I've been a Troma fan ever since I was a small child, and I can say with confidence that the majority of the company's non-Lloyd Kaufman films tend to be
well, junk. I've wasted many, many hours of my life wading through some of Troma's most despicable pictures, but every once in a while I have the luck to stumble upon a true hidden gem, and "Frostbiter: Wrath of the Wendigo" is one of them.
Despite the "terror" that the DVD box promises us, "Frostbiter" is most definitely a comedy. More so, it's a straight-up parody of the "Evil Dead" movies: after a decades-long curse is disrupted, an army of ghouls and demonic forces see fit to attack the residents of a remote cabin in the woods, and before you know it, one of our shotgun-toting heroes has lost his right hand and a giant stop-motion tree-like monster is attacking the cabin. Just about every major plot point from "Evil Dead" 1 and 2 is spoofed, but it's all done with a knowing wink n' smile, and all approached in the same Raimi-esquire Three Stoogian fashion.
Yes, it's stupid, and no, it doesn't adhere to anything remotely resembling logic, but it's consistently entertaining, and that's mostly because it's considerably well-made for its minuscule budget. The jokes, although mostly low-brow, are funny, the editing keeps the manic comic pace constant throughout the film, and the cinematography is rather good, especially during the action scenes: whenever one of those puppets comes to assault the protagonists, the camera goes into "Coen Brothers mode", whipping around frenetically, exaggerating close-ups, skewing perspectives
although said rubber puppets are insanely silly-looking and hardly plausible, one can't help but get involved in the scene.
As with any low-budget picture, though, "Frostbiter" suffers from uneven acting: some of the actors were decent enough, but a few were distractingly terrible. At the center of the cast is Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton, who goofily hams up each of his scenes, coming off as a mix somewhere between a hyper Bill Murray and a subdued Chris Farley. Asheton isn't the best actor, no, but his sheer over-the-top presence seems to fit the zany tone of the movie quite well, and works excellently in comparison to the rest of the cast, who play their roles straight.
'Frostbiter: Wrath of the Wendigo' isn't the best Troma film, nor might it appeal to everyone within the Troma fan base, but it's certainly one of their better horror-comedies, and definitely worth a look for fans of offbeat horror or the "Evil Dead" series.
