Below Zero

Below Zero is geared for those who are 16 and older. This film is OK for background for a teen party, teen get-together for something other than to concentrate on a movie. Just noise. I found the movie dull and boring. In order to keep it on, I had to do other things while watching Below Zero. No popcorn popper here. The story is dull. I suppose the actors try their best, but cannot save a bad movie. The sets are dull and boring.It is not as bad as Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, but it is not that far away. Below Zero is a very low budget movie. Whatever money is/was received at the box office should amount to pure profit since not much money was poured into the making of this film. I give this movie two thumbs up, which may be one too many, but I felt generous remembering Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes.

Sounded like a great idea; a guy with writer's block decides, with his agent's blessing, to get locked into a slaughterhouse, so that he will have no distractions while he completes the script for a horror movie; forget it, this doesn't work at any level. Edward Furlong is fine as the writer, but the story is ridiculous and the format annoying beyond belief. At the start, Furlong is in truck being driven by a woman who is doing a dead on impression of the Frances McDormand's character from Fargo. This is not anywhere near that great Coen brother masterpiece. The movie flashes back and forth between Furlong typing on his laptop and a bald bad guy who looks like he has been in the sun too long, cutting up people with an axe and a hacksaw. The writer puts himself and a woman trapped by the unnamed villain. There is also a little boy who never speaks. The whole thing makes no sense, and the ending is dumb. Do not waste your valuable time on this tedious film.

The only thing going for this movie, worth at most 3 stars, is the cute and versatile actress Kristin Booth. The rest of the horror is a patchwork of scenes from every slasher film you've ever seen mixed with every evil kid film you've ever seen. The concept was original, but the execution, pardon the pun, was disastrous.

We go through some amazing plot twists in both the "real world" and the movie within a movie. I found it funny when the characters had to figure out what to do next and ended up looking through the pages Jack had typed. And it's not the only time they break the fourth wall.

In a flashback we do learn about the other character which the actor playing Gunnar was. He's very different but still scary looking.

The ending was quite unexpected (to me, anyway) but very satisfying.

The movie within a movie is somewhat effective as a B horror movie. Michael Berryman is a very frightening and intimidating villain, yet loving as a father, in his own way. The young actor quite creepy for a kid. Kristin Booth is very convincing when she is cold, but frightened? Not as talented in that situation. She's better in her "real world" role.

I've heard the name Edward Furlong. He's pretty good, I guess. Nothing overly distinctive.

I felt comfortable with Michael Eisner. He was sort of the voice of reason when he could be.

The "real world" has its own interesting suspense qualities. And there is occasional comedy in both.

This most definitely isn't for kids. The sound went out a lot since this was broadcast TV. I know what that means. And that's just the bad language. Maybe when cleaned up for TV, some kids can handle it.

Is this any good? Well, it's different.

BELOW ZERO is a thinking person's mystery horror. A scriptwriter, Jack the Hack, has writer's block and arranges to be locked in a slaughterhouse freezer until he comes up with a script. Believe it or not, scriptwriter Signe Olynyk tells me she also did this when writing the movie. On screen, the story is dramatised for us as Jack writes, so we have two on-screen narratives: Jack's world (think, Fargo) and that of the alter ego in his story (think Saw). As he considers various re-writes, the story within a story changes. But a third story is at hand: that from Jack's own psyche. His basic plot, surprise surprise, is someone accidentally being locked in a freezer, in a building owned by a serial killer. But, if you can stand back from the subsequent on screen gore, there's maybe time to work out what's really happening! This Kaufmanesque horror story keeps you on your toes all the way through. Signe doesn't recommend new writers try the freezer trick at home, but she does run a scriptwriters' workshop, Pitchfest (www.pitchfest.com), and invites any budding writers reading this to get in touch with her.