Ice from the Sun (1999) User Reviews

ugh

[lomticks_of_toast · 3/10 · 5 May 2004]

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.

Is this B movie worth your money?

[cedwardson · 3/10 · 24 January 2005]

I'm a mainstream horror fan giving the world of B movies a try. I bought this DVD having read the synopsis and believed that this would be more interesting than some of the Hollywood rubbish I've seen lately.

So disappointed, excellent story idea, reams of imagination displayed by the director but in the end it looks and feels a real mess. The seller warned me that this film was 'difficult' and only viewing allows you to understand that simple, yet perfect definition.

It's deep, disturbing, badly acted and full of unnecessary camera effects.

If you're unaware please note threes a whole level of B movie strata out there with zero budget. What your looking for is a team effort of talented individuals to overcome their budget and give you something to remember. Ice from the sun is unforgettable and I'll certainly look out for the director again but don't buy, rent.

Although technically this is an amazingly complicated production...

[dwpollar · 4/10 · 21 October 2001]

1st watched 10/21/2001 - 4 out of 10(Dir-Eric Stanze): Although technically this is an amazingly complicated production and the story is just as complicated, the reliance on blood and gore deter from what could have been a very mysterious and well-done psychedelic fantasy/horror film. If it didn't have so much reliance on shocking us with violence and gore I believe I could watch this a second time just to understand it better. I would like to see what other efforts this filmmaker puts out just because of his wild visual styles, but hopefully his topic will not be quite as disturbing as this one.

Could have been an epic film but failed

[joseangeles · 1/10 · 7 August 2004]

There was so much potential in the film. But it all diminished because of a nonsense story and worst acting ever. I don't mind bad acting ("Pieces" and "Gore Gore Girls" are hilarious). But this movie was supposed to be taken in a serious context. I couldn't believe any of the acting at all. Especially the long one part where we have the whole vital background story bluntly mumbled.

Couldn't the filmmakers embed the background story in a more creative way, rather than just having a girl read it so lifelessly as if she's being forced to read homework? I felt like I was trying to read through those long boring "User Agreement" things, which nobody reads in reality.

After closer listens to the story, I found it to be just fantasy mumbo jumbo. There was no enlightening view points given, which is something I look for in all forms of art that are taken seriously. "Dawn of the Dead" & "28 Day's Later" are good examples of horror movies that teach us something.

It's as if the poor story was just thrown in so they could have an excuse for calling the wild experimentation with cinema a "movie".

All in all, the blunder from that narration really threw me off the whole movie. I couldn't piece together any relevance to the creative bizarre (yet limited to low budget) imagery with the dialogue. The movie died in front of my eyes as far as I'm concerned after that point. Nothing could redeem the film from that horrid narration part. No wonder it's so cheap.

Eric Stanze is a true visionary. He just has to get stronger stories and a better budget. We see crap like "Biker Boyz" cost millions to make while Stanze could create so much more with that kind of money. I really wanted to like this but the story and acting were a huge disappointment.

I should probably mention the crazy parts of the film really are like a Nine Inch Nails video, as others have said. And the film does slide in strange random images, kind of like Oliver Stone. Also, there are some gore parts but it's no "Dead Alive" or "The Beyond" in that department.

A waste in so many ways

[jor_supersid · 2/10 · 3 January 2006]

I'm not here to say this is a bad movie. Just to say that this whole film really is a waste. Bare with me here....

I just downloaded a version of this film. After hearing about it for a long time and not being able to find it. From what I herd it was a "trippy gore fantasy containing religious aspects" it still seems very interesting. And as I herd more and more about the film and its story I was even more in a hurry to see it.

The opening was very dull and would mark the quality of the rest of the movie. What do I mean? The fact that it was shot in super 8, the black and white was as expected very nice to look at. The parts of the movie that were shot in color were horrible and I don't mean just top look at but the acting, the sound, everything. It was as it was made, by some guy in a basement. You could hear all the background noise, scratches and at some points I think I herd talking and people dropping things. But I could be wrong.

The actors were for lack of a better word bad. As I watched them force out there lines against the horrible shaking camera (another really horrible flaw) the lead woman played by Ramona Midgett was the worst part. She acted as good as she looked. which is not insult to her as much as a criticism of the work she did, if she would have done the same work in a better production it would not be as bad, as the quality of her scene were 90% of the color segments. As with the phrase "two wrongs don't make a right" The only good acting was that of Charles Heuvelman the Twisted Priest in the Movie Theater and Alexander Crestwood the Drug Runner. As you could tell they had experience in there craft or at least an understanding. Angela Zimmerly ('Dana' in the film) was the best of the central cast as she able to show a calmness and emotion that made her character. as the others more or less seemed to be just friends of the filmmakers inserted into rolls.

The acting, filming, sound and choice to use color is the worst elements of the film. Which I must say is around 50% of the movie. The other half is very well done and to me on par with a lot of indie cinema. As the black and white looked nice, and or consisted of very nicely crafted editing.

Further more the editing was great, as were most of the special effects. This is the only good thing about the movie. The people involved should be proud of that. As it was the only place there was talent. Theses areas are the only reason in my mind to watch the film.

I feel the film should have been filmed in black and white and possibly dubbed in studio. or just have been put togehter from all the special effects and edits, etc. as it would have made a very nice to watch art film. A perfect example was the 4.5-minute-long opening credit sequence. As I could not take my eyes of the screen. At the moment I felt was watching a good music video, but even that had its flaws because it seemed abet out of place in the movie.

The finished product is not a very good film, it has its good moments but the all around quality of half the film is just bad. This puzzles me because the other half was very nice to watch. There's is too much give and take in the film. It's like a visual Ying-Yang, you are either mesmerized buy the sheer beauty or horrified but the over all quality of the aspects involved. It's the flawed parts that anchor the film into being a bad piece of work. This saddens me because I really gave the film a chance, and it has some really good moments and parts to the story. Eric Stanze the director/writer/ etc has talent this film does prove that but it's also now my prime example of how a flawed film, can be overall bad as a whole.

Bottom line.

Should have stayed a home movie.

(At least in the form it's presented)

A visually stunning micro-budget treat

[almaric · 20 February 2000]

ICE FROM THE SUN, directed by Eric Stanze, is easily the most visually stimulating movie I have seen in some time. It's just amazing to look at. Stanze paints images that are some of the most fulfilling I've seen and they leave you craving more. What's unbelievable is that he accomplished this on the micro-budget level and may have just raised the levels for all of us.

With this expressionistic tale, style and form play more important roles than content and story. Stanze mixes formats, image textures, and sounds to create some of the most effective horror film atmosphere since Sam Raimi with the original EVIL DEAD.

There isn't so much a plot as a premise which allow events to unfold. A figure known as The Presence, who was once a wizard's apprentice, has become an entity so powerful and bloodthristy that both the angels in Heaven and demons in Hell fear him. He reigns in a dimension found within magical ice scraped taken form the face of the Sun.

A young woman, Alison, is resurrected after taking her life in order to assassinate The Presence. She is instructed that while she journeys to confront The Presence, there will be 6 other mortals brought to this realm. Their roles are to die and Alison is ordered to not interfere. After all, everyone has a reason for thier existence.

The stories of The Six make up the bulk of the film. Each character is dealt scenarios that mirror their personalities. A vain woman who uses looks and sex is literally turned into a dog and put out of her misery. Fortunately Stanze sees to it that the rest of the movie isn't so O'Henry-esque and that the scenes are more of a chance to explore human nature.

I do want to pass along a note of warning, this film is graphic. Either extreme gore or abundant nudity populate almost every scene. While none of the images are designed to arouse, they nevertheless leaves the viewer breathless, amazed, and transfixed.

Morbid and Fascinating

[pumaye · 7/10 · 5 October 2003]

A low budget shot on video horror flick that kicks ass!! Great story, good cinematography, good music score, it lacks only a greater budget to make this thing a real beauty. As it stands, it is partly undeveloped, but it is full of very clever ideas and its vision is strongly reccomended to all horror fans

Crazy, punk rock slaughter acid trip!!!

[vivegrohl · 10/10 · 29 October 2005]

Wow. What a crazy ass flick! I've read a lot of good reviews about this one (and some bad ones as well). I'm really into films that aren't afraid to take a few chances and so I thought I'd get this one a shot! This flick was insane! Yeah, it's low budget, but it was way more creative than most of the flicks I see coming out of Hollyweird these days.

I dug the story (even though it was a little talky in the beginning), the visuals and the editing were great and it had some awesome gore effects. What I really loved was the music. It features a great collection of songs from the St. Louis music scene (like the Ded Bugs and Johnny Magnet). I got to pick up a copy of the soundtrack. To top it all off, the movie had a great performance from DJ Vivona as The Presence. I think most of the acting was pretty solid overall (I've seen a lot of low/no budget flicks and compared to them, the acting in this is pretty impressive), but I thought the character of The Presence was very interesting and unique and Vivona did a lot to make the character memorable.

Like I said, this movie was made on a low-budget, so imagine my surprise when I get this tricked out 2-disc edition. How awesome is this? You don't see too many movies made at this budget level get such a nice presentation on DVD. Well, I loved the film and the DVD with all its extras was money well spent. If you're looking for something different and unusual, you should do yourself a favor and check this flick out!

Slow moving modern horror fantasy tale

[carlykristen · 6/10 · 10 October 2006]

Uhhh…I guess it is about a man named "The Presence" that rules an alternate universe between Heaven and Hell encased in "ice from the sun" (not making this up). A suicide victim named Allison is hired as an assassin to hunt him (still not making this up). She must make him remember who he was as a person to break the ice. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is that you must sit through 30min of dialogue before you watch her take what can only be described as a 60min trip through a NIN music video.

Okay, here we go again (see Savage Harvest review). Stanze insists on casting unattractive people with no charisma. You will not want to watch them on screen or care to listen to them talk. This is a problem considering his films boast 30 minutes of talky-talky before you see anything. I have a feeling he has good stories to tell, which is why he continues to bore us with lengthy tales before sending us some ghastly images. I dare you to watch this without hitting the fast forward button once. I get the feeling that if Stanze had a decent budget and hired good actors, his films would be better. He has good ideas, but does not achieve them.

There is decent gore and sound quality here. The only scene that would be of interest was an innocent woman stripped, tied to the back of a truck, driven a mile, then covered in salt as you watch her squirm. I have no idea who this person is or why this is happening or who the nice gentleman is driving the truck. Again, the dialogue was so boring, you fast-forward, and then stop when you get to a good scene, but it has no meaning.

Favorite Quote: Stanze during the commentary when he says that this was the lowest budgeted film made at the time. This would mean that any film up to 1999 cost more than this. I think Lloyd Kaufman would beg to differ. Stanze also mentions that Super 8 looks like a music video, not film, so my description of the film is correct.

DVD Extras: Trailers, Still Gallery, and Commentary.

Bottom Line: If you like slow-moving modern horror fantasy tales, then I guess you might dig this.

Rating: 6/10

Molly Celaschi www.HorrorYearbook.com MySpace.com/HorrorYearbook

You are a defecation of a stupid god!!!!!

[renny61801 · 21 May 2003]

To anyone here who hasn't seen it, I strongly recommend this Eric Stanze film. Even considering its several flaws iny image, very uneven acting, sometimes-awkward dialog], it's still one of the best, most entertaining and thought-provoking micobudget independent horrors out there. I've heard it described from a cross between The Matrix and Lost Highway [not sure what that means, exactly ] to a Clive Barker film as directed by Trent Reznor, which is closer to the mark. The story can be summed up thus: an evil wizard takes his apprentice into an alternate universe of his own creation, and every few years they kidnap six people and torture-kill them, then take their souls, until the apprentice, now ultra-powerful and re-named The Presence, overthrows the wizard and takes over, prompting Heaven and Hell to recruit a female suicide victim as a sort of astral-plane assassin to pass through the wall of ice and destroy this "abomination of space and time" Gore, nudity, and lots of just plain unsettling images and sounds follow. I never thought I'd say this, but Ice From The Sun is not just a movie to be watched; it's an experience to be had.

I'm impressed!

[everclearspiral · 10/10 · 29 October 2005]

I've always been a fan of Eric Stanze's ICE FROM THE SUN. It has a very unusual visual style, a cool storyline, great music, good performances (especially DJ Vivona, who I thought was good in CHINA WHITE SERPENTINE) and some awesome gore! Still, I wasn't all that thrilled with the original DVD release. It had a few extras, but it kinda felt a little barebones for my taste.

This new release from Image Entertainment kicks ass! This 2-disc edition has a ton of extras! ON THIN ICE, a feature length documentary about the making of ICE FROM THE SUN that was released on VHS is included on this edition. It was fascinating to see the whole process on how the movie was made. Besides the new commentary tracks (nice), the improved picture and sound (very nice), and all the other extras, it has the trailer for the new Wicked Pixel flick DEADWOOD PARK, which looks amazing. Can't wait to check that one out.

If you love the flick like I do, you gotta pick this baby up. You won't regret it!

Awesome re-release!!!

[quickserge · 10/10 · 27 October 2005]

I've always dug the flicks Wicked Pixel has put out in the past, but I was a little suspicious when I read about this new DVD edition of ICE from Image Entertaimnet (I'm not a fan of the ole' double-dip), but this release is freakin' night and day when compared to the original release. With improved picture and sound (there are certain scenes where the dialog is much more understandable) and a ton of extras (this is a 2-disc set after all), this DVD is well worth the money! If you're a fan of the film or just a fan of Stanze's work in general, you owe it to yourself to pick this baby up! It's probably one of the best DVD releases for a low budget film that I've ever seen (although I am looking forward to the upcoming 2-disc DVD release of Leif Jonker's DARKNESS).

A disturbing, hypnotic and imaginative film!

[mizziah74 · 10/10 · 11 February 2000]

Eric Stanze, who directed the enjoyable SAVAGE HARVEST, has gone one step further with his newest film, ICE FROM THE SUN - a work of amazing creativity and craftsmanship!

With this film, he combines more traditional horror elements (as seen in his previous works) and expends them into an epic tapestry of dark surrealism and cinematic experimentation. The story focuses on the enigmatic Alison (wonderfully played by Ramona Midgett), a recent suicide victim who becomes the unwilling pawn in a cosmic struggle between the combined efforts of the angels in heaven and the devils in hell and the Presence (played by the equally excellent DJ Vivona), a murderous entity whose in control of his own dimension, a dimension of pain, death and chaos that can only be entered by someone of flesh and blood. Alison is given the task of wandering through this chaotic realm to find the Presence, and exterminate him. Her mission is masked by the arrival of six other humans, who are the latest players of the Presence's sadistic games of murder and mayhem. Who will survive?

Besides its unique story, ICE FROM THE SUN has a lot to offer! Stanze's direction is energetic and solid, and gets rewarding performances from his entire cast, including Todd Tevlin as the drug-pushing Aaron and Angela Zimmerly as the strong and resourceful Dana.

The editing is razor-sharp and wonderfully non-linear! The frame composition and the camerawork are equally stylized! The chaotic atmosphere is further enhanced by the moody lighting by Director of Photography David Berliner, who pushed the Super 8mm format to maximum effect! And to top it all off, Brian McClelland and Matt Meyer have created an amazingly textured soundscape, offering a wide array of dark sound effects and haunting musical compositions!

The special effects are another asset of this production. Tony Bridges (who created the effectively gory effects in SAVAGE HARVEST) teams up with Tommy Biondo and Jeff Bergeron to create numerous splatter set pieces that have to be seen to be believed!

All in all, this is a true work of passion and artistic exploration by everyone involved. Comparisons to films like LOST HIGHWAY, CLEAN,SHAVEN, BEGOTTEN are not out of place. It's films like these that aren't afraid to take chances and to step outside the boundaries of traditional formulaic filmmaking to break new ground! Fans of more mainstream entertainment may not enjoy this film (they'll probably be very annoyed with it), but people who are looking for something bizarre and original will be right at home here!