20131201: Horror Review--Hypothermia

Hypothermia

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, horror, 2010, rated R, 73 minutes, aspect 1.78.
2. IMDB: 4.0/10.0 from 765 audience ratings.  Spoken word is in English.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No score yet,' 8% liked it from 85 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.9/5.0 from 130,437 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: James Felix McKenney.
6. Starring: Michael Rooker as Ray Pelletier, Blanche Baker as Helen, Benjamin Forster as David, Amy Chang as Gina, Don Wood as Steve Cote Sr, Greg Finley as Steve Jr, Larry Fessenden as Fishing Host, Asa Liebmann as Monster.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Ray, his wife Helen, their son David, and daughter-in-law Gina are setup in a cabin by a frozen lake.  Ray scouts the lake in the twilight for a good fishing spot for the next morning.  He spies a dead coyote, and goes to investigate.  Something goes bump in the evening, and Ray falls through the ice.  Ray is a man of considerable strength and stamina; he is able to pull himself out in the dark with no tools, but the effort leaves him flat on top of the ice.  The rest of the family soon think he's been out too long.  David finds him and walks him back to the cabin.  They are still going ahead with the next day's fishing; they will just have to be more careful about weak spots in the ice.


2. The setup for fishing goes without a hitch.  On the other hand, there are no fish.  Another family drives a truck and a trailer out onto the ice.  The Pelletiers are a bit skeptical of all that weight even further out on the ice.  Later they drive the truck away in a rush, leaving the trailer behind on the ice.  The idiots return on ice-mobiles of some sort.  The large whatever moves through and catches all of their hooks, but they do not bring it in.


3. The new people are Steve Cote and Steve Jr, who are intent on catching the big whatever.  The initial guess is that it might be a sturgeon of some sort.  Steve Jr. gets pulled in, and the monster cuts him.  Steve cleans him up, and lets him sleep.  He offers the Pelletiers steak dinners.  During the meal, Steve Junior starts feeling some sort of effects from his cut.  Definitely an infection, but it looks like an infestation as well.  The Pelletiers think Steve Jr needs to go to the hospital; Steve insists not.


4. Steve and Ray go out to catch the beast.  Steve starts a generator to charge batteries, provide light, and hopefully attract the beast.  Steve Jr. gets up instead of resting; the beast comes back, and drags Steve Jr. away.  Steve Sr. takes a shot at the beast, misses, but manages to fall into the drink.  The beast manages to cut Steve Sr, not as deep, but a long laceration.  Steve Sr also gets an infection.  Steve Sr is determined that something is going to die before the night is over.  He gets his wish.


5. The Pelletiers wait for the dawn to go back to their cabin.  Unfortunately, the monster gains partial access through the capped fishing holes in the trailer; David gets a fatal cut on the neck.


6. Will anyone make it out alive?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Take the safest route when dealing with a monster.
2. Two stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 6/10 Several of the long shots were rather poor: fuzzy, low contrast, too dim.  There was a fair amount of camera shake on the closeups in the interiors.


2. Sound: 7/10  Pretty good.


3. Acting: 5/10 Michael Rooker, Blanche Baker, and Amy Chang were fine.  Don Wood, Greg Finley, and Benjamin Forster I could have done without.


4. Screenplay: 2/10 The story has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and the exposition from one to the next is not that bad.  However, there were so many opportunities for the fate of the family members to come out much better.  The case for all decisions to be bad ones was rather weak.  The ending sucked rocks and made no sense at all.


5. SFX: 0/10 The monster is the only SFX, and it looks really cheesy.  This was a major detriment to the film.  Its silly appearance shut down the suspense.