"Frozen Sasquatch" has shown up as a suggested movie on my Amazon feed a few times now. Had I seen the Polonia name attached to it, I may have watched it sooner. If you're a fan or Mark Polonia I won't need to tell you much. You'll know what to expect for the most part. A rubber suited monster and an ambitious plot that far exceeds the movie's budget.
To get a feel for the retro movies this is an homage to, perhaps the best example to seek out would be "Terror in the Midnight Sun". There's no lab and experiments gone wrong in that movie, but many of the other unusual aspects of the Yeti explored in "Frozen Sasquatch" are explored there. Also, the F/X are pretty much on par. What was pretty cool for 1959 has become an oddity in modern cinema. Men in monster suits are now mostly the domain of specific indie genre directors like Polonia, Thomas Berdinski ( The Giant Rubber Monster Movie 2) and myself ( Onyx Origins, Lumber vs Jack, Jack vs Lanterns ). I still like this style of effect, although in this movie the suit used seems to be pretty "off the shelf" and the mask is ill fitting. This isn't so much a flaw as part of the charm. This movie is for the "kid in us". It's monsters without real scares.
The acting is either hit and miss or occasionally intentionally reminiscent of older "schlock". I never was quite sure. There is a scene near the beginning with the team of scientists being briefed on what has happened at the facility in the Himalayas. Most of the dialogue is shot in close up, affecting the pace and giving a it a staccato tempo, and the acting is sort of wooden. At first I thought we were going to be treated to performances like this throughout the movie. Sometimes a lack of rehearsal time can lead to acting that seems like characters are reading from a teleprompter. Sometimes it's because you have a great location, but only have it for 20 minutes. But as the scene went on I began to suspect that the wooden like acting might also have been part of the retro charm. I feel like this was confirmed later on in the film as the story line advanced and most of the same cast members started to turn in more solid performances. There were other moments of acting being a bit more "B" than one would like, but the core cast did a good job for the most part. Cast regular for these films, Jeff Kirkendall, makes an appearance and it's solid as always. I would like to see him and Joel D. Wynkoop in something together.
This movie makes a lot of use of stock footage with breathtaking and hilarious results going hand in hand. We get vast landscape shots of beautiful snow covered mountains intercut with the characters walking through fields of clover (with flower tops in bloom!) while an overlay of snow flutters across the screen. Nowhere else in the movie are the budget constraints so at odds with the story. You have to admire the tenacity it takes to film a movie about the Himalayas in a green wooded area during what appears to be Spring or Summer weather. And props to the actors for not constantly being covered in sweat while hiking in winter clothes. In the old days Hammer would have done this on a soundstage covered in fake snow and with painted backdrops of mountains behind the actors. More convincing? Maybe. As much fun? No way.
Probably the best part of this movie is that instead of it just being a monster on a rampage, there's a mystery (or several) being unraveled. And as the story grew ( wink, wink ) I found myself being more and more drawn into it. By the end I was so surprised at the twists it had taken I wasn't as insulted by the complete lack of actual snow or even corn flakes spray painted white like in the
"Brady Bunch".
Down to the technical. The picture quality was all fine with true moments of excellence. The audio was mostly good with occasional "over scrubbing" leading to that tinny quality that so many indie movies suffer from, including my own. The score was unobtrusive. And the lighting, well it was adequate, but most of the time, pretty boring. A lot of the movie looks like it was shot with lighting as they found it with the exception of one day for night scene that did a good job of faking firelight ( with post lighting like we did here), but essentially no effort seemed to be made to add drama through lighting. There was one more instance of what looked like post lighting F/X, but I can't really describe it without giving away a plot point I think you should find out on your own.
If you're willing to really, really suspend your disbelief or just watch a movie and marvel at the risks a filmmaker without a budget will take to tell a story, then you're the audience "Frozen Sasquatch" needs. It's ambitious, fun, creative and has furry monsters and a bit of blood. Perfect for switching off the real world for awhile and enjoying a film like you used to as a kid when you stayed up past your bedtime.
Visit us at www.hocusfocusproductions.com for more retro movie monster mayhem.
To get a feel for the retro movies this is an homage to, perhaps the best example to seek out would be "Terror in the Midnight Sun". There's no lab and experiments gone wrong in that movie, but many of the other unusual aspects of the Yeti explored in "Frozen Sasquatch" are explored there. Also, the F/X are pretty much on par. What was pretty cool for 1959 has become an oddity in modern cinema. Men in monster suits are now mostly the domain of specific indie genre directors like Polonia, Thomas Berdinski ( The Giant Rubber Monster Movie 2) and myself ( Onyx Origins, Lumber vs Jack, Jack vs Lanterns ). I still like this style of effect, although in this movie the suit used seems to be pretty "off the shelf" and the mask is ill fitting. This isn't so much a flaw as part of the charm. This movie is for the "kid in us". It's monsters without real scares.
The acting is either hit and miss or occasionally intentionally reminiscent of older "schlock". I never was quite sure. There is a scene near the beginning with the team of scientists being briefed on what has happened at the facility in the Himalayas. Most of the dialogue is shot in close up, affecting the pace and giving a it a staccato tempo, and the acting is sort of wooden. At first I thought we were going to be treated to performances like this throughout the movie. Sometimes a lack of rehearsal time can lead to acting that seems like characters are reading from a teleprompter. Sometimes it's because you have a great location, but only have it for 20 minutes. But as the scene went on I began to suspect that the wooden like acting might also have been part of the retro charm. I feel like this was confirmed later on in the film as the story line advanced and most of the same cast members started to turn in more solid performances. There were other moments of acting being a bit more "B" than one would like, but the core cast did a good job for the most part. Cast regular for these films, Jeff Kirkendall, makes an appearance and it's solid as always. I would like to see him and Joel D. Wynkoop in something together.
This movie makes a lot of use of stock footage with breathtaking and hilarious results going hand in hand. We get vast landscape shots of beautiful snow covered mountains intercut with the characters walking through fields of clover (with flower tops in bloom!) while an overlay of snow flutters across the screen. Nowhere else in the movie are the budget constraints so at odds with the story. You have to admire the tenacity it takes to film a movie about the Himalayas in a green wooded area during what appears to be Spring or Summer weather. And props to the actors for not constantly being covered in sweat while hiking in winter clothes. In the old days Hammer would have done this on a soundstage covered in fake snow and with painted backdrops of mountains behind the actors. More convincing? Maybe. As much fun? No way.
"Brady Bunch".
Down to the technical. The picture quality was all fine with true moments of excellence. The audio was mostly good with occasional "over scrubbing" leading to that tinny quality that so many indie movies suffer from, including my own. The score was unobtrusive. And the lighting, well it was adequate, but most of the time, pretty boring. A lot of the movie looks like it was shot with lighting as they found it with the exception of one day for night scene that did a good job of faking firelight ( with post lighting like we did here), but essentially no effort seemed to be made to add drama through lighting. There was one more instance of what looked like post lighting F/X, but I can't really describe it without giving away a plot point I think you should find out on your own.
If you're willing to really, really suspend your disbelief or just watch a movie and marvel at the risks a filmmaker without a budget will take to tell a story, then you're the audience "Frozen Sasquatch" needs. It's ambitious, fun, creative and has furry monsters and a bit of blood. Perfect for switching off the real world for awhile and enjoying a film like you used to as a kid when you stayed up past your bedtime.
Visit us at www.hocusfocusproductions.com for more retro movie monster mayhem.
I think this is one of the most important info for me.
ReplyDeleteAnd i am glad reading your article. But want to remark on few
general things, The website style is great, the
articles is really great : D. Good job, cheers