Jack Frost (1997)
Directed by Michael Cooney
No, it’s not the Michael Keaton movie, let’s just start with that. Although the snowman in that one is rather terrifying. We are talking about the shlocky direct to video slasher with a killer snowman. I saw the sequel before the original and I hated it. I hated it so much that I said it was the worst movie I’ve ever seen, that stood for a while. Granted I haven’t watched it again to compare to the shit I’ve watched since, but I’m in no rush to either. Let’s see if the original is better.
Thanks to Joe Bob’s Christmas special for giving me a good reason to check this out. The plot is a murderer named Jack Frost is dead in genetic material and returns as a murderous snowman to exact revenge on the man who sent him to be executed. The plot is amazing, let’s just admit that haha. It’s obvious that this is a comedy horror, I’ve covered a fair share of those this year in the October marathon. Typically I do not enjoy horror comedies, they tend to annoy me. That tagline though, “He’s Chillin’ and Killin’” how could you not like that?
The acting actually isn’t horrible, you’d be surprised. Yes, it is corny but that is the point in a movie about a killer snowman. Shannon Elizabeth makes her acting debut, of course she’s naked, I mean, when isn’t she? No, you don’t see anything, but give it a little and watch American Pie. Scott MacDonald plays Jack, he’s witty, funny and menacing at the same time. Nearly the entire cast is made up of veteran character actors, which is pretty cool honestly. They have tons of credits to their names but were finally given a chance to stand out a little.
Jack Frost is a pretty fun design, he’s a pretty normal looking snowman but with a very expressive face and the ability to make super sharp icicles for stabbing. For a low budget 90s movie the special effects are decent. Nothing too crazy but believable at times and other times funny. The kills are a little fun as well. Someone gets decapitated with a sled, which is hilarious. Jack also assaults Shannon Elizabeth with his carrot nose, yeah and her career took off after that haha.
This is miles better than the sequel. I might have to revisit Jack Frost 2 one of these days to see if it is as bad as I remember. The original is fun, funny, and memorable. It is worth your time if you are into corny horror comedies, or if you’re a big Shannon Elizabeth fan and you want to see her assaulted with a carrot. I give this a C, it is fun but you have to be in the mood for it.
