips.

While beautifully photographed, offering amazing views of bleak ice and mountains, this movie hasn't got a clue what it wants to do. Convince you of global warming? Scare you with mutant hybrid creatures that look like stuffed animals you'd win at a carnival? Tear your heart out with thwarted love and dog death? Make you laugh uproariously at the absolutely insane behavior of "smart" scientists? Teach you not to cry while eating bananas? BG is all this, and more.

Throw these movies into a blender: The Thing, Alien, Day of the Animals, Old Yeller, Sound of Music, and that moldy oldie from the 50s, Night of the Blood Beast (the very first movie to speculate that humans make great hosts for birthing alien infants). Turn on blender. Wait about 80 minutes. Pour out your scifi smoothie and wonder how this ever got made. Take a drink of your liquid every time someone says "rabid fox", which in German sounds like "rabbit fuxes". Tack on one of the strangest endings you'll ever see and wonder if someone slipped LSD into your movie smoothie. No kidding.

Pray there's no sequel. Four stars for insanity. One star for Tinni, the best goshdarn dog actor in the world. One star, because ibexes. Six is the magic number for this smelly sausage of a movie that features someone walking around a glacier in dirty underpants.

Enjoy the schadenfreud!

Scientists collecting data on climate change in the Austrian Alps discover a strange organism that attacks the local fauna, resulting in vicious hybrids.

With its remote sub-zero setting and hideous genetic mash-ups, comparisons between Blood Glacier (AKA The Station) and John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) are inevitable, but really there is no contest: Carpenter's film isn't perfect, but it more than delivers with its amazing special effects; on the other hand, the extras on the DVD of Blood Glacier include a gallery of impressive pre-production sketches, but the film fails to make good on the promise of weird and wonderful creatures, most of its monsters only seen in fleeting glimpses (and what we do see isn't great, which is probably why they remain hidden for most of the movie).

Blood Glacier also suffers from a raft of thoroughly unlikable characters that are nigh impossible to care about: the only death that has any impact is that of Tinni the dog. The movie's mountainous scenery is great, but breath-taking vistas only count for so much - Blood Glacier's stunning cinematography cannot compensate for the weak script (they never explained why a girl was running down the mountain in shorts and a vest), dreary pacing, and a lack of memorable mutations.

3.5/10, generously rounded up to 4 for IMDb.