FilmNation Entertainment, Premiere Picture, Echo Lake Productions (I)
Amber Heard, Mamie Gummer, Danielle Panabaker, Laura-Leigh, Lyndsy Fonseca, Jared Harris, Sydney Sweeney, D.R. Anderson, Mika Boorem
A young woman, Kristen (Amber Heard), is sent to a creepy mental institution with a past as dark and sinister as her own. She was caught burning down a farm house and determined to need help. Immediately she and the other girls are terrorized by a ghost, and each of the other patients in Kristen’s ward begin to disappear one by one, and that’s just the beginning of her long nightmare. Recruiting what’s left of her friends Kristen makes one noble attempt after another to escape.
This John Carpenter horror film is very spooky. The helplessness of the girls and their repeated attempts to save themselves from this nightmare with no results leaves us breathless. This is an excellent horror film, and John Carpenter certainly has not lost his touch with the genre. Extreme suspense and helplessness engulf us as we realize the poor girls have no way out. As they drop one by one, it appears there is no solution and Kristen still keeps digging for the truth as to what happened to the ghostly girl who seems to want to kill them all. It’s certainly a shocker, and the surprise ending may not be a surprise to everyone, but still, from the opening scene of the fire to the final credits there is no time to catch your breath. As good a nut house film as I’ve seen in a long while, this is great rental for a creepy autumn/late summer evening! Just don’t watch it alone!
Warner Brothers Pictures, Azoff Entertainment, The Canton Company
Michael Keaton, Kelly Preston, Joseph Cross, Mark Addy, Andrew Lawrence, Eli Marienthal, Will Rothhaar, Mika Boorem, Benjamin Brock, Taylor Handley
Jack Frost (Michael Keaton) is a musician in the Jack Frost Band. They are on the verge of getting signed and he’s not around much when the family needs him. Especially his son Charlie (Joseph Cross) misses him. Wife Gabby (Kelly Preston) tries to make it up as much as possible. They plan a little Christmas vacation at their cabin in the mountains, but an opportunity for a record deal comes up, so Jack sets off for Aspen. After thinking it over, he turns around half way and heads back in a borrowed car, but as the storm gets worse, he is killed in an auto accident.  One year later, he returns in the form of a snowman with a fresh chance to make it up to Charlie and set things right.
This movie was a box office bomb. With a budget of 50 million, it took in about half of that domestically. I can’t figure out why. I guess a lot of people must not have liked it. Or maybe it was what it came up against. But at any rate, I loved it, and saw it in the theater twice that year. Then I bought it, and I still watch it when it’s on TV.  I don’t know why this film resonates with me, but it does. Jack wants to be a loving Dad, and he loves his family, but his dream is to be a rock star. He lets the family down and never had a chance to make it right. So showing up as a snowman for a few days a year later gives everyone closure and helps Charlie down the right road. It’s also got a lot of funny parts too. Having a snowman as a snowball fight partner is a great benefit!  This was one I really loved, and I still love to watch it when I can. I still have to wipe a tear or two away as well when Jack has to leave.  It’s a great holiday film to me.
