JACK FROST

Christmas is just around the corner when a police van carrying a dangerous serial killer destined for the electric chair (Jack Frost) crashes into a truck carrying chemical substances. After the accident, the serial killer manages to escape, but during the escape he is hit by the chemical waste and his DNA will merge with the snow covering the road, transforming into a menacing killer snowman. Intent on continuing his work as a killer, Jack Frost will head to a small mountain town and it will be up to the local sheriff (directly responsible for the killer's arrest) to stop the murderous madness of the snowman. As easily deduced from the plot, we have nothing to do with the 1998 film of the same name starring Michael Keaton, no, this "Jack Frost" is not a bittersweet, do-gooder, family-friendly fairy tale (like the Keaton film) but is purely a horror film and, despite being from 1996, it has not yet managed to find any distribution in our country. "Jack Frost" is a film that could be comfortably categorized under "trash," but if it must be considered as such, it should be specified that it is a rather dignified "trash" that manages to alternate moments of pure horror with moments full of irony. Of course, what most strikes and intrigues about this film is not the story, but rather the antagonist, Jack Frost; a character who, in addition to fascinating aesthetically thanks to an unusual and effective rendering, also fascinates in his bizarre and comic-book-like genesis. Jack Frost, in fact, comes to life in a manner similar to many "villains" known in comics and as such he is portrayed to us, that is, as a man (before becoming a snowman) so slimy and evil as to be implausible and who, after death, uses to his advantage what killed him. Even in choosing the name, he follows the classic tradition typical of comics, a name that has a good assonance with the surname and that, at the same time, has a relevant meaning; Jack Frost is indeed the name that Americans use to call their snowmen. As previously mentioned, the film, despite being a true horror, decides (rightly) to treat the subject with a certain irony that never hurts, indeed it greatly benefits the final result, because it would have been very difficult and ridiculous to treat with too much seriousness a subject that sees as its protagonist a snowman who goes around killing anyone who crosses his path. Good also is the directorial performance of Michael Cooney, who will also take on the role of director for the second chapter "Jack Frost 2 - Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman" and the acting of the actors, among them stands out the face of a young Shannon Elizabeth ("American Pie," "13 Ghosts") here in her first performance. Among the other strong points is the choice to include sufficient doses of gore and a lot of imagination in the murders, all of this so that the "dish" is digested even better by horror lovers; but among the many positive aspects, some small black spots can also be found, among these the very fake realization of the snowman! Surely this was imposed by the meager budget, but if you look at the work under the right optics, this problem will not be so relevant. In conclusion, this "Jack Frost" is a curious and nice film, but before watching it, the viewer must regress to the mental age of ten. If you thought you had seen everything in a horror film, if you had a cyclic conception of the genre, if you thought that everything had already been treated in a horror film, you were wrong and this "Jack Frost" is the clear proof. Worth watching, a true trash gem!