Depredador Ártico

Over the opening credits, a meteor crashes into Earth's Arctic Circle. The year is 1825 and the object is observed by a ship's crew. A glassy, humanoid insect-type creature emerges from the snow nearby and viciously begins killing off the crew. Obviously, this monster had a very bad trip… We quickly move 145 years into the present. A descendant of the ship's journalist is looking for the wreckage of "The HMS Fury". He is unshaven and adventurous Dean Cain (as James Clark "J.C." Ross). The ex-Superman TV series star finds the ship and starts to excavate. Unfortunately, the icy creature is also unearthed – and it is still really, really mad. Writer Rafael Jordan includes an interesting angle for Mr. Cain's character. Also, a "seeds of life" explanation is scientifically sound. However, there is nothing special about this story. Most of the time, you can see the cast and crew struggle to be believable on single takes and budget constraints.

*** Arctic Predator/ Frost Giant (8/7/10) Victor Garcia ~ Dean Cain, Steven Waddington, Lucy Brown, Louisa Clein

Well, for a movie of this particular type and caliber, I have to admit that I have seen worse. That being said, I am not saying that "Frost Giant" is a movie that shines and is outstanding. But it is enjoyable in itself for what it is; a low budget Sci-Fi horror movie.

The story is about a strange celestial creature that brought about the demise of explorers aboard a ship named The Fury. A strange creature made from ice, a creature that feeds on heat. In present time, JC (played by Dean Cain) is at the autumn of his grant, running out of possibilities to find this eluding ship that is somewhere beneath the arctic ice. And as luck would have it, the expedition finds the ship, but finds what is buried along with it as well.

Storywise, then "Frost Giant" is adequate. Not the best and most brilliant of story lines, but still entertaining for what it is. It is a fairly generic and stereotypical build up of the story.

As for the acting, well people were doing alright with their given roles and characters.

The special effects... Well, they were there, but they weren't outstanding, nor were they particularly great. The creature itself was nice in design, but the concept of it being made of ice, yet feeding on heat, not really that thought through.

The title of the movie, now that I don't really understand. Giant? There was no giant here, and the creature was just a tad taller than a properly build adult male. I can understand the "Arctic Predator" title, but "Frost Giant"? No, not really.

"Frost Giant" is the type of movie that you watch once, most likely out of sheer boredom and because nothing else better is available. Then you quickly forget about it, never to watch it again...

The claustrophobic setting of the story is the best thing this movie has going for it. It's a typical unthinking killing machine monster flick, and seizes material from similarly themed older movies, but it's good enough to kick back with some microwave popcorn and watch.

It's in the Arctic or Antarctic somewhere and a group of scientific investigators at an outpost out there find themselves at the mercy of a weird being that looks like Jack Frost's evil twin. It feeds on energy, so it likes fire and labs and people and stuff. Characters get knocked off in the order painted on their foreheads, while the remaining ones try to figure out a way to get rid of the thing in time. Their only clue on how to do this: a century-old diary.

The acting and direction for a low budget movie are pretty decent, and the movie has its moments. Overall not bad, considering it was free.

A group led by Dean Cain is searching for a long-lost ship in the Arctic and unwittingly unleashes an alien creature that looks like it's made of ice. It is drawn to any heat source, human beings included. A couple of scenes are faintly reminiscent of THE THING, but this is a paint by the numbers plot where we simply wait to see whom the monster will kill next. The monster itself is unimpressive, resembling something from an old Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer cartoon. I have seen Dean Cain in several other no-budget TV movies like this, and often wonder how he ever ended up in them. He isn't a bad actor. So I assume he has a bad manager.

Arctic Predator belongs in the not good, but also not bad category. Watching this film I couldn't help thinking of a mix of Alien, Predator and The Thing, except not as good as either of those movies. As far as SyFy movies go, it's not among the best or worst, but there's nothing exceptional about Arctic Predator at the end of the day. The photography is pretty good, the direction is efficient and the acting is decent particularly from Dean Cain. The effects aren't so good, the CGI digger looks absolutely horrible and the monster of the title is a cheap version of Jack Frost's evil twin. The story has moments of suspense, but overall it is dull and predictable, I mention was the prolonged battle with the tractor necessary. The script has a very stilted nature to it, and the characters I just didn't care for. Overall, left me cold but it wasn't a complete and utter waste of time like I was expecting it to be. 4/10 Bethany Cox