Blutgletscher

Overall I would say that much of the best this film has to offer is within the roughly last 20 or so minutes of it's run-time. This is were the director really seems to shine in his creativity giving us some seriously fun and crazy moments. So I would say if your up to digging through some fairly bog standard and outright boring scenes to get to some interesting and pretty enjoyable moments then I would recommend checking out Blood Glacier. Otherwise there is just not to much this film has to offer either for the casual viewer or the hardcore horror fan and left me with an overall feeling of meh.

Walking through my local DVD shop I came across this title, "The Station". Quite plain sounding, but it was the comment at top of the case that caught my attention; "A slice of horror reminiscent of John Carpenter's 'The Thing' ". Being at massive fan of that film, I decided to take the chance and in some regards the Austrian made "The Station" comes close. Hey I even enjoyed it more than the prequel / remake that came out a year or two back. What it has in common with Carpenter's film is more so the ice setting, an unknown threat that is a single-form alien organism transforming the local wildlife into gigantic monster mutations and hybrids. It's like "Day of the Animals", but on steroids! Then there's the ending that only paints the apocalyptic mood playing out. This is a basic straight-face creature-feature at heart with a climatic cautionary warning, which tells a simple story that effectively lays it out with a strong grizzled protagonist (a very solid showing by Gerhard Liebmann), well timed suspense, gruesome thrills and a sense of mystery of mankind's fate. The final frame of the film is surprisingly effective in its suggestion, but they spoil it on an uncalled for tacky jump scare.

The premise is far from unique and quite down-pat; a group of scientists/ technicians discover a glacier of blood (an inspired image when shown) high in the mountains, which after testing the liquid discover it contains an alien organism. As they try to survive and hold up against the effects of this organism, on a hiking trip to the station for an official visit is the Minister of the Environment.

The feature is slickly photographed (despite some shaky camera movement early on) and makes excellent use of its vast, breathtaking backdrop. There's a definite sense of isolation and uneasiness, but never does it struck a feeling of claustrophobia and dread. The tension seems to unfold from threatening situations and the punctuated shocks. Its momentum is fairly sedate, but it becomes crazy, excessively so as it goes along and the director keeps a fairly tight hold.

What I got a kick out of was that CGI was virtually little, if unseen, opting mainly for traditional special effects and they do pay-off. The creature designs are creative and horrific with beetle-fox hybrids, giant wood lice, flying crossbreeds. There's a whole range of beasties… and they're not friendly. Squamish moments are plentiful and there a creepy developments. While the generic script doesn't over feed itself, still it had some issues like an appearance of a sudden character for them to only disappear with a poor explanation. The performances are adequate, without anyone really standing out, other than Liebmann.

Clichéd, but fun, strange sci-fi / horror monster romp.

And the title "Blood Glacier" sounds so much better.

Really, how many movies feature ibexes, let alone a mutant ibex-fly that gets a drill in the noggin by a feisty granny? This may entice you to watch "Blood Glacier" next time you see it in the Netflix lineup of terrible, terrible horror/scifi movies. If you dimly remember having heard about this Alpine tale of terror, it's worth a six-pack and a bag of chips.

While beautifully photographed, offering amazing views of bleak ice and mountains, this movie hasn't got a clue what it wants to do. Convince you of global warming? Scare you with mutant hybrid creatures that look like stuffed animals you'd win at a carnival? Tear your heart out with thwarted love and dog death? Make you laugh uproariously at the absolutely insane behavior of "smart" scientists? Teach you not to cry while eating bananas? BG is all this, and more.

Throw these movies into a blender: The Thing, Alien, Day of the Animals, Old Yeller, Sound of Music, and that moldy oldie from the 50s, Night of the Blood Beast (the very first movie to speculate that humans make great hosts for birthing alien infants). Turn on blender. Wait about 80 minutes. Pour out your scifi smoothie and wonder how this ever got made. Take a drink of your liquid every time someone says "rabid fox", which in German sounds like "rabbit fuxes". Tack on one of the strangest endings you'll ever see and wonder if someone slipped LSD into your movie smoothie. No kidding.

Pray there's no sequel. Four stars for insanity. One star for Tinni, the best goshdarn dog actor in the world. One star, because ibexes. Six is the magic number for this smelly sausage of a movie that features someone walking around a glacier in dirty underpants.

Enjoy the schadenfreud!

BLOOD GLACIER is an eco-horror film with a definite vibe similar to that of John Carpenter's THE THING. Is it as good as Carpenter's classic? Well, no, but it's not bad.

At a remote outpost in the Austrian Alps, a team of climatologists uncover the titular phenomenon. Terror ensues when the effects of the glacier begin to take their toll on the local wildlife, causing bizarre, highly-dangerous mutations.

The human characters are mostly forgettable, except for Gerhard Liebmann, who plays Janek, the Kurt Russell-type antihero of the story. Also, Brigitte Kren is memorable as the no-nonsense Minister. She has some of the best lines, including the hilarious, "Stop eating that banana while you're crying!".

The mutant / hybrid monsters are fairly well-realized, using both practical and CGI effects. So, if you can overlook some goofiness, this should provide a decent evening's entertainment...

Yes this is heavily inspired by The Thing (the Carpenter Remake that is from the 80s) and yet it does somewhat try to tell a different and own story. If you are into creature features, if you like well done special effects in movies and are not afraid or squeamish when it comes to blood and gore ... well I wonder why you are still reading this and haven't started watching the movie yet? All kidding aside, yes this is not an instant classic, but it doesn't need to be either.

Yes characters sometimes paper thin and decisions are bad at times, if not completely crazy. But that's the way things go down. You are here for the horror, the blood, the make up and the tension. Welcome and enjoy ...