3/10 (single viewing)
I bought this DVD after a long search for the ultimate in film depravity, and boy did I get it.
About a year ago I went on a mission to seek out just how dark and horrifying film can be. I did this for reasons I don't fully understand, although I've been a long-time (mostly mainstream) horror film fan and believe most of the junk coming out of Hollywood these days is terrible. Basically, I wanted to become a sort of detective like Nicholas Cage's character in "8mm", who was searching for a lost girl and, in order to locate her, had to begin an extensive investigation of underground "snuff" films, delving into its sick and twisted incarnations...
My search led me to films (most of which I have not seen yet) like "Begotten", "Clean, Shaven", "Cannibal Holocaust", "Scrapbook", "I Pi$$ on Your Corpse, I Spit on Your Grave", "Man Behind the Sun", "Nekromantic", etc. Anyhow, I skipped these films and was attracted to Ice From the Sun because it sounded like it had a more interesting plot (and "Scrapbook" in particular seemed too intense based on some reviews I'd read).
I viewed the DVD only once and have since gotten rid of it. Utterly vile, as I expected. But my criticisms have to do with sound and story quality. Unfortunately, the sound quality is horrible and I had trouble adjusting the volume level during several scenes. More importantly, however, I just don't feel like the story was told well. Parts of the film made me very uncomfortable, but other parts were just plain silly and goofy.
**Spoilers Below!!!**
During one segment, a character is running through the woods while another guy is digging a grave. He just runs around for a few minutes, going nowhere, repeatedly coming across the grave-site. I nearly fell out of my chair laughing it was so corny. Another segment has a vain girl transformed into a dog and sitting in a carnival booth while people laugh at her; only at the end of this segment when a shotgun is put to her head did I feel a twinge of disgust/fear. Another segment has a character leading 2 girls around on leashes, sitting in an empty theater, eating fried chicken. Each of these segments tried to represent base fears of the various characters but just came across as, well, stupid.
I will admit, however, to feeling very uncomfortable during the truck-dragging sequence. The use of sound (or lack of it) in this segment was what made it truly horrifying to me, and also the lack of emotion on the face of the guy driving the truck, like he was just going down to the local 7-11 for a Slurpee...although I feel it could have been better if we hadn't seen the victim afterward, perhaps just her feet. Also, the worm-mouth/self-operation segment was sickening and well filmed. I wish the rest of the film had been presented this well.
Overall, if you want to see something vile, check this out. Just be ready to wrestle with the audio and sitting through a rather long film, with the disturbing segments separated by some rather corny segments.
I bought this DVD after a long search for the ultimate in film depravity, and boy did I get it.
About a year ago I went on a mission to seek out just how dark and horrifying film can be. I did this for reasons I don't fully understand, although I've been a long-time (mostly mainstream) horror film fan and believe most of the junk coming out of Hollywood these days is terrible. Basically, I wanted to become a sort of detective like Nicholas Cage's character in "8mm", who was searching for a lost girl and, in order to locate her, had to begin an extensive investigation of underground "snuff" films, delving into its sick and twisted incarnations...
My search led me to films (most of which I have not seen yet) like "Begotten", "Clean, Shaven", "Cannibal Holocaust", "Scrapbook", "I Pi$$ on Your Corpse, I Spit on Your Grave", "Man Behind the Sun", "Nekromantic", etc. Anyhow, I skipped these films and was attracted to Ice From the Sun because it sounded like it had a more interesting plot (and "Scrapbook" in particular seemed too intense based on some reviews I'd read).
I viewed the DVD only once and have since gotten rid of it. Utterly vile, as I expected. But my criticisms have to do with sound and story quality. Unfortunately, the sound quality is horrible and I had trouble adjusting the volume level during several scenes. More importantly, however, I just don't feel like the story was told well. Parts of the film made me very uncomfortable, but other parts were just plain silly and goofy.
**Spoilers Below!!!**
During one segment, a character is running through the woods while another guy is digging a grave. He just runs around for a few minutes, going nowhere, repeatedly coming across the grave-site. I nearly fell out of my chair laughing it was so corny. Another segment has a vain girl transformed into a dog and sitting in a carnival booth while people laugh at her; only at the end of this segment when a shotgun is put to her head did I feel a twinge of disgust/fear. Another segment has a character leading 2 girls around on leashes, sitting in an empty theater, eating fried chicken. Each of these segments tried to represent base fears of the various characters but just came across as, well, stupid.
I will admit, however, to feeling very uncomfortable during the truck-dragging sequence. The use of sound (or lack of it) in this segment was what made it truly horrifying to me, and also the lack of emotion on the face of the guy driving the truck, like he was just going down to the local 7-11 for a Slurpee...although I feel it could have been better if we hadn't seen the victim afterward, perhaps just her feet. Also, the worm-mouth/self-operation segment was sickening and well filmed. I wish the rest of the film had been presented this well.
Overall, if you want to see something vile, check this out. Just be ready to wrestle with the audio and sitting through a rather long film, with the disturbing segments separated by some rather corny segments.