"Iced Crawlers" is a by-the-book creature feature.
**SPOILERS**
At a secret Antarctic base, teacher Ted Jacobson, (David Milbern) and students Curtis, (Allen Lee Haff) Arianna, (Karen Nieci) Tom, (Howard Holcomb) Kate, (Rebekah Ryan) and Update, (David Lenneman) arrive to do some extra credit work in each of their different fields. The project leaders, Nelson, (Gotz Otto) and Dr. Monica Kelsey, (Alexandra Kamp-Groeneveld) are upset about their lack of experience in the real world, but once their actual mission is revealed, they all express the desire to leave earlier. A strange series of deaths strikes the camp, keeping them trapped in the station. Finally getting a clue as to what's been behind the attacks, they band together to survive the creatures attacking the crew.
The Good News: There is a few decent qualities to this film. First off, I actually enjoyed the creatures in here. It's a big improvement over the usual bugs and giant insect swarms that tend to dominate these kinds of films. Having the creature in here is a bit of a plus and gives it a slight degree of originality in a big sea of unoriginality. They even looked pretty decent, and came across quite well, especially the one at the end. It's a big shame it wasn't on more, it really looked impressive and quite nice looking. It even caused a few halfway nice sequences along the way. The easiest one to determine this was the mineshaft chase, a long chase through the bowels of the station and out into the hallways and down into an elevator, with the frequently-used suspense-building trick of the chased victim frantically pressing a button hoping it would close before it got to the door. Here's a great example of that, and it comes off quite nicely. Even though there isn't a lot of gore, the pretty decent sized body count is a little consolation, offering up some thrills here and there. These are the main things about it, though.
The Bad News: This is just a plain, by-the-numbers creature feature affair. There's really nothing here to distinguish it from just about all the other monster films out there, except for the setting. There's generally no surprises and it plays itself out pretty straightforward, which makes this a pretty skip-able in the stakes and not really be out of the loop. All the plot points are there as well: the threat attacks a loner in the prologue, the introduction of the characters with barely a warning of who's who, the eventual study of the problem that discovers the threat, the discovery of the truth for the expedition, and the quick turnaround by a character previously thought to be bad. It's all been done before to much better results in the other section that this one might not be seen as a top priority much. It's all so predictable that it never even tries to change up the formula, which is what makes these movies fun. That's the biggest problem, but the ending, which not only is so rushed and over so quickly that it barely leaves an impression even after just viewing it, but it also stretches the laws of credibility to the point that it's just unbelievable. In no way would that scenario ever play out in a modern world, and it really doesn't work. An original but annoying trick right before a person is going to get killed where a couple of flashes of earlier scenes with the victim has potential, but it quickly wears old. There's a few more things wrong, but they don't need to be revealed here.
The Final Verdict: This is just a little bit below decent fare for creature feature films, and might hold some interest for hardcore fans of the genre, but will more likely have more of an impact on those that love cheesy films or the low-grade entertainment.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Brief Nudity
**SPOILERS**
At a secret Antarctic base, teacher Ted Jacobson, (David Milbern) and students Curtis, (Allen Lee Haff) Arianna, (Karen Nieci) Tom, (Howard Holcomb) Kate, (Rebekah Ryan) and Update, (David Lenneman) arrive to do some extra credit work in each of their different fields. The project leaders, Nelson, (Gotz Otto) and Dr. Monica Kelsey, (Alexandra Kamp-Groeneveld) are upset about their lack of experience in the real world, but once their actual mission is revealed, they all express the desire to leave earlier. A strange series of deaths strikes the camp, keeping them trapped in the station. Finally getting a clue as to what's been behind the attacks, they band together to survive the creatures attacking the crew.
The Good News: There is a few decent qualities to this film. First off, I actually enjoyed the creatures in here. It's a big improvement over the usual bugs and giant insect swarms that tend to dominate these kinds of films. Having the creature in here is a bit of a plus and gives it a slight degree of originality in a big sea of unoriginality. They even looked pretty decent, and came across quite well, especially the one at the end. It's a big shame it wasn't on more, it really looked impressive and quite nice looking. It even caused a few halfway nice sequences along the way. The easiest one to determine this was the mineshaft chase, a long chase through the bowels of the station and out into the hallways and down into an elevator, with the frequently-used suspense-building trick of the chased victim frantically pressing a button hoping it would close before it got to the door. Here's a great example of that, and it comes off quite nicely. Even though there isn't a lot of gore, the pretty decent sized body count is a little consolation, offering up some thrills here and there. These are the main things about it, though.
The Bad News: This is just a plain, by-the-numbers creature feature affair. There's really nothing here to distinguish it from just about all the other monster films out there, except for the setting. There's generally no surprises and it plays itself out pretty straightforward, which makes this a pretty skip-able in the stakes and not really be out of the loop. All the plot points are there as well: the threat attacks a loner in the prologue, the introduction of the characters with barely a warning of who's who, the eventual study of the problem that discovers the threat, the discovery of the truth for the expedition, and the quick turnaround by a character previously thought to be bad. It's all been done before to much better results in the other section that this one might not be seen as a top priority much. It's all so predictable that it never even tries to change up the formula, which is what makes these movies fun. That's the biggest problem, but the ending, which not only is so rushed and over so quickly that it barely leaves an impression even after just viewing it, but it also stretches the laws of credibility to the point that it's just unbelievable. In no way would that scenario ever play out in a modern world, and it really doesn't work. An original but annoying trick right before a person is going to get killed where a couple of flashes of earlier scenes with the victim has potential, but it quickly wears old. There's a few more things wrong, but they don't need to be revealed here.
The Final Verdict: This is just a little bit below decent fare for creature feature films, and might hold some interest for hardcore fans of the genre, but will more likely have more of an impact on those that love cheesy films or the low-grade entertainment.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Brief Nudity