Frozen Scream

Frozen Scream

While never officially 'banned' FROZEN SCREAM did feature on an early DPP list of 'questionable' horror films, thus becoming very scarce indeed - and therefore collectible - in UK horror video circles.

Now, thanks to Laser Paradise's Red Edition series - and the movie's 'cult following' inspired by it's nonsensical disappearance from UK video store shelves in the 1980s - FROZEN SCREAM has been given the official digital treatment. And it's a double-sided disc!!

Side A:

The film opens to several vignettes interspersed between the titles: a couple necking by a pool one night are bludgeoned and strangled respectively; a bloodied female corpse is carried by a ghoul into a villa(?) where a scientist begins to clean the fresh cadaver; and some ill-placed zoom-shots of a full moon.

Dr Tom Girard is, for some reason, fearful of his life. He rings his friend Father O'Brien but is met with insane giggling on the other end of the line. Girard pulls a gun from his desk drawer and goes to investigate the noises coming from his front door. There he is confronted by two hooded figures. After a brief struggle, Girard is drugged before his assailants flee upon the arrival of his wife, Ann.

Ann is hospitalised after finding her partner dead, but - wouldn't you know it? - no-one believes her story of two hooded figures running from the scene of the crime.

Cue Detective McGuire, who narrates his investigation into the disappearance of two medical students … and their connection to the mysterious death of his good friend, Girard. Incidentally, McGuire is a former lover of Ann's and hopes that by solving this case he may win her heart back!!

Meanwhile Ann is haunted by increasingly surreal dreams of her husband and cohorts adorned in cult robes, on a beach, ready to commit terrible ritual deeds with their scythes …

We discover, via flashback, that Father O'Brien introduced Ann and Tom to a cult - led by the sinister Dr Johnson, who believed that they could achieve the gift of eternal life. "Love And Immortality", as the mantra goes …

Johnson has been experimenting on cult members in an effort to make his medical breakthrough a reality - a chip inserted into the neck of the recently deceased, designed to control them in the afterlife. And so, it transpires that the mysterious hooded figures running amuck and killing anyone that our hero McGuire may attempt to get the truth from are in fact … zombies!

As lame as it sounds, THIS is the plot!

If you think the plot is ridiculous, just cop a load of the acting. And the awful editing. And the gore "FX" (a case for trade descriptions, surely?). And the hideous, repetitive, sub-H G Lewis score (much of which can also be heard on the equally lacklustre DON'T GO IN THE WOODS … ALONE).

Sporadically gory though never excessive (although we do get axes in the face, and wrist-slashing), FROZEN SCREAM may well be of interest to former collectors of video nasties. Newcomers need not apply - if you're not flirting with nostalgia, it's unlikely you will find anything of interest here.

FROZEN SCREAM is presented in it's original full-frame ratio, and the transfer is a nice solid one. Colours are sharp, although the overall picture is dark - most likely due to the original filming conditions. Considering the large number of 'night' scenes, the amount of grain on display is minor.

The original English language mono soundtrack has been utilised. It's a little on the quiet side, but serviceable nevertheless. Removable German subtitles are available.

At 100 minutes long, the film has 10 chapter stops.

The only 'extras' on Side A are several trailers for other Red Edition releases - including ANGEL OF THE NIGHT, KOLOBOS, CANNIBAL FEROX and DAY OF THE DEAD.

Oh, and a terrible music video from some goth-punk band of no distinction (taken from the soundtrack of ANGEL OF THE NIGHT, perhaps?!). The same video featured on Astro's NIGHTMARE CONCERT disc …

Side B of the disc contains the bonus feature film BLUTRAUSCH DER ZOMBIES (the onscreen title is LA REBELLION DE LAS MUERTES - best known to English-speaking audiences as VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES).

It's a Leon Klimovsky film, starring the one and only Jacinto Molina (acting under his pseudonym Paul Naschy). Molina also wrote this bizarre odyssey that sees a disturbed woman seek solace in a Krishna cult, only to discover the leader of the sect (Molina) is controlling an army of zombies in a bid to terrorise a local town … or something like that!

Filmed in 1972, this Spanish/Italian production is often wonderful to look at. There's some great gothic outdoor photography that recalls the heyday of Hammer studios. Elsewhere, the stylised weirdness of many scenes is akin to Coffin Joe's work, or perhaps a cut-rate Jodorowsky.

It's a shame then that the fucking thing is presented in German audio (mono) with NO SUBTITLES!!

The film certainly looks entertaining though - briskly paced, good-looking and full of visually arresting nightmarish images (the horned demon piercing the maiden's neck, then capturing her blood in a goblet to drink; the masked phantom that roams graveyards at night bringing corpses to life via the magic of voodoo).

Even the costumes and locations (stately homes, by the look of it) are unusual and therefore interesting.

Great camera angles in many scenes too - very spooky at times. It's also very, very violent …

Visually, the film presented in non-anamorphic 1.77:1 and looks very good indeed. Images are sharp and clear - although a tad murky in some night scenes, to be fair.

The audio sounded OK, but … it was in German with no subtitles! Oh, have I already mentioned that?!

A little unjust of me to gripe about this perhaps, as the disc is made by a German company and therefore ostensibly caters for the German market …!

Elsewhere on side B you'll find trailers for other DVD/Laserdisc releases - MAD MAX 1 & 2; BRAIN DEAD; ZOMBI; STAGE FRIGHT etc.

An inferior film with a history steeped in video nasty nostalgia … coupled with a superior film, unfortunately presented in German audio only. Your call …

Review by Stu Willis


 
Released by Laser Paradise
Region 2 - PAL
Not Rated
Extras :
Trailers; bonus movie 'Blutrausch der Zombies'
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