jack frost horror movie review

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"Jack Frost" is the kind of movie that makes you want to take the temperature, if not feel for the pulse, of the filmmakers. What possessed anyone to think this was a plausible idea for a movie? It's a bad film, yes, but that's not the real problem. "Jack Frost" could have been co-directed by Orson Welles and Steven Spielberg and still be unwatchable, because of that damned snowman.

The snowman gave me the creeps. Never have I disliked a movie character more. They say state-of-the-art special effects can create the illusion of anything on the screen, and now we have proof: It's possible for the Jim Henson folks and Industrial Light and Magic to put their heads together and come up with the most repulsive single creature in the history of special effects, and I am not forgetting the Chucky doll or the desert intestine from "Star Wars." To see the snowman is to dislike the snowman. It doesn't look like a snowman, anyway. It looks like a cheap snowman suit. When it moves, it doesn't exactly glide--it walks, but without feet, like it's creeping on its torso. It has anorexic tree limbs for arms, which spin through 360 degrees when it's throwing snowballs. It has a big, wide mouth that moves as if masticating Gummi Bears. And it's this kid's dad.

Yes, little Charlie ( Joseph Cross ) has been without a father for a year, since his dad ( Michael Keaton ) was killed--on Christmas Day, of course. A year later, Charlie plays his father's magic harmonica ("If you ever need me ... ") and his father turns up as the snowman.

Think about that. It is an astounding fact. The snowman on Charlie's front lawn is a living, moving creature inhabited by the personality of his father. It is a reflection of the lame-brained screenplay that despite having a sentient snowman, the movie casts about for plot fillers, including a school bully, a chase scene, snowball fights, a hockey team, an old family friend to talk to Mom--you know, stuff to keep up the interest between those boring scenes when the snowman is TALKING.

What do you ask a snowman inhabited by your father? After all, Dad's been dead a year. What's it like on the other side? Is there a heaven? Big Bang or steady state? When will the NBA lockout end? Elvis--dead? What's it like standing out on the lawn in the cold all night? Ever meet any angels? Has anybody else ever come back as a snowman? Do you have to eat? If you do, then what? Any good reporter could talk to that snowman for five minutes and come back with some great quotes.

But Charlie, self-centered little movie child, is more concerned with how Jack Frost (his father's real name) can help him. His dad has been dead for a year and comes back as a snowman and all he can think of is using the snowman to defeat the school bully in a snowball fight. Also, the kid tries to keep Dad from melting. (What kind of a half-track miracle is it if a snowman can talk, but it can't keep from melting?) Does the snowman have any advice for his son? Here is a typical conversation: Jack Frost: "You da man!" Charlie: "No, YOU da man!" Jack: "No, I da SNOWMAN!" Eventually the snowman has to leave again--a fairly abrupt development announced with the cursory line, "It's time for me to go ... get on with your life." By this time the snowman's secret is known not only to his son but to his wife ( Kelly Preston ), who takes a phone call from her dead husband with what, under the circumstances, can only be described as extreme aplomb. At the end, the human Jack Frost materializes again, inside swirling fake snow, and tells his wife and son, "If you ever need me, I'm right here." And Charlie doesn't even ask, "What about on a hot day?"

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Jack Frost (1998)

Rated PG For Mild Violence, Language and Bathroom Sexuality

Michael Keaton as Jack Frost

Kelly Preston as Gabby Frost

Joseph Cross as Charlie Frost

Mark Addy as Mac MacArthur

• Steve Bloom
• Mark Steven Johnson
• Jonathan Roberts
• Jeff Cesario

Directed by

• Troy Miller

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Reviews From The Comfort Of Our Sofas!

12/27/2018 Fool on the Hill Leave a Comment

“He’s chillin…and killin.”

    Growing up, I had access to a world of horror movies. My father and I made a habit of watching four scary movies every weekend – two on Friday night and two on Saturday night before the SNL musical guest came on. I watched more horror films than I even thought existed. For a while, I was really on top of it. I’d seen every new release, every classic, every famous slasher flick, and every B-horror film out there. My repertoire was really good for a thirteen-year-old.

In Junior High, I was introduced to a sub-genre of horror that I never thought I wanted – Christmas Horror. I’m not talking horror movies that happen to take place near Christmas time. I mean killer Santas, monsters that punish naughty children, all that. Every year, my dad would come home with some of the weirdest movies I’d ever heard of. All the titles were terrible Christmas puns like Silent Night Deadly Night and The Gingerdead Man . The movies themselves were – mostly – atrocious. Sometimes they’d prove to be entertaining, but it was the bonding experience that I appreciated the most.

As I got older, my friends would sometimes join us in this late-night movie sessions. It happened that this was the case the night we first watched Jack Frost . We so enjoyed this film that it has become a tradition to reference the movie in casual conversation and to mention it frequently during the holidays. We specifically talked about the world’s worst twist ending that appears. Hilarious memories.

Here’s the thing…I never saw it all the way through. The night we watched it, I gave up and went to bed. This detail is important here because I had these fond, nostalgic memories of this film that were entirely wrong . I was convinced that this movie was something akin to a holiday version of Child’s Play with a criminal selling his soul at his moment of death only to turn into a snowman that kills people. It turns out that it’s much more insane than that.

There’s a beautiful opening. Shots of a Christmas tree are shown with the names of the cast and crew on bobbles will a voiceover of a grandpa telling a kid a bedtime story. The kid asks for a scary story and the grandpa goes all crazy telling him about this murderer named Jack Frost who likes to kill people in gruesome ways. The movie then opens with the real Jack Frost – an angry looking, thirty-something-year-old man – being transported in a van to the place where he will be killed for his crimes. From the conversation between the two orderlies, we find out that Jack Frost has been at large for a long time and that a small-town sheriff happened to find him and take all the glory from the FBI, but it was okay because at least the guy wasn’t going to be around anymore.

Because of the weather, the van crashes with another vehicle transporting some kind of chemical. Everyone survives, but the chemical explodes out of its container and covers Jack Frost, seemingly killing him…except it turns him into a vengeful snowman instead and he kills the orderlies. Maybe…maybe he kills one orderly and the other is just frozen and scared. I don’t remember. Then he sets off, presumably, to the small town where the sheriff who put him away lives.

At this point, I am having trouble writing details about this film even though I just watched it. Most of the things that happen in this movie are so ludicrous that I’m having trouble keeping things straight. We are introduced to the small-town sheriff – his name is Sam – because he and his wife and son (who is insufferably annoying) are driving down the road toward the town and happen upon the van accident. Sam pulls over to ask the policeman what’s going on and tries to explain that he’s a cop. This is how the conversation goes:

Sam: What’s going on here officer? I’m a-

Officer: Move along, this is a matter for the feds.

Sam is so quick to comply and get the hell away from there that I laughed out loud at this part. He certainly respects authority. Okay then. None of his business.

At home, we are introduced to the relationship between Sam and his kid, Ryan. Ryan is an interesting kid. Everything he says sounds like air escaping a balloon… very slowly. He is in the habit of making all these crafts and things for his dad. He even makes him breakfast one morning – some brown glop that looks like poop but is supposed to be oatmeal. Cute. Sam takes it to work in a sandwich bag, but ‘forgets’ to eat it.

Even though he looks about twelve, Ryan seems to see the world through the eyes of a six-year-old and isn’t allowed to know anything about his dad’s work, especially the Jack Frost case. I think it’s around this time we learn that Jack Frost had been sending threats to Sam and his family and Sam is still afraid that he’ll come around, even though he’s totally and most certainly dead.

The movie takes place in a tiny town that loves Christmas and snowman building competitions with the central location being a hardware store whose owner – I will call him the Hardware King – is constantly making up sales for people to buy things. County Sheriff? 20% off. Build a good snowman? 20% off. Walked past the shop on your way home? 20% off. Breathing? 20% off!

Pretty quickly, we get to the action. Sam’s son Ryan is working on a snowman (which has appeared with no context) using a snowman doll as a model to figure out where he should place the carrot. Yep. He needs a model. Anyway, the local bully and his gang come and pick on him. The snowman pushes the bully onto the ground in time for one of the gang to accidentally run over his neck with the blade of his sled. Lovely. After being splattered with blood and watching the whole thing go down, Ryan’s immediate response is to repeat, “I didn’t do it. It wasn’t me,” over and over again. Good thing too, because the bully’s father (from now on known as Local Asshole ) is convinced he did do it – yes, the twelve-year-old with a snowman doll decapitated a teenager twice his size – and yells at Sam to get his shit together.

There’s a subplot happening. While Sam is looking for who killed the apathetic child – and the body of an old man who was frozen to death with his neck snapped – the FBI comes to help out. It turns out that Jack was blasted with some experimental shit™ that turns living matter into…snow? Or something? Whatever it does, it’s a surprise to the chemical’s creator that Jack can seemingly change molecular form. If he is snow, he can also be ice and water, which means he can basically go anywhere and do anything. The movie then becomes a new X-Men film. Still better than X3.

Some pretty fantastic murders happen in a very short amount of time. A woman’s corpse is mounted on a Christmas tree and wrapped with lights. A girl is frozen into a bathtub in what could be considered the most confusing and tame sexual assault by snowman scene in film history. They are all made better by the puppet hands that are committing all the murders. They are massive and clumsy and look like giant, white mittens. When the snowman’s face is shown, it really only has one expression: mad.

Super mad.  Any time Jack is on screen, he offers some really fantastic, snowman-related puns:

Jack: [ attacking someone with an icicle ] Listen, I got a point I’d like to make!

Jack: [ kills someone with an axe ] Gosh. I only axed you for a smoke.

Jack: [I’m] the world’s most pissed-off snow cone!

Jack: [ after being hit by a truck ] Somebody get the number of that truck!

Jack: [ Jack flying through the air ] I can see your house from up here!

This man’s entire script was made up of terrible jokes. He doesn’t really say anything of substance. I think this was a good move. I don’t know if I could have handled the writers attempting to make me connect with a killer snowman by giving him well-written lines and making him a well-established character.

I was left with several questions at the conclusion of this film. Many people died. The FBI is coming to figure out what happened to all the people, their officers, and the escaped criminal [SPOILER! He was defeated]. What is Sam’s plan here? How are they going to explain a killer snowman? Are they just going to pretend that nothing happened? Are they going to pretend the other officers never showed up? How will they explain all the bodies? How will they explain that half the population of their town is missing? Will Jack Frost return? Good thing there is a sequel because it will almost definitely answer all of these questions.

Fool on the Hill:

It was ridiculous enough that I want to tell everyone about it. It is a movie that will always be in my heart. It is a terrible movie. The plot has many holes, the characters are forgettable, the story is confusing, the visuals are bad, and it’s barely enjoyable to watch. There’s nothing good about this movie except for the puns.

Jack Savage:

While this is one of my favorite films to watch during the holidays, I can’t ignore the bad special effects, horrible one-liners from the title character, and hole-filled plot. However, for the average movie watcher, this will probably be one you can skip over. For our “so bad its good” film lovers, this may be one for your video shelf.

Jack Frost is one of those films that may be bad, but it knows its bad. My very first viewing of this was only recently. I found the film to be very annoying in the beginning, but the soundtrack, set design, along with some pretty decent acting and good humour turned it a bit for me. I could never say I love this film and I probably won’t watch it again, but when I learned to turn my brain off I found it funny and charming. This is definitely a movie for you and your friends to sit down and riff on, but watch it on your own you may just get frustrated or fall asleep. But then again, I know there is a massive audience of people who love bad films!

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About Fool on the Hill

Born and raised in Philadelphia, she grew up in a family of ex-hippie musicians and went to school to be a music teacher. About halfway through, she decided that teaching English would be fun too, so now she does both. She grew up on a cocktail of Disney, BBC, and 80's slasher flicks.

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Horror Movie Review

Jack frost – review.

• Release Date: 18 Nov, 1997
• Director: Michael Cooney
• Actors: Christopher Allport, Stephen Mendel, F. William Parker, Rob LaBelle, Shannon Elizabeth, Jack Lindine, Zack Egniton, Brian Leckner, Marsha Clark, Eileen Seeley, Kelly Jean Peters, Scott MacDonald
• Country: United States
• Language: English
• Parental Guidance: Sexual assault, mild nudity, violence, gore, language
• Writers: Michael Cooney, Jeremy Paige
• Producers: Jeremy Paige, Vicki Slotnick

After an accident that left murderer Jack Frost dead in genetic material the vengeful killer returns as a murderous snowman to exact his revenge on the man who sent him to be executed

It’s December the 12th. That means we are almost half way through our Awful Advent 25 Days of Christmas Horror feature. Today we are taking a look at the horror cult classic Jack Frost from the late 90s. Having seen this at least a few times. I can honestly say it is one of the worst movies I have ever watched. Featuring Michael Keaton coming back from the dead as a massive, horribly designed, animatronic snowman. He brutally assaults a bunch of kids using rocks hidden in snow balls. Scares a snowplow driver to death and relentlessly harasses his grieving son…… Wait, wrong movie. That’s the one from 98, this movie preceded it by a year.

Anyways, this is an equally bad movie about a man resurrected as a snowman. This one, however, is much lower budget and has its tongue firmly planted in its cheek. Jack Frost has become something of a cult classic in recent years. Notorious for its terrible special effects, crap acting and low budget. It is enjoyed by many every year as something of a Christmas tradition. I, personally, am struggling to see the appeal. Still, let’s take a look.

Awful Advent

We’ve been on a bit of an end of the year run of themed features. We had K-O-Ween 31 Days of Halloween in October. We had a Fall Themed Horror movie month for November, Now It’s December and that can mean only one thing. It’s Awful Advent . We are reviewing a new horror for each of the days leading up to Christmas. That’s not all, we will also review a bonus movie for Christmas day itself. 25 horror movies to make your December just that little more frighteningly festive… Or should that be festively frightening? I am not sure, whatever.. It’s going to be scary.

The catch? All of the movies must be set around or feature Christmas. Movies based on a specific Christmas theme are even better. Christmas and horror have always gone hand in hand. There are tons of movies to look at and I expect you can probably predict a few right now. With that being said. Check back every day of December for something new.

Low Budget Christmas Horror

Jack Frost follows the story of local town sheriff Sam and his fight against a possessed snowman. Sam, years before, arrested a serial killer called Jack Frost. Swearing revenge on the sheriff, Sam has lived in fear ever since. Frost was due to be executed but an accident on the way to ol’ sparky led him to escape. While being confronted by an officer there was an explosion. The explosion sprayed an experimental liquid on Frost. It melted him but also caused the killer to fuse with the snow.

Frost is now free and with a funky new snowman get up. He can melt himself and reform allowing access to almost anywhere that water can go. He can’t be harmed and is just as murderous as ever. Naturally he wants to find Sam to enact revenge. While he looks for him. Jack takes down whoever crosses his path. Pipe smoking and wise cracking all the way.

A Cult Classic

So this movie is rather popular and considered a cult classic. The reasons given are the silliness, terrible effects, kill scenes and wise cracks. Now, if you are a fan of this movie you are going to hate my opinion of it. I am a huge fan of camp horror that is so bad it is good. When it comes to this, however, I really don’t rate Jack Frost at all. I will explain why below. I simply didn’t enjoy it and found the campiness to be forced.

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Still, attempting to appreciate this movie for the reasons other people do. It is absolutely farcical as all camp horror should be. It starts with a guy, director Michael Cooney , telling the story of Jack Frost to a child. The child happens to be an adult with their voice pitched up. You know straight away the type of film you are in for. We see the killer Jack Frost sprayed with an experimental liquid. He melts before fusing with the snow. The reveal of the absolutely awful rubber snowman costume comes shorty after.

Jack goes on his hunt for the sheriff and dispatches of a few civilians on the way. The kills are fairly creative. One particularly fun example involves a Christmas tree and fairy lights. Jack makes plenty of wise cracks, some of which elicit a chuckle. Jack also manages to get his carrot away in one scene. Apparently this is the result of some restructuring that had to be done in editing. Jack was supposed to be simply smashing his victim’s head against a wall. However, due to how much it looked like he was screwing her. They had to change it.

So Why Do People Love It?

Generally speaking, people love Jack Frost for its cheesiness, the bad acting, and how terrible the effects are. It probably makes for a fun drinking movie and is, maybe, even better if you have some easily pleased friends. I mean, enjoying bad horror isn’t an original concept. This tends to be the blueprint for all “so bad they are good” movies. As far as these types of films go, Jack Frost is pretty standard.

Acting and Cinematography is… Okay

Acting here is delivered pretty straight faced for the most part. Sam, played by the late Christopher Allport , gets most of the screen time. Allport plays the role with a keen sense of the kind of film being made. Well aware of the silly nature of the production. He is mostly serious but always ready to ham it up. Co stars are similarly cognisant of the non-serious nature of the film and play to type. This was Shannon Elizabeth’s first role. I applaud her for being enthusiastic enough to share a sex scene with a large rubber snowman. Masturbating on screen in American Pie must have seemed like a breeze compared to this.

Cinematography is, honestly, okay for a low budget movie. It is about what you would expect for a late 90’s straight to video film. Set design is okay. A warm December put paid to the idea of real snow. The film makers had to bring in foam and cotton wool. To be honest, it works better given the type of movie this is. If you are going to make a deliberately crap movie. May as well fully commit to it.

Effects are bloody awful but, again, this is deliberate. The producers of Jack Frost knew exactly what they were doing. I think if you offered them a realistic looking snowman and a competent effects team they would have told you to sit and spin. This is a movie very much made for fans of so bad it’s good horror.

Movies So Bad They Are Good

I will preface the following by saying this. Believe me, I am acutely aware of certain movies being so bad they are good. I grew up with shit like Rabid Grannies and Ghoulies . This is something I have always been into. I adore movies like this and go out of my to watch them. For those of you who aren’t up on these types of films. They exist in every genre. The Room is a brilliant example. My fiancee and I watched it with a friend just a couple of weeks ago. We laughed our asses off and had a genuinely good time. I really get the appeal of it. I just don’t feel as though Jack Frost fits that bill.

As mentioned above, this movie has become a real cult classic. To be painfully honest, I have no clue why. I was amped to watch this film. After reading reviews I thought this would be right up my street. I knew I was in for some pain already the night I watched it. I’m a New Orleans Saints fan and 2022 has been a rough year. They were playing that night and I had time to squeeze in one movie before kick off. I decided to go for something I thought would put be in a good mood. I knew for a fact the Saints would try to put me in a bad one. We got in bed, turned on the Christmas tree. My fiancée brought in some mince pies with clotted cream and some hot chocolate. I was so ready for a movie like this.

I’m probably Gonna Piss People Off

By the time Jack Frost was done I felt tired, bored and hugely disappointed. Sure, it is bad. In fact, it is very bad. The thing is, however, it is acutely aware of how bad it is. It knows it sucks and there isn’t a single scene delivered without tongue in cheek. Movies that are so bad they are good are rarely this self aware. Tommy Wiseau genuinely believed he was making a great movie with The Room. He had no idea that it was bad. He certainly had no idea he was making the worst movie ever. The makers of Jack Frost definitely knew what they were doing.

If anything, I would say they were deliberately aiming for a cult following. Dialogue is so ridiculous and camera shots so poor that it has to be on purpose. The rubber model of Jack Frost is terrible. One second of seeing that on set would be enough to know exactly the type of film you are making. This film is a joke and it is very aware of that fact. The difference is, people who buy into it and make it a cult classic are the punchline. This isn’t Leprechaun . This isn’t Jason X . It is a movie that aimed for this exact type of reception and got it.

So Bad It’s Bad

My particular issue with the cult following for this film is that it is just bad. It isn’t so bad it’s good. Jack Frost isn’t unintentionally funny. It is just not a very good movie. I never once felt as though I was watching something that wanted to be decent. At least with movies like Jason X you can tell that there was an intention to make a good movie. That’s what makes bad films good. Jack Frost feels more like a money laundering project. It is incredibly low effort and designed to be silly and farcical. It is almost too self aware to be watchable.

Jack Frost is boring and an absolute chore to get through. It is cheap looking but not to the point where you really notice. Lines are delivered deadpan in a manner that is almost accompanied by a wink to the audience. Jack’s kill scenes are deliberately ridiculous. Wise cracks are uttered desperately hoping to stick in people’s heads for their silliness. All the while the plot drags on with only a few kills and a few boring false endings.

A Baffling Following

People are rolling up onto user review sites giving this movie 8s, 9s, and 10s. They seem to believe they are in on the joke. They get it, they appreciate the winks to the audience. Haters must be idiots for not realising that this film is supposed to be silly. Apparently people who dislike it just don’t get it.

Listen, I grew up with two video rental stores in my town. The only decent horror stuff they had were major releases. The rest was absolutely terrible, so bad they are good, movies. My horror sword was forged in the flames of laugh a minute, dog shit, b-movies. For a long time, VHS tapes with terribly drawn covers were all I knew. I love this type of thing. As much as some people think it is. As much as it wants to be. For me, Jack Frost ain’t it!

It is boring, slow paced, a chore to get through and painfully self aware. Jack Frost knows what it is. It was never trying to be good. It is a joke and that is all it was ever intended to be. The problem with that is that the joke isn’t funny. There are so many hilarious, awful, horror movies out there. Jack Frost is somewhere near the bottom of that list. I am not shitting on people for enjoying it. Personally, I wanted so badly to love it. I was hoping for The Room of comedy horror movies. I was hugely disappointed. If you love it and think it is so bad it is good, then I am happy for you. I just think it is so bad it is bad.

Is it a Knockout?

Jack Frost is a comedy horror movie that has become something of a cult classic. Featuring a serial killer being transformed into a murderous snowman. The kills, wise cracks and violence come thick and fast. Loved by many and considered to be "so bad it is good". I have to admit I don't get it.

As a big fan of awful horror movies. I went into this movie excited and looking forward to plenty of laughs. Despite this, I didn't enjoy it at all. Jack Frost feels far too self aware and deliberate to fit the bill. It knows what it is and goes to tremendous efforts to target itself to fans of these types of movies. For me, it is just a slow moving, boring horror that lacks in laughs. It feels like a chore to get through and has few of the elements that I love about awful horror movies. Some may love it and that is awesome. For me, however, it just left me bored and disappointed.

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Film review: jack frost (1997).

Charleston Picou 05/30/2018 Bad Movies

After an accident that left murderer Jack Frost dead in genetic material the vengeful killer returns as a murderous snowman to exact his revenge on the man who sent him to be executed

What if I told you that there’s a movie where a serial killer named Jack Frost is caught by a small town sheriff and later sentenced to death. Said killer swears revenge on that sheriff and that he’ll somehow find a way. Now, imagine, if you will, that the killer, while being transported to death row, nearly succeeds in escaping after causing the van he’s in to crash. However, he gets sprayed by genetic material when another crashed vehicles explodes. That material causes him to melt and reform himself into a being made out of snow. He then proceeds to try to get revenge on his original captor and slaughtering everyone in his way while looking like a snowman.

Does it sound like such a movie can’t exist? If so, then you haven’t been paying attention. Afterall, we live in a world where movies like Hell Comes to Frogtown and Dollman exists, so a film like Jack Frost with its ridiculous concept shouldn’t be any surprise at this point. The real question you should ask yourself is whether or not the movie is worth your time.

Jack Frost, as is common with low budget movies, is rife with bad acting, shoddy dialogue, and even shoddier special effects. There’s not much in the way of character development to be had either. However, that’s not the point. The movie was made with tongue firmly planted in cheek, so it wasn’t made to be taken seriously. That should be obvious when your main villain looks like an evil Frosty the Snowman. I’ll even give the movie some points in having a unique way of defeating the villain that makes about as much sense as anything else in the film. The killer is prone to delivering one-liners that managed to be just terrible enough to make you groan and chuckle at the same time. It’s all in good, campy fun before it takes a horrible, horrible turn.

There’s a scene where we see our villain sexually assault a woman while she’s trying to take a bath. After he’s done and kills the gal (played by Shannon Elizabeth), he makes a wisecrack about what he’s done. It’s the one event that actually brought my own enjoyment to a screeching halt. The act itself complete shatters the goofy tone the movie had set up so far, but what really makes it awful is that it’s set up like it’s humorous watching a snowman rape somebody. Not only is it not funny, but it’s equally disgusting and unnecessary. In the aftermath of the #metoo movement and Bill Cosby’s downfall, among other recent events, it seems even more tone deaf than ever before. And honestly, it wasn’t really all that acceptable when this movie first hit the video store shelves.

That’s the real downfall of the whole film. Until then, it was pleasantly on its track to being one of those “so bad it’s good” films, a guilty pleasure you can watch with some pals and have a laugh or two. Scott McDonald does a decent enough job as the titular villain, and he wasn’t to bad with delivering his character’s corny jokes. Christopher Allport played the hero sheriff, and he didn’t exactly hit the ball out of the park as far as his performance goes. However, he wasn’t so bad that he ruined the film. If I had to describe his contributions, I’d say his acting was “mostly harmless”. Sure, the rest of the cast tended to leave a lot to be desired, but anyone who’s watched enough B-movies has seen much worse. While the special effects were cheap looking, they were still done competently enough that you didn’t dwell so much on them. All the elements for fun were there.

It’s sad that a movie that could have been an enjoyable low-budget romp into ridiculousness had to resort to including an unnecessary sexual assault scene just so we can see a naked woman, and then sink so low to treat the whole thing like a joke. There are other ways to have some gratuitous nudity for the male audience to ogle, and none of them resort to trivializing rape. It’s enough for me to not recommend watching this one.

Tags 1997 Christopher Allport Eileen Seeley F. William Parker Jack Frost Michael Cooney Rob LaBelle Scott MacDonald Stephen Mendel

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Robert’s Review: Jack Frost (1997)

★★★ out of ★★★★★ It’s a holiday classic! This very B-grade movie overcame studio bankruptcy, anomalous weather, and the fact that it stars a goofy-looking 7-foot tall rubber snowman to achieve cult status as a direct-to-video release.

Directed by Michael Cooney

Ah, the cult classic. Sometimes — and, possibly, more times than not — they’re terrible movies. But there’s just something about them that we’re drawn to. They might be cheaply made, poorly shot, badly acted, or all of the above, but they still strike a chord and resonate with an unexpectedly large audience.

Jack Frost (1997) is just such a movie. And, no, I’m not talking about 1998’s Jack Frost starring Michael Keaton. I haven’t seen that one, but it sounds like it’s pretty much the same movie. Dead guy comes back to life as a snowman to take care of a few things he left unfinished when he died? Yep. Basically the same movie so just stick with the 1997 original.

The good Jack Frost is about a guy named… Jack Frost [Scott MacDonald; Jarhead (2005)]. Ol’ Jack happens to be an unusually prolific psychopathic killer who, by a stroke of misfortune, gets himself captured by Sam Tyler [Christopher Allport; To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)], sheriff of the rather rustic area known as Snowmonton County.

Poor Jack is quickly found guilty, sentenced to die, and we finally catch up with everyone on the eve of his execution. As Jack is being whisked to his date with destiny through blizzard-like conditions in the obviously very official “State Executional Transfer Vehicle,” the transport vehicle collides with a tanker truck from the obviously very shady GCC Genetic Research company. Jack Frost is doused with a crazy “acidic solution” and dissolves painfully into the snow.

But fear not, gentle reader! This is not the end of smilin’ Jack Frost. For, as everyone knows, if you’re ever exposed to weird chemicals from a genetics lab you just mutate into something fun and exciting! In Jack’s case, he becomes the snow — able to change from liquid to solid at will! Kinda like Zan of the Wonder Twins, but more murdery.

And if there’s one thing our Jack enjoys it’s being murdery! With his newfound powers and his ability to cleverly disguise himself as a 7-foot tall snowman, Jack Frost exacts his chilly revenge on the hapless citizens of Snowmonton; including his unsuspecting captor, Sheriff Sam.

First of all, this is a movie about a killer snowman. Snow -man. In order to get a nice wintery feel, the movie was filmed in Big Bear, California — a popular ski destination — in the middle of January. Unfortunately for the filmmakers, it was a drought year. Daytime temperatures in the mid-70s (around 24ºC) meant they had exactly zero snow for their production. Sheets of fluffy cotton and other synthetic snow replacements had to be used instead. Couple that with a main character that’s a pretty goofy looking rubber snowman and you start to get a feel for the caliber of the special effects we’re talking about.

Excusing weak effects (“they’re so bad they’re good!”) usually means other parts of the film can stand up on their own. With Jack Frost , the filmmakers’ decision to spend a larger chunk of their limited budget on actual actors truly pays off. Not that we’re talking about Oscar winning performances here, but all of the main roles are filled with veterans of film and TV. Even many of the actors in supporting roles — for example, shady genetics researcher, Dr. Stone [Rob LaBelle; Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)] and trusty sheriff’s department secretary, Marla [Marsha Clark; TV’s Guiding Light (1979-1984)] — had already been working in the industry for years.

Sure, there are a some newbies. Most notably Shannon Elizabeth [ Thir13en Ghosts (2001), the American Pie film series] who had the dubious honor of making “Jill Metzner” in Jack Frost her first real movie role (complete with infamous bathtub scene) before going on to bigger and better things. However, regardless of their experience level, all of the actors in this campy holiday horror did their very best to sell their roles and it shows.

Jack Frost feels like a low budget, B-movie extravaganza with nearly ridiculous special effects being made by a dedicated group of lunatics. It might be the campiest movie to come out of 1997, but cast and crew devote themselves to it like they’re working on a $40 million blockbuster. The offscreen fun being had in between takes bleeds over into the film making Jack Frost a ridiculous and inexplicably enjoyable experience.

You can find Jack Frost streaming at Amazon, if you’re so inclined, but if you’re like me and you wanted to own it for easy yearly holiday viewing, I would recommend checking out the beautifully restored Blu-Ray/DVD combo from our friends at Vinegar Syndrome .

Stay frosty!

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Review by Robert Zilbauer.

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JACK FROST (1997)

A serial killer by the name of Jack Frost is being transported to an executional facility to face the death penalty when the vehicle he’s in is involved in an accident. After escaping his confines, Jack is drenched by the crashed vehicle’s acidic load which melts away his body and fuses with the snow, bringing him back to life as a snowman. With revenge on his mind, Jack makes his way to the small town of Snowmonton where he intends to kill the Sheriff who locked him up.

Lord forbid if any parent mistakes this JACK FROST with the Micheal Keaton family friendly film of the same name. Instead of a heart-warming story, they’ll be greeted with this cheesy horror comedy about a killer snowman who makes his way around a small town killing off the townsfolk in various ways until he reaches his enemy – Sheriff Sam. It’s corny and daft and the film is very aware of this fact, hamming up the performances with its cringeworthy dialogue. However, it has immense fun poking fun at itself and the cast seem happy enough to indulge in these crazy shenanigans to entertain the viewer, even if it often feels like a slog to watch.

JACK FROST is essentially 90 minutes of puns. If a snowman rape-killing a woman (a pre- American Pie Shannon Elizabeth, no less) with his carrot nose repositioned down below floats your boat, then the subsequent “Looks like Christmas has come early” line will no doubt be the icing on the cake. The film is absolutely littered with puns and believe it or not, the longer the film goes on, the cornier they get. However, to give the film its due, the kill scenes featured in the movie are rather inventive and having a snowman as the antagonist makes for a hard-to-defeat enemy for the film’s characters to tackle, especially as he can shape shift into liquid and still survive.

Viewers will find more to titter about this film than scream, especially when the characters get up close with Jack Frost in his snowman form. During some of the fight sequences, where characters attempt to escape the icy grip of Frost, the snowman costume is clearly made from foam which only serves to tickle the audience further. It’s bad and it’s seemingly unashamed about it which firmly places JACK FROST in the “so bad it’s good” category. Despite this, I don’t think I could actually bare to sit through JACK FROST again.

If you’re looking for something daft to watch with friends whilst downing some beers on a Saturday night, then JACK FROST will certainly add to the hangover.

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While some holiday horror movies gain a cult following through their incredible use of mythology or slasher elements, others like  Jack Frost  become popular for their status as being "so bad, it's good."  The sub-genre isn't the most expansive, but there are definitely better movies available than Michael Cooney's 1997 flick. Here's why  Jack Frost remains one of the most beloved holiday horror movies of all time regardless of its poor critical reviews.

Jack Frost  follows the story of a convicted serial killer of the same name who evades his death sentence only to be transformed into a genetically modified snowman. His revenge plot unfolds throughout its entirety with borderline comical killings and bizarre character interactions. Following the release of the 1997 Christmas horror movie, it received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics, but this did not stop it from getting the sequel treatment. While Michael Cooney expressed interest in directing a third installment in the series, it has yet to come to fruition. The director planned to make Jack Frost into a  Godzilla - sized creature and title the movie  Jack Frost 3: The Last Coming.

Related:  Every Christmas Horror Movie Streaming In December 2020 (& Where To Watch)

There are several killer snowmen that exist in popular culture, but only three of which are full-length feature -  Jack Frost  and  Jack Frost 2  included. In 2017, Tomas Alfredson's psychological thriller  The Snowman   released with an equally poor response from critics as Cooney's movie. As of this writing, the original  Jack Frost  and Alfredson's movie have a 7% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but the 1997 feature has the upper-hand by having an unwavering cult following.

Jack Frost  gained cult status for its comedic aspects that Cooney set out to add to his low-budget horror movie. The kills are beyond ridiculous, as they are nonsensical and oftentimes feature characters going through several forms of weaponry before settling for and equally ridiculous object. Jack Frost shoots icicles out of his hand, slaps people with his snowy oven mitt shaped hand, and says phrases like  "one p***ed off snow cone."  Its almost fitting that  Scary Movie   actress Shannon Elizabeth portrays Jill Metzner, as  Jack Frost  is a horror comedy that's almost a parody of itself.

It is important to note that it gained an even larger following due to the release of 1998's fantasy drama  Jack Frost  starring Michael Keaton. Both movies feature a man who turns into a snowman. While the 1998 version is a family friendly movie about a father who bonds with his son as a living snowman, the other is a slasher flick. The juxtaposition of the two movies that share the same name and somewhat similar storyline adds an air of comedy when a false rumor spreads that Michael Keaton's  Jack Frost  was inspired by the serial killer. Ultimately, the main reasons that  Jack Frost  has gained a cult following is because of poor time, bad special effects, comical killers, and cheesy one-liners, which only adds to its charm.

There are plenty of incredibly horrifying holiday movies available in sub-genres featuring elements of slasher, paranormal, zombie, and other creatures, but nothing comes close to being as infamous as  Jack Frost.  It has a familiar comedic flare that can be located in movies such as  Silent Night, Deadly Night 2's   garbage day scene except amplified beyond belief.  Jack Frost  is more than deserving of its cult status, especially considering the fact that it didn't oversaturate the holiday horror market with too many sequels and was attentive to the ridiculousness of a snowman come to life to kill people.

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Jack Frost (1997 Video)

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Jack Frost (1997): The World’s Most P***ed Off Snowcone!

by Klaus Griffiths · Published December 13, 2023 · Updated December 13, 2023

This film is not to be confused with the other Jack Frost film from 1998. This Jack Frost was released in 1997 and is a black comedy, b-movie slasher. It spins the yarn where a crazed serial killer gets genetically fused with snow in a freak acid accident. He comes back from the dead, still homicidal as before his demise, as a crazed killer snowman!

Could this movie be a part of your Christmas tradition for years to come? Read on…

On a cold December night, a state execution transfer vehicle carrying notorious serial killer Jack Frost crosses into the quiet backwater town of Snowmonton. Jack had eluded police for years. Leaving a trail of 38 bodies across 11 states he is finally arrested by Sam Tiler, the local sheriff. This psycho maniac is scheduled to be executed at midnight. He manages to escape, after killing the guard, when the vehicle crashes into a genetic research truck.

Jack Frost is then sprayed by chemicals from inside the offending truck. This causes him to dissolve and fuse with the snow. Despite news reports of Jack’s demise, Sam cannot forget Jack’s threats of vengeance. The story of Jack Frost is a holiday b-movie horror which tells the story of a psychopath who returns from the dead. He becomes a mutant snowman, seeking revenge on those who wronged him.

Jack Frost is your typical b-movie horror. It’s choc-a-block with cheesy, over-the-top kills and campy dialogue. If this is your bag, then this is the movie for you. From the close-ups of the white-mittened hands of Jack Frost as he hacks and slashes prey, to the ridiculous genetic engineering plot line, this film is so bad it’s good.

Some may find the scene where Jack Frost kills Jill (played by Shannon Elizabeth) in poor taste. Frost rams Jill against the shower wall repeatedly, killing her in the process. His carrot nose missing from his face, insinuating it migrated beneath the belt. If this bothers you, despite my praise of the film above, you may want to give this one a miss.

I particularly enjoyed the opening credits. We hear a cockney narrator telling an overly gory story to a child. This reminded me much of the creepy caretaker, voice-acted by Nigel Planer, in the TV series Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids , who frames the story of each episode. This really cracked me up!

Overall, this film is pretty funny, and I would definitely watch it again. It is one of my favourite holiday-horror movies. If you like holiday horror, feel free to check out my list of R. L. Stine books to read this Christmastime . If you would like to watch this film, then you can currently watch it on Plex for free (with ads).

Tags: 1997 B-movie Christmas Direct-to-Video Holiday Horror Snowman

Klaus Griffiths

I am passionate about the 90s and everything horror, so I combined the two on this website.Want to read reviews, comparisons, and summaries about books, TV shows, films and video games from this amazing decade? I got you covered!

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Unfunny horror-comedy ‘Jack Frost’ (1997) shouldn’t be thawed

There’s nothing worse than an unfunny comedy. But in a close second place is an unscary horror movie. And next is a Christmas movie without any cheer. “Jack Frost” (1997) comes close to hitting the trifecta, but it does nominally look like Christmas, if one can forgive the fact that most of the snow is fake in this straight-to-video movie that seems to have a budget of $10.

But none of the jokes land, and writer-director Michael Cooney almost aggressively holds back on gore as a reincarnated serial killer snowman (Scott MacDonald and various props) terrorizes a small town in the mountains. Jack Frost quips like Freddy Krueger in his worst sequels as he plays out the plot of “Return of the Living Dead.”

The best thing I can say about the kill scenes is that they are achieved with practical effects; there’s zero CGI here. The downside is that Cooney often cuts away, sometimes leaving logic gaps. In the opening escape scene, we aren’t shown how Frost escapes his cuffs. Another scene uses Christmas tree lights and ornaments, but stages the kill with an obvious ragdoll standing in for the performer.

“Jack Frost” (1997)

Director: Michael Cooney

Writers: Jeremy Paige, Michael Cooney

Stars: Scott MacDonald, Christopher Allport, Stephen Mendel

From the start, “Jack Frost” cues us that it’s a broad and cheap farce. The van hauling Frost to his execution says State Executional Transfer Vehicle on the side panel. The first kill cues us that there will be little gore; it mostly happens off screen.

Too timid to be a dark comedy

Even a bathtub attack scene featuring Shannon Elizabeth ( “American Pie” ) aggressively dodges titillation with PG-rated camera angles as the snowman attacks (even though the film is rated R). If one is generous, there’s implied rape with the carrot nose, but it ain’t exactly nightmare fuel. Elizabeth is the only actor you’ve heard of, although hero sheriff Christopher Allport is a dead ringer for “The Evil Dead’s” Bruce Campbell, so that’s something.

“Jack Frost’s” best joke comes over the opening credits, with voiceovers by a storyteller and a “little girl.” The bedtime Christmas tale turns dark as we learn this Jack Frost isn’t jolly, he’s a serial killer. The details of what he does to his victims promise much more than the following events deliver.

A common joke is: What if this VHS tape got swapped at the video store with 1998’s “Jack Frost,” in which Michael Keaton is reincarnated as a friendly snowman? (This swap certainly must’ve happened somewhere.) Imagine the horrified kids, etc.

Despite what you can imagine, this film doesn’t deliver. Yet at the same time, “Jack Frost” is by no means family friendly. So who is the audience? Well, the filmmakers themselves – if not the actors, who professionally go through the paces – seem to be having fun. The closing credits are peppered with quotes, presumably said by people on the set, such as “Maybe it will snow tomorrow.”

A fresh snowfall can turn a crappy landscape beautiful, and ideally “Jack Frost” should’ve been buried. But as awful as it is, I bet it’s been a marketing success. It pops up toward the bottom of “best Christmas horror movies” lists simply because it exists, plus it has accidental cachet due to a mainstream movie of the same name coming out one year later. All I can do is show some holiday-season compassion and warn you away.

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Jack Frost Reviews

This is definitely one of the best from the Rankin/Bass team.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Apr 17, 2019

Jack Frost features some marvelously cracked creations... but the 1979 special's fairy-tale structure and flimsy integration of Groundhog Day folklore make for a bloated, quasi-magical mess.

Full Review | Dec 1, 2018

Nearing the absolute maximum threshold for strange, vaguely European mythical spirits and the dark magic they wield, "Jack Frost" is certainly more screwed up than it is festive.

It gets a little bogged down by its own insistence on worldbuilding, but if you make it to the final moments, you get one of the most moving things Rankin/Bass ever produced.

There's nothing inherently bad about the special, and it does have a number of entertaining songs.

Here's a special to show your kids if you want to teach them life is full of crushing disappointments.

The animators kept the borscht belt humor coming... in a fable that fits right in with the bedtime stories of Hans Christian Andersen.

Discovering good movies, one bad movie at a time

Jack Frost (1998)

Summer of blood: horror in the late '90s, or : snowman's land, connect with us.

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Jack Frost (1997) – Review

It should be made clear that at no point, in this movie, does Michael Keaton come back to life as a snowman to reconnect with his son, that is a completely different movie, though horrifying in its own right, while the film we will be looking at today is a low-budget slasher flick that came out in the late 90s, a film that featured a killer snowman who looked even less convincing than what you would find in the window of a dollar store at Christmas time.

Note: The opening credits are a nice nod to the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials.

There are a plethora of machete-wielding maniacs to keep fans of slasher films happy, from Jason Voorhees to Leatherface, but during the direct-to-video boom of the 90s one such killer would forever put his stamp on the genre, and that serial killer would be known as Jack Frost ( Scott MacDonald ), who during the opening narration we learn had a body count of thirty-eight victims across eleven states before finally being apprehended by Sam Tiler ( Christopher Allport ) the sheriff of the small town of Snowmonton . The film then takes a page from such notable horror films as Wes Craven’s Shocker and Don Mancini’s Child’s Play with the killer’s soul somehow being transformed into a supernatural entity, only instead of being made of electricity or stuck in a small doll, he has been fused with the surrounding snow. Wait a minute, doesn’t this sound a little like Spider-Man’s nemesis Sandman and his origin story?

“Please, do not call Marvel’s lawyers.”

The film opens with a State execution transfer vehicle colliding with a genetic research truck and it is here where Jack is exposed to chemicals from inside the truck, causing him to dissolve and fuse with the snow, and as mentioned, this is an origin that is not too dissimilar from that of Flint “Sandman” Marko or even Morris “Hydro-Man” Bench. That his name was Jack Frost, even before being turned into a living snowman, is also very comic book in nature and as we never learn if this was a name given to him by the media we must assume that this was his given name, it’s not like he committed cold-related murders prior to becoming a snowman and the idea of a name informing later super-abilities is right out of the Marvel playbook.

Jack Frost nipping at your intellectual property rights.

To be honest, this scene does run a little hot and cold.

One cannot claim this film to be anything other than a big goofy low-budget schlock horror film, and for that, I salute the end result. Michael Cooney was given lemons and he made a lemon-flavoured snow cone, thus he gave the world a film that entertained countless fans of the genre and even though the character of Jack Frost never quite reached the heights achieved by the likes of Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees it has since staked a claim as one of the more memorable Christmas horror movies out there, and it also gave us Shannon Elizabeth in her first acting role, in a film I find just as entertaining as American Pie .

Jack Frost (1979) – Review

• Movie Rank - 6/10 6/10

Many look down upon Jack Frost as this ludicrous killer snowman movie but for those that can embrace that selfsame goofy charm that Michael Cooney and company were able to create a lot of fun can be had.

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2 thoughts on “ Jack Frost (1997) – Review ”

One of the stupidest films ever made. How can it be fun to see innocent people butchered? Very disturbing and a waste of film.

why watch a horror movie if u didn’t want to see innocent ppl butchered dave

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The Wolfman Cometh

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Jack Frost (1997) [REVIEW]

TIT’S THE REASON, AM I RIGHT GUYS? That’s the thing people say? Tit’s the season? Okay guys I am just making jokes around here, okay? Since it is now December and we are getting closer and closer to Christmas, I figured it was time to review a movie that I never really wanted to sit down and watch because of how stupid it looked. When I was asking around on the internets and when I was looking at lists of best Christmas movies, Jack Frost kept popping up! I figured that if so many people were trying to tell me I should watch it to get in the spirit, maybe there was something there that made the movie worth it. Luckily, it was on Netflix Instant! Wahoo! Those guys should start paying me for all the promotion I do for them. Also, I love Michael Keaton! I’m happy to watch ANY movie he’s in, especially this movie where he is a dad who dies and turns into a snowman and says the phrase “I’m da snow-man!” or something.

This guy isn’t dead, he’s just chill-axing!!!!! I SHOULD HAVE WRITTEN THIS MOVIE!

After a voiceover tells the story of a murderer named Jack Frost, we see the aforementioned criminal being transported to prison. The car crashes, with it being winter and ice going crazy all over everything, and Jack is killed. Luckily, the prison truck crashed into a truck carrying some sort of science experiment involving mutation or nuclear radiation or whatever, it doesn’t really matter. Point is, Jack’s body combines with the magic goop coming out of this truck and the snow surrounding him, basically turning him in Sandman from the Spider-Man comics, but instead of sand, it’s snow. A killer snowman! He goes on a murderous rampage in a nearby town, and there are a LOT of snow/ice related puns. The local law enforcement try melting him, but obviously that doesn’t work because he just freezes again! What the fuck, you guys, don’t be idiots. That’s when they discover that the only thing that can destroy the snowman, for some reason, is antifreeze. I’m no rocket surgeon or anything, but I don’t really know how that worked in killing him, but it did! They buried the Jack Frost and covered him in open bottles of antifreeze so that way if he came to life, he’d get covered in that shit again. I think? Yeah, I think that’s what happens.

It’s okay guys, this is totally safe for work, you can’t see her nipples or his snowballs. HAHAHA SNOWBALLS!!!!!

I waited all the way through the credits and never saw Michael Keaton ONCE. What the fuck, guys, why would you do this to me. For what this movie is, which is something that’s really awful, it could’ve been worse. Every time you started getting REALLY bored, Jack Frost would pop up for some incredibly stupid death sequence involving a punny line of dialogue. Even though that sounds really dumb, and it is, it’s not like this movie was trying to take itself seriously or anything like that. And considering how many movies attempt to emulate this style of “so dumb, it’s entertaining” style of horror movie, this one could’ve been a lot worse. GUYS, I’M NOT SAYING IT’S GOOD, SHUT UP, IT’S AWFUL, I’m just saying that I was able to sit through it and moan and groan at how obvious the puns were. Even though the delivery of this movie wasn’t that good, and the scientific justification of his creation/demise made no sense, the idea of a villain who is bonded with water molecules is actually pretty creepy. Think about it! How would you kill him?! Even if you boiled him, he’d just float around in the atmosphere and then join together with other water droplets and live forever! I guess you could freeze him to be really, really cold, but come on guys, like THAT’S believable. Oh yeah, let’s not forget that Shannon Elizabeth was in this and it is credited as her first “acting” role but I don’t think I saw her do any acting! Hahahaha! Take THAT, Nadia! Even if she wasn’t acting in it, you did get to see her wearing some crazy ass (pun intended) high-waisted thong that I suppose was intended to be sexy? Man, the 90’s were weird.

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GAMES, BRRRAAAINS & A HEAD-BANGING LIFE

Horror Movie Review: Jack Frost (2022)

Jack Frost (not that one ) aka Curse of Jack Frost has an air of familiarity to it. Coming from Jagged Edge Productions and featuring a story from Craig McLearie and starring genre-regulars Sarah T. Cohen and Nicola Wright. Although Liana Failla does make her directorial debut here.

We’ve seen and reviewed a lot of movies that come under the Jagged Edge Productions. A mixed bag of movies that rotate and utilise a select number of writers, directors, and actors. Meaning, the more of them you see, the more they begin to meld together. Similar styles, familiar setups and story beats, reoccurring characters, and more.

It’s both comforting and off-putting because the quality in movies does vary.

Jack Frost sits somewhere in the middle. A dark supernatural story with little in the way of holiday cheer, a strong backstory to the villain and good performances from the cast. However, the movie runs out of steam early on and ends up transforming into a disappointing rethread of slasher movies we’ve seen time and time again. Even if the Christmas theme makes it more enjoyable.

A long time ago, the evil Jack Frost and Santa Claus went to war. The former would end up losing, having his body dismembered and hidden across the globe. However, Jack’s disciples were many and they have been looking to resurrect him ever since. Eventually gathering all his body parts expect his hand, which allows a young woman named Lesley to do battle with him and win.

Jack Frost was defeated but it’s only a matter of time before he tries to come again.

It’s actually a really good introduction. Setting up Jack Frost as the ultimate villain and giving him a weighty backstory and strong motivation.

We then jump to 50 years later and Lesley (Sylvia Clegg) refuses to celebrate Christmas, fearing the return of Jack Frost. Her family have just kind of played along, up until now. A family friend is visiting, and she’s never had the experience of a family Christmas, so they have decided to make it special for her. Much to the annoyance of Lesley.

Of course, this will turn out to be a mistake as Jack regains his power and sets out to get his revenge. If he can just get his final body part back, he will be whole again and the entire world will be covered in a permanent Winter darkness.

A very game cast, a strong villain that has the banter and quips to rival Freddy Kruger, impressive imagery, and imaginative kills. All of this is what keeps Jack Frost ticking along nicely. Even when the story begins to splutter and cough as it runs out of steam.

The less interesting parts of the film, namely the family drama, is just about made bearable because of the cast. However, the whole experience is improved whenever it focuses on the villain of the piece.

Ok, he’s not going to become a horror icon or anything, even if there’s a sense that they’d sure like that to be the case. He’s given plenty of life by actor Stephen Staley, and the cheesiness of his on-screen appearance having a rock soundtrack, is delightful. However, the slasher formula he slips into, as it goes on, doesn’t hold enough supernatural weight to keep things interesting. Even if the low-budget is used impressively well and the holiday-themed deaths do entertain.

The strong acting, likable characters and titular villain aren’t enough to overshadow the slow parts, but there is fun to be had here. Even when it isn’t lighting up the screen, there’s enough holiday horror going on to keep most lightly entertained.

Owner/Administrator/Editor/Writer/Interviewer/YouTuber - you name it, I do it. I love gaming, horror movies, and all forms of heavy metal and rock. I'm also a Discworld super-fan and love talking all things Terry Pratchett. Do you wanna party? It's party time!

Jack Frost (2022)

• The Final Score - 5.5/10 5.5/10

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