Ice From the Sun
Ice From the Sun
NR | 14 May 1999 (USA)
Ice From the Sun Trailers

Though once an average wizard's apprentice, the evil sovereign known only as "The Presence" has the distinct quality of having gained the hatred of heaven and hell alike. Cast aside to rule a bizarre alternate dimension filled with unending violence and bloodshed, those unfortunate to live under his command hire Alison, an assassin, to hunt and destroy him. Soon after her mission begins, Alison finds herself haunted by ghastly visions of death, destruction, and mass chaos.

Reviews
Molly Celaschi (carlykristen)

Uhhh…I guess it is about a man named "The Presence" that rules an alternate universe between Heaven and Hell encased in "ice from the sun" (not making this up). A suicide victim named Allison is hired as an assassin to hunt him (still not making this up). She must make him remember who he was as a person to break the ice. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is that you must sit through 30min of dialogue before you watch her take what can only be described as a 60min trip through a NIN music video.Okay, here we go again (see Savage Harvest review). Stanze insists on casting unattractive people with no charisma. You will not want to watch them on screen or care to listen to them talk. This is a problem considering his films boast 30 minutes of talky-talky before you see anything. I have a feeling he has good stories to tell, which is why he continues to bore us with lengthy tales before sending us some ghastly images. I dare you to watch this without hitting the fast forward button once. I get the feeling that if Stanze had a decent budget and hired good actors, his films would be better. He has good ideas, but does not achieve them.There is decent gore and sound quality here. The only scene that would be of interest was an innocent woman stripped, tied to the back of a truck, driven a mile, then covered in salt as you watch her squirm. I have no idea who this person is or why this is happening or who the nice gentleman is driving the truck. Again, the dialogue was so boring, you fast-forward, and then stop when you get to a good scene, but it has no meaning.Favorite Quote: Stanze during the commentary when he says that this was the lowest budgeted film made at the time. This would mean that any film up to 1999 cost more than this. I think Lloyd Kaufman would beg to differ. Stanze also mentions that Super 8 looks like a music video, not film, so my description of the film is correct.DVD Extras: Trailers, Still Gallery, and Commentary.Bottom Line: If you like slow-moving modern horror fantasy tales, then I guess you might dig this.Rating: 6/10Molly Celaschi www.HorrorYearbook.com MySpace.com/HorrorYearbook

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jor_supersid

I'm not here to say this is a bad movie. Just to say that this whole film really is a waste. Bare with me here....I just downloaded a version of this film. After hearing about it for a long time and not being able to find it. From what I herd it was a "trippy gore fantasy containing religious aspects" it still seems very interesting. And as I herd more and more about the film and its story I was even more in a hurry to see it.The opening was very dull and would mark the quality of the rest of the movie. What do I mean? The fact that it was shot in super 8, the black and white was as expected very nice to look at. The parts of the movie that were shot in color were horrible and I don't mean just top look at but the acting, the sound, everything. It was as it was made, by some guy in a basement. You could hear all the background noise, scratches and at some points I think I herd talking and people dropping things. But I could be wrong.The actors were for lack of a better word bad. As I watched them force out there lines against the horrible shaking camera (another really horrible flaw) the lead woman played by Ramona Midgett was the worst part. She acted as good as she looked. which is not insult to her as much as a criticism of the work she did, if she would have done the same work in a better production it would not be as bad, as the quality of her scene were 90% of the color segments. As with the phrase "two wrongs don't make a right" The only good acting was that of Charles Heuvelman the Twisted Priest in the Movie Theater and Alexander Crestwood the Drug Runner. As you could tell they had experience in there craft or at least an understanding. Angela Zimmerly ('Dana' in the film) was the best of the central cast as she able to show a calmness and emotion that made her character. as the others more or less seemed to be just friends of the filmmakers inserted into rolls.The acting, filming, sound and choice to use color is the worst elements of the film. Which I must say is around 50% of the movie. The other half is very well done and to me on par with a lot of indie cinema. As the black and white looked nice, and or consisted of very nicely crafted editing.Further more the editing was great, as were most of the special effects. This is the only good thing about the movie. The people involved should be proud of that. As it was the only place there was talent. Theses areas are the only reason in my mind to watch the film.I feel the film should have been filmed in black and white and possibly dubbed in studio. or just have been put togehter from all the special effects and edits, etc. as it would have made a very nice to watch art film. A perfect example was the 4.5-minute-long opening credit sequence. As I could not take my eyes of the screen. At the moment I felt was watching a good music video, but even that had its flaws because it seemed abet out of place in the movie.The finished product is not a very good film, it has its good moments but the all around quality of half the film is just bad. This puzzles me because the other half was very nice to watch. There's is too much give and take in the film. It's like a visual Ying-Yang, you are either mesmerized buy the sheer beauty or horrified but the over all quality of the aspects involved. It's the flawed parts that anchor the film into being a bad piece of work. This saddens me because I really gave the film a chance, and it has some really good moments and parts to the story. Eric Stanze the director/writer/ etc has talent this film does prove that but it's also now my prime example of how a flawed film, can be overall bad as a whole.Bottom line.Should have stayed a home movie.(At least in the form it's presented)

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cedwardson

I'm a mainstream horror fan giving the world of B movies a try. I bought this DVD having read the synopsis and believed that this would be more interesting than some of the Hollywood rubbish I've seen lately.So disappointed, excellent story idea, reams of imagination displayed by the director but in the end it looks and feels a real mess. The seller warned me that this film was 'difficult' and only viewing allows you to understand that simple, yet perfect definition.It's deep, disturbing, badly acted and full of unnecessary camera effects.If you're unaware please note threes a whole level of B movie strata out there with zero budget. What your looking for is a team effort of talented individuals to overcome their budget and give you something to remember. Ice from the sun is unforgettable and I'll certainly look out for the director again but don't buy, rent.

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dwpollar

1st watched 10/21/2001 - 4 out of 10(Dir-Eric Stanze): Although technically this is an amazingly complicated production and the story is just as complicated, the reliance on blood and gore deter from what could have been a very mysterious and well-done psychedelic fantasy/horror film. If it didn't have so much reliance on shocking us with violence and gore I believe I could watch this a second time just to understand it better. I would like to see what other efforts this filmmaker puts out just because of his wild visual styles, but hopefully his topic will not be quite as disturbing as this one.

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