Snowmageddon

There are movies that are so bad they're good, and movies that are just bad.

This one is in between. As quirky Christmas movies go, this is kind of fun, but it truly needs to be seen to be believed. A family discovers that the snow globe they've received as a gift is causing big troubles in their peaceful town. It takes a while for the main characters to believe in an evil snow globe (heck, I"m still having trouble believing it) but once they get on board they have to figure out a way to return the gift and stop the SNOWMAGEDDON!

And then it's time for eggnog!!

Another week, another cheesy disaster flick from the SyFy Channel, shot in Canada as many of them are and with few redeeming qualities to recommend it. This one's about a family who receive a snow globe as a gift and soon discover that whatever happens in the globe happens in real life; they're caught in blizzards, ice storms and the like, and must fight for survival.

This is the usual run-of-the-mill type production in which an imperilled family are the focus of the story. All of the family members are either boring or unlikeable, so getting excited about the precarious situations in which they find themselves is difficult indeed. SNOWMAGEDDON plays out as a series of cheesy CGI spectacles, with vehicles and homes dropping into volcanoes and the like, and none of it is believable for a second. There aren't even any old time actors down on their luck to enjoy. Plus the whole snow globe angle is introduced and then dropped with little to no explanation; it's pretty annoying.

Let's admit it, most SyFy Channel original offerings are rubbish. However, without going into the plot, 'Snowmageddon' is slightly above their usual fare with a cast that is better than average and a story line that, for the most part, holds your attention.

No improvement on the CGI though and the town of 'Normal,' where 50% of the action takes place is more reminiscent of a cluster of buildings you would find on your average farm property, than Main Street, North America, even though the story is supposed to take place in the foothills of Alaska.

All in all though, the best of a usually bad SyFy crop.

A story about a mystical snow globe that makes very bad things happen in the real world of Normal, Alaska when it is shaken.

There are so many problems with this film that it makes me sad. Had it just been a cheap film of a small town that faces a volcano, that could have been a good story. But instead, they add a fantasy element and then make little effort to try to explain it.

Where did the globe come from? Who made it? Why is there a curse? Why this particular town? Why does the town believe it to be true when there is no obvious reason to think so? How do they know that the way to get rid of it is to throw it in the volcano? I mean, could they not just smash it? So, the plot just makes no sense... and that drags own the whole picture. I am all for fantasy (heck, I am a horror fanatic) but it just was not done right here.

Well, it isn't going to become any Christmas classic, that's for sure.

The story in "Snowmageddon" is about a mysterious snow globe that is left at the doorstep of the Miller family. The snow globe is a replica of the small lazy town of Normal, Alaska. Rudy Miller discovers that the catastrophic events that unfold inside the snow globe once it is winded up also happens in real life, right in their little town.

Initially, the storyline is sort of silly, but the movie actually works out well enough, because it is so cheesy. However, what makes this movie bearable to sit through is the acting. People cast for the movie actually pulled off their characters quite nicely, and it could have been much worse, had their acting skills been halting as is the case in most of these type of movies. But luckily, the cast here were able to pull up the movie.

As for the effects, well... Let's just say, don't prepare yourself to be blown away by the special effects. The effects in "Snowmageddon" are far from impressive. They do, however, get the job done, and most of the time work out well enough.

There are far worse movies of the same genre out there, many of which spewed out from SyFy Channel and The Asylum, so it was a fresh breath of air to have a movie that actually managed to stay a bit more afloat in the pond of otherwise unbearable movies.

One thing did puzzle me about "Snowmageddon", though. For a movie with a title such as it did, where was all the snow? I was expecting blizzards and such, but the snow was restricted to the mountain alone. And that sort of took away something from the movie, because the title did hint towards something that unfortunately never took place.

If you enjoy cheesy and campy disaster movies, where the story doesn't necessarily have to be 'realistic', then "Snowmageddon" is perhaps worth your time. I do believe, however, that this movie is the type of movie you watch once and then never again.