Chiller

Corporate bigshot Miles Creighton (Michael Beck) employs cryogenics to have himself frozen after his untimely demise. Ten years later, something goes awry and Creighton is thawed out prematurely.

Once revived, everything seems normal, until Creighton takes his place as head of the family corporation. Now a ruthless psychopath, no one is safe from his selfish, homicidal mania.

Director Wes Craven works fairly well within the confines of 1980's television. Like his other made-for-TV movies, CHILLER suffers from the limitations of the medium. Craven does his best work in the R-rated film format. Still, this movie is watchable enough with good performances and a decent amount of suspense.

Co-stars Beatrice Straight as Creighton's blissfully ignorant mum, and Paul Sorvino as a preacher who suspects that something isn't quite right...

With this endeavour, director Wes Craven will not, in all probability, please many enthusiasts of his other films, the majority of which involve a good deal of violence and bloodletting, but he does a workmanlike job with this account of storage cryogeny which goes awry. Wealthy Marian Creighton (Bernice Straight) has kept her son Miles (Michael Beck) in cryogenic suspension for ten years since his death from a liver disease, and when a computer failure results in his sudden thawing, his mother decides upon immediate liver transplant surgery for him, a procedure not available at the time of his demise. Although this surgery is successful, and Miles resumes his former station as CEO of the family corporation, an issue arises as to how one might know of the possible lack of his spirit, or soul, whereas the other two elements of life, body and mind, have plainly been restored. The destructive behaviour of Miles is such that his mother and her clerical friend Reverend Penny (Paul Sorvino) begin to doubt that they should thank a higher power for delivering Marian's son to her, and a metaphysical inquiry becomes dominant in the film. Beatrice Straight gives, as ever, an excellent performance in her role, Paul Sorvino is tastefully nuanced as the troubled prelate, and Michael Beck obviously savours his part as the fulsome Miles, but Craven cannot seem to distance himself from his cinematic terror bromides, most of which become red herrings for a scenario which largely focusses upon ontology.

I liked this made for TV movie about a cryogenetically frozen body being brought back to life. Michael Beck plays the cold-hearted lad who dies ten years ago and was frozen by his mother waiting for a chance for science to bring him back via new medical technology. His cylinder goes on the fritz and action must be taken quickly to see if science has the answers now that it did not have ten years earlier. Beck is revived but not the same person. It seems that whilst his body is living again, a chasm only fills the void vacated by his soul's departure. Beck comes back with no regard for human and animal life and only wants to appease whatever appetites he might have at that very moment. Now, this is some pretty absurd stuff I grant you, but director Wes Craven and some good acting save it from being terrible. In fact it does get one thinking about some things. The acting is uniformly good with Beck doing a good job and Oscar winner Beatrice Straight and Paul Sorvino as a cleric really bringing home the bacon. They both do stellar jobs with this material and give it some much needed credibility. Sorvino is very convincing in his role. Some good character acting by Dick O'Neill and Anne Seymour add to the mix, and the addition of beautiful Jill Schoelen doesn't hurt either. Kudos also to Craven for not going overboard as many others might be apt to do. Beck is a man with no supernatural abilities per se but rather just soulless is his approach to another chance to "live."

Miles Creighton, ten years after his sudden death, thaws unexpectedly from cryogenic stasis and is returned to the living, in mind and body but, according to the film's presumption, missing his soul. As his behaviour slides from the obnoxious to the abominable, a family friend, the Reverend Penny, ponders the whereabouts of Miles' better third, and experiences a crisis of faith. Good or evil, altruism or selfishness, existentialism or abstinence - these are the dilemmas given to us in the exchanges between the Reverend and the Sociopath.

This film is as detached, cold and humourless as its protagonist, but does provide a few shocks, and the acting is fine. I thought a chance for a droll swipe at Corporate America (or wherever) was missed, in that his employees noticed so quickly how appalling his new policies were - this was the Eighties, after all, and the lack of a soul was considered a prerequisite for success in some quarters. Gordon Gecko himself might have taken a dose of the liquid nitrogen, if he thought it would give him an edge.

Although, unsurprisingly, the metaphysical questions posed by this film are not answered, it did make me think twice about the rent on Uncle Vern.

Corporate executive Miles Creighton (Michael Beck, "The Warriors") is brought back to life after a decade of cryogenic freezing. But everybody watching this at home can tell that something is now missing from his personality: it's his soul. He's now a conscience-free creep who thinks nothing of slaughtering the family dog, peeping on his younger sister (the lovely Jill Schoelen, "The Stepfather"), or firing longtime family friend / employee Clarence Beeson (Dick O'Neill, "Wolfen"). A concerned Reverend (Paul Sorvino, "GoodFellas") comes to realize the truth about Miles, but Miles' mother Marion (the wonderful Beatrice Straight, "Poltergeist") has blinders on when it comes to her son.

A somewhat forgotten effort from fright master Wes Craven (of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" fame), this mid-80s TV movie lacks the intensity and impact this might have had, had Craven made it for theatrical release. Written & produced by J. D. Feigelson ('Dark Night of the Scarecrow'), this sci-fi / horror film is of course mild with its horror elements due to the nature of the TV medium. At its best, it's mildly involving, although it does boast some good makeup effects by Stan Winston ("Aliens") and presents a philosophical musing on the nature of the soul. It's still amusing to watch an entertainingly icy cold Beck do these horrible things. The supporting cast includes such other familiar faces as Alan Fudge ("My Demon Lover"), Craig Richard Nelson ("My Bodyguard"), Laura Johnson (Cravens' "Red Eye"), Anne Seymour ("Trancers"), Joseph Whipp (Cravens' "Scream"), and Brian Libby ("Silent Rage"), but Straight is the definite standout as the devoted mother in need of a wake-up call.

The tale is overall pretty routine, with the cliched use of the "one final scare" at the ending. It's watchable enough, but I would only really recommend it to Craven completists.

Six out of 10.