The Fury, an English ship, in 1825 encounters an "ice creature" that emerges from the ice of the Artic after a meteor lands from space. The ship's captain is struck by the alien creature in solid form, taken back to the Fury, and documents his final words about what attacked him and his crew. An archaeologist (played by Dean Cane) completely fascinated with finding the Fury (his ancestor was a member of its crew), unintentionally releases the creature after it had been buried deep in the ice when the English ship was purposely mortared by their second English ship, the Hecla. Cane's team were allowed sanctuary in a scientific research outpost on the Arctic, so they could have the resources and accommodations available. They find the Fury, and some frozen passengers, but inadvertently release the creature from the ice. No one is safe as the creature, which can exist in solid, liquid, and gaseous form, is able to freeze humans in mere seconds!
Ridiculous premise, variable special effects, and characters that essentially serve on the purpose of being turned into icicles, Arctic Predator is a typical Syfy creature feature. Cane is a likable hero (always has been, really), but he's been caught in B-movie hell so long, he seems doomed to stay there. He brings an energy to his performance that is worthy of appreciation, and his sacrifice for humanity is tragic but admirable. The rest of the cast is faces that don't necessarily leave you remembering much about them; few are distinctively drawn. Lucy Brown is Cane's love interest (she tells him she hopes he'll just find the ship and leave! "Ouch," Dean says.), while Steve Waddington is the genius of the staff with an idea of how to kill the creature, eventually understanding its makeup and reason for existing. There's the plus of the isolated setting and ensuing winter storm which leaves the small crew trapped, and how the creature kills is nasty business (basically freezing victims into ice). However, the creature itself isn't that impressive. I did think it was rather interesting in gaseous form, but as a walking malformed ice sculpture, not so menacing due to the CGI form provided to it. That it is actually *drawn* to heat instead of afraid of it was certainly a development I wasn't expecting.
Ridiculous premise, variable special effects, and characters that essentially serve on the purpose of being turned into icicles, Arctic Predator is a typical Syfy creature feature. Cane is a likable hero (always has been, really), but he's been caught in B-movie hell so long, he seems doomed to stay there. He brings an energy to his performance that is worthy of appreciation, and his sacrifice for humanity is tragic but admirable. The rest of the cast is faces that don't necessarily leave you remembering much about them; few are distinctively drawn. Lucy Brown is Cane's love interest (she tells him she hopes he'll just find the ship and leave! "Ouch," Dean says.), while Steve Waddington is the genius of the staff with an idea of how to kill the creature, eventually understanding its makeup and reason for existing. There's the plus of the isolated setting and ensuing winter storm which leaves the small crew trapped, and how the creature kills is nasty business (basically freezing victims into ice). However, the creature itself isn't that impressive. I did think it was rather interesting in gaseous form, but as a walking malformed ice sculpture, not so menacing due to the CGI form provided to it. That it is actually *drawn* to heat instead of afraid of it was certainly a development I wasn't expecting.