Frozen Scream (1975) – A Movie A Day 2021 #46
Frozen Scream (1975) – A Movie A Day 2021 #46
Today I was trapped inside by an unprecedented winter storm with some of the lowest sustained temperatures in decades for where I live, so my daily movie search ended on a movie titled Frozen Scream. It’s not a good movie, and the Tubi plot summary was entirely misleading, so I didn’t have a very good time with it. Tubi (and the IMDB plot summary) promised me frozen zombies killing people, but that’s not at all what I watched. Allow me to explain.
Frozen Scream is about two scientists who hope to unlock the key to immortality. Their experiments have led them to injecting people with some sot of serum that heals them while reducing their body temperatures to slow the aging process. The procedure increases hostility in some subjects, and those people are the “frozen zombies” described in the various synopses I read. There are a few murders in Frozen Scream, but it isn’t anything like the zombie violence I was hoping for. It was really just guys in black robes swinging something, then a cut to a shot of some blood on the victim. The production values are almost non-existent, and that makes the little action there is completely baffling. It’s really hard to tell what’s going on a lot of the time until the action is already done with.
The story focuses on a detective, Kevin McGuire, as he investigates the disappearance of a few medical students. His ex-girlfriend, Ann, is a medical student who is unknowingly mixed up in the scientists’ zombie plot, and the action focuses on Kevin and Ann as they try to solve the mystery before becoming frozen zombies themselves. It’s a fine premise, but the presentation makes the movie rather difficult to watch.
As I stated above, any action in the movie is edited in a way that is more confusing than exciting. There is also narration by Kevin throughout the movie, but it seems like this was added in later because not enough footage was shot for the movie to make sense. Kevin explains exactly what he’s thinking and what is happening, and his narration often covers dialogue spoken by the characters in the scene. It’s really odd to watch. I enjoy poorly made b-movies, but Frozen Scream felt like it tried its best to keep the audience at a distance from what was happening. There were some neat ideas and likeable images, but overall it was a tough watch.