Ice Quake

a new sci-fi channel (don't you hate calling it sy-fy? i sure do.) Christmas adventure set on a potentially volcanic Alaskan mountain that spawns earthquakes, endless, bottomless fissures and avalanches, as well as spewing uber-cold gas that freezes things instantly. will the brave scientist and his family (who just happen to be out getting their Christmas tree at the time) get out in time and find a way to stop the chaos before the town is destroyed? we sure hope so. this would make part of great night of icy movies with "frozen" and then "ice spiders", which was the CGI sci-fi channel movie from last year around this time. i actually kind of liked this one; they don't really get around to telling you what the problem is right away, and there aren't nearly enough scary movies full of death and destruction set during the holidays.

Two names in the film industry are known for creating bad movies, really bad movies and movies so bad they're good. The first is Asylum pictures, they are responsible for movies including Mega Piranha (2010), Titanic II (2010) and Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus (2009). These movies are often shown on the SyFy channel. The second is the SyFy channel itself. They make and distribute TV Movies such as Sharktopus (2010) and Collision Earth (2011). However both of these film companies sometimes deliver the goods. They are known to cast well known actors, many of them may be only doing the film for an easy pay check but they often put in a great over the top performance. A good example is the great Michael Madsen in Piranhaconda (2011).

Ice Quake is a SyFy movie so instantly I didn't have great expectations for this. But every now and then when watching a film you have to "slum" it. You can't watch blockbusters all the time, sometimes you need a cheesy movie night!

As I said, I had no expectations for a great movie and I was fully expecting very dodgy effects and terrible acting, however this one didn't turn out too bad.

The film starts off with two geologists investigating unexplained earth tremors on a mountain. Suddenly a crack appears and a strange gas escapes from the ground instantly freezing anything that touches it. It turns out to be liquid methane and if it escapes it will destroy all life on earth! May sound far-fetched but from SyFy, the company behind Dinocroc vs. Supergator (2010), this movie is very tame.

The film stars Brendan Fehr as Michael Webster, a geologist and Holly Elissa as his wife Emily. Jodelle Ferland & Ryan Grantham play their children. The cast also includes Victor Garber, Rob LaBelle, Marsha Regis, Sharon Taylor & Kurt Max Runte. All have quite impressive film resumes and you will probably have seen most of them on something else. All the actors in this do an above average job for a TV movie, but I don't think this will be the highlight of their careers!

The setting of the film is great with the impressive scenery of the Alaskan mountains used to great effect. Speaking of effects these were some of the better ones used in the movies made by SyFy. However I guess they didn't have to spend the effect budget on crazy monsters like in Dinoshark (2010), so they had a little more to play with here. The only really dodgy effect was the supposed satellite image of the underground methane.

There are many plot holes in this but after all it is a TV Movie not a big blockbuster. These films are made to entertain you when you can't decide on anything else to watch. This one manages that, just. It is a throwaway movie but there are far worse ones out there. If it is on and you can't decide on anything else to watch, this will pass an hour and a half of your time.

As I said before, this is one of the better SyFy films. I think it is too much to hope that they will keep getting better. But with their future film "Jersey Shore Shark Attack" coming this June, who knows!?

ICE QUAKE is an extraordinarily poor SyFy Channel disaster movie that sees a river of liquid methane causing the very landscape to split and shift in Alaska. Inevitably, a scientist and his family happen to be caught up in the natural disaster and must fight to survive nature's onslaught.

So far so ordinary for the SyFy Channel, but this one is exceptionally poor compared to most of their movies in this sub-genre. There's not one distinguished cast member here, just a bunch of no-name actors giving boring performances. The characters are underwritten to the point of non-existence and there's way too much crying and screaming going on.

The entire narrative consists of repetitive scenes of people trying to flee when the ground splits and cracks open to emit clouds of boiling methane. The CGI effects are horrendous beyond belief and there's something mind-numbingly repetitive in the way the same incidents befall the same characters over and over again. Even fans of these low rent disaster flicks should avoid it...

For a SyFy movie, then "Ice Quake" took me by surprise and gave me a good, cold shake. This movie, unlike so many other SyFy movies, had a solid story, that you easily emerged yourself into, and it had good characters.

The movie boasts a couple of good actors as well, which help to bring the overall enjoyment up. These are Brendan Fehr (playing Michael Webster) and Victor Garber (playing colonel Bill Hughes). These two were the ones carrying the movie. But there were other good performances as well, the two children did good jobs as well; Jodelle Ferland (playing Tia Webster) and Ryan Grantham (playing Shane Webster).

As for the story, then it was a captivating and interesting story, as SyFy movie stories go, anyway. Subterranean methane in gas and liquid form are wrecking havoc on the snow-clad, frozen north. As as always in these type of disaster movies, it is up to a very small group of people to save the day. We have all seen these story lines before, so there is nothing new to be seen here. But still, it works well enough for the movie.

The effects in the movie were actually quite good for a SyFy movie. I liked them and they, for most parts, seemed real enough. And having good effects does help to elevate the enjoyment of a movie.

If you like natural disaster movies, then you should give "Ice Quake" a chance, despite it being a SyFy movies. SyFy does put out a lot of well-below average movies, but once in awhile they do come out with something good. And "Ice Quake" is one of those good movies.

Geysers of ice are erupting in Alaska near the city of Fairbanks. They seem to be moving, and if not stopped could cause great peril for the families on Christmas.

I could make lots of complaints about this film (and will shortly). But I want to say that despite all the bad things, it was still enjoyable and used far less CGI than typically seen in a SyFy film. I appreciate that they seem to know the film will be cheesy and try not to make it more than it is. I see too many films that take themselves seriously and just end up being boring (most recent example -- "Don't Let Him In"). This one is a fun movie.

That being said, it has some questionable aspects. You have a father far too young to be the parent of a teenager. You have methane gas causing people to die just by touching it. You have Alaska, on Christmas Eve, with bright green grass. Methane apparently does not dissipate after causing cracks to the surface and can be directed by explosions...

As far as preparation, Brendan Fehr explains, "We have about two weeks max and usually about a week before the whole thing gets rolling." So it is a very quick process from landing a role to filming. So you have to give a little bit of credit to Fehr and co-stars for picking up the characters quickly, knowing the lines, working against events that are not really there... and not getting paid much to do it.

I would still recommend this... to a point. It is not award-winning, it is not the best film of the year (or even the month). But it is a good party movie. This is the kind of film you can enjoy with a friend, a beer and a pizza. You do not have to pay close attention to grasp the plot. And sometimes that is okay.