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.

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.

While I do not like most of Syfy's movies, I do watch them to see if there are any decent ones or any with novelty value. Ice Quake isn't a terrible movie and Syfy have certainly done much worse. The scenery is quite striking, the story was interesting in concept and to start with, Brendan Fehr is cute, charming and does show at least a bit of charisma and the female didn't grate on me or strike me as too bland. However, Ice Quake isn't particularly good either. The acting, excepting the leads, is nothing to rave about, and I also couldn't connect to most of the characters, so much so towards the end I honestly didn't really care about whether they lived or died. The effects are rather generic, the film does have some dodgy flashlight technology and while it is not as bad as other Syfy movies there are many inconsistencies and errors, the one regarding the methane is just one of these. The direction and pace are both uneven, there are times when the direction is tolerable but others when it is sloppy and hackneyed and in regards to the pace the middle drags and the end feels rushed, while the script is really quite poor and clichéd. Overall, Ice Quake has its moments but it is nothing great. 4/10 Bethany Cox

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.

Ice Quake is another SyFy Channel film so as always keep expectations low.

Two geologists (one dressed as Santa) investigate tremors on a mountain when a deep crack appears with some shimmering effects indicating some kind of gas escaping which freezes one of the geologist jumping over the crack. The mountain is releasing sub zero methane gas via earthquakes which causes avalanches placing nearby towns in danger.

Brendan Fehr is up in the mountains with his family looking for Christmas trees but ends up battling for survival as ice geysers spew and quakes occur unleashing avalanches leading him to deal with various problems. Victor Garber lends respectability as the Colonel trying to locate Fehr.

Its a rather poor film, quickly shot, below average special effects and some bad science.