Attempting to have a relaxing vacation ice-fishing on a remote lake, a man and his family get caught up in a fellow fisherman's quest to land the prehistoric monster terrorizing the lake after they get stranded with the creature and must find a way to survive the creature's attacks.There's not a lot to like about this one. One of the biggest faults here is the fact that there's just no screen-time for the main beast to be seen, as the majority of the film focuses on the not-so-interesting dynamic between his family that are used to roughing it without much in the use of outside equipment with the newer family having the state-of- the-art tools that soon grows into them believing that makes the newer family easily adaptable to survive the creature's attacks while his family comes to believe they should all leave once things start escalating in danger. While that's pretty chilling on paper, in execution it doesn't come off at all and really only serve to drag out an already quick film without doing anything with it. That said, the creature isn't much better, given one of the most basic, simplistic and barely disguised costumes around that doesn't even try to cover up it's a wetsuit with a fanged head, fins and webbed feet attached which really does look better than CGI since it interacts with the cast from time-to- time but beyond that it doesn't offer much. The film does do some right, as there's pretty chilling moments as this accurately gets the feeling of isolation amongst the cold and freezing temperatures right, several of the encounters with the creature is handled nicely including a night- time scene illuminated only by generator flood-lights and a harrowing chase over the ice as it races after the escaping group to get away from it before the cracking ice gives way and plunges them in. All in all, though, there wasn't much else to this one.Rated R: Graphic Language and Violence.

I'd read the other user reviews of this movie, noting the criticisms of the creature's appearance, i.e., how poor the costume was. I thought that it couldn't be as bad as the other reviewers said that it was, could it? Yes. Yes, it was. It was quite possibly one of the worst attempts at creature creation that I've ever seen. The creature was CGI'd as it swam about under the ice, why wouldn't the film makers just continue the practice when the monster appeared above the ice? The monster's costume looked like someone took a speed skater's uniform, dyed it black, sewed some webbing under the arms, and tossed in a rubber fish head mask. It really was that bad. Going with an actor in a live action costume over a computer generated creature added absolutely nothing to the movie; if anything, it detracted from the film.I've seen Michael Rooker in other movies, particularly "Slither" and "Tombstone", and he usually turns in solid performances. In this film, he was about as provocative as a slice of dry white toast. But his lackluster performance was far from the only thing wrong with this movie.Rooker's family, in the movie, hauls from their shoreline cabin, a small makeshift ice fishing encampment using only a small child's wooden sled. Later, this same distance is deemed as insurmountable by almost any means. What is even stupider is that later in the movie, as Rooker's character, along with his wife and his son's girlfriend, head for their cabin, Rooker's character surveys the ice with a pair of binoculars. His wife asks him if he can see any traps laid by the monster along the way. Rooker replies that he doesn't see any, that there's only a big hole in the ice near the shore, not too far from their cabin.Gee, there's no reason why a deadly predatory beast would emerge through a huge, convenient hole in the ice, is there? Even more bizarre and ridiculous is the empathic/telepathic communication between Blanche Baker's character and the monster at the end of the film.Yes, this movie is that stupid. It endeavors to be a sort of ice fishing version of "The Creature From the Black Lagoon" and it fails miserably.By the way, the costume for the Black Lagoon creatures is literally hundreds of times better than the costume for the monster in "Hypothermia".

**** This may contain spoilers **** (though its pretty spoiled already by the acting, plot and effects)Not sure how this movie rated higher than a 1, but as a huge fan of "B" movies, I can honestly say this one ranks right up there as one of the worst I have ever seen (if not THE worst). When the creature finally appeared I wasn't sure if it was a joke or if it was serious. Unfortunately, it ended up being seriously presented as a monster. Its nothing more than a guy in a black swimsuit and a fish mask, with a big fake fin on the back. I saw better Halloween costumes this year on 6 year old kids. The acting was horrible, but I don't blame the actors so much as I do the script and the plot. The lines were often simply horrible. The whole "seeing a yellow aura" after being scratched made no sense. Were they trying to insinuate the person was being turned into something like the creature, or what? You never find out. And then somehow one of the people talk their way out of being killed to it? What? This movie dropped the ball in every possible way imaginable. The character reactions, the acting (except for Michael Rooker, who did the best he could with what crummy lines he had), the effects, all of it except the setting was HORRIBLE. Even for someone who loves cheesy "B" movies, this was just bad. So much potential behind the idea, but the execution was outright abominable. I can only surmise the positive reviews were all planted. I'd rather have a burning UTI than watch this movie again.

Ray Pelletier (an excellent and convincing performance by the always dependable Michael Rooker) is looking forward to a pleasant and relaxing weekend ice fishing with his family. Alas, Ray's plans are ruined by the unwanted presence of crude jerk Steve Cotes (a hilariously obnoxious portrayal by Don Wood) and his son Stevie Jr. (neatly essayed Greg Finley). However, both squabbling families have to put their differences aside and work together to stay alive when a vicious prehistoric humanoid monster (Asa Liebmann in a gnarly rubber suit) awakens from the cold waters of the frozen lake they are fishing at. Writer/director James Felix McKenney relates the engrossing story at a snappy pace, takes time to develop the characters, stages the sudden and startling creature attack scenes with considerable go-for-the-throat flair, treats the potentially silly premise with admirably grim seriousness, generates a good deal of tension, and delivers a satisfying amount of bloody gore. The solid acting by the able cast holds the picture together: Rooker does his usual ace job in the lead, Blanche Baker excels as Ray's sweet wife Helen, Wood makes the most out of his colorfully boorish character, plus there's respectable work from Benjamin Forster as Ray's amiable son David and Amy Chang as David's cheery girlfriend Gina. The bleak snow-covered wintry landscape conveys a powerfully unsettling feeling of isolation, desolation, and vulnerability. Eric Branco's slick cinematography boasts lots of cool red-tinted monster POV shots. Sean Eden's spare ominous score hits the spine-tingling spot. The tight 73 minute running time ensures that this movie never gets dull or overstays its welcome. A real only the money little fright flick.