A
group of people are on a skiing trip and
one of them named Jeff (Dan Smith) has a
crush on one of his friends named Trina
(Debra Deliso) but Trina doesn't see him
that way as just a friend since she is
dating someone else named Cory (Doug
Stevenson) who often teased him now and
then.
Out of anger Jeff goes skiing but people
warn him that there's a big snowstorm but
he doesn't pay any attention to them. He
falls off a cliff and dies on a bunch of
sharp rocks.
Four
years later, the group of friends are
mysteriously invited back to their ski
resort but however a killer in a broken
ski mask and the same ski suit that Jeff
wore is killing off the residents one by
one as Trina gets a prank call saying
that Jeff was here.
Could Jeff still be alive and wrecking
revenge on these people and is slowly
trying to get to Trina?
One of the residents there named Alex
Bourne (Joseph Alan Johnson) sent out the
invitations in which everyone tries to go
to the aid to in order to find out if
Jeff is still alive but he seems to have
some knowledge about his death that no
one else know about.
A nice cheesy beginning to this film showing the skiier Jeff on a top slope with his arms in the air ready to ski down and the picture pauses showing the opening credits in which you can tell by all this that this was a direct-to-video product but at the same time looked fun to see this.
Also many takes on Jeff and Cory skiing to see who's more macho to impress the beautiful woman Trina which was also well put in since it looks like young adults being dumb about all of this. However Jeff was supposed to be someone apparently autistic but yet when we spot his actions it looked a little too phony with what we see here. There's a long lusting scene between Cory and Trina in their room while we spot Jeff skiing out late at night while warned that a snowstomr is occurring which is dangerous. Ahh yes the typical one liner in which the victim to start off a mysterious slasher film making a stupid choice by sacrificing his life. Hey it worked well even if it looked a bit low grade and cheesy while spotting all of this. What's even cheesier is after he lands his death fall you're not sure whether he's dead or just plain injured while we suspensefully watch that last details here.
There's also perfect scenery in the
mountain of Utah and people skiing as
well as partying out which looks like a
party flick itself.
It's impressive when we spot the same people driving back to the resort four years later being invited as well as spotting a mysterious figure staring through with a broken ski mask which carries on the slasher tradition with a killer watching it's next prey on who they will plan to kill next.
In the story we spot one of the dorky friends Carl cutting up cocaine while being nude in a bathroom and he cuts himself which we expect that something like this may happen. What's a horror film without a partying one doing drugs after all and knowing that he may become an easy prey for the killer? But yet we have someone waking him up the next day catching him in the act with a newspaper clipping that was discovered on the tragedy that happened and seeing his insane attitude makes you wonder if he's behind the murders making this moment seem pretty cool for a suspect in the film but yet knowing that this would be a little too obvious. Another great mysterious slasher tradition.
Of course a nice still and silent moment with one of the key characters Alex sitting in his bathtub fantasing the woman of his dreams which is Jeanette joining him offering more skin in this movie since most slasher flicks have alot of this making up for the non scary moments.
Then there's a moment with one of the friends named Diane answering a phone call and freaking out when she finds out who might be calling in which she claims that it was Jeff in which the writing looked slightly cheesy as well as the intensity with what is going on while this situation is brought up trying to make this seem spooky but it slightly fails.
A clever moment used in this film is when the killer places a bear trap and buries it in the snow which works in well. Another fine moment is when Diane tries to get away from the killer and we spot a moment with this maniac snapping off an icicle off the house for a murderous weapon as this looked cool to watch since this was done ina Jason Voorhees orderly fashion.
There's of course a moment with Alex and Jeanette having a romantic discussion towards one another as this seems fairly impressive in which we need to throw this in too while the slashing moments take place elsewhere.
More skin in which we spot Jeanette skinny dipping in a jacuzzi which looked still and peaceful but then the killer puts in an electrical heater into the water as the results looked pretty impressive here while he does so which is another perfect trap for a killer to do their nasty deeds.
The moments look terrific when Trina runs through the snowy forest or finding some way to protect herself from the killer as this was real suspnseful and exciting to watch all of this. Plus nice suspnseful shots on her hiding under a bed from the killer as well as hands smashing through a door too along with Trina trying to remove the broken ski mask to spot who the mysterious killer is which all of this pays a tribute to all the cult classic slasher flicks that we adored too.
Bottom line is that this was a typical
Z-grade made for video film but believe
it or not, I really liked this flick. It
was almost like a Friday the 13th
ripoff but this time during the winter up
on the mountains.
It was well done for a cheap flick like
this I thought although many of you will
disagree with me. There's lots of fun
touches throughout this film and it
remains a mystery if this supposed dead
person is really back to seek revenge on
killing his old friends.
All of it was
entertaining so it doesn't matter if it
was made on a video budget as long as the
story keeps flowing as that's just what
it did. Sure it was corny in many spots
along with showing plenty of skin but
then again most slasher films are that
were made on a minor budget like this
one. Plus there were two cast members
from the 1982 trashy cult slasher flick
titled The Slumber Party Massacre.
I loved the ending of this film which was
my favourite scene.
The acting is
quite descent for a film like this. I
liked Debra Deliso (Trina) in her performance
the best and deserves good credit for her
work in it. She shows a niceness to her
role and really brought good chemistry to
the set while she was being filmed
bringing a great character to her role in
the film. She could've made it
as a scream queen in other cult low
budget horror films in my opinion. Yet I do have some criticism in a scene where there's a letter she reads out about the invitation like
mentioned before didn't look at all
natural and too acted out.
Doug Stevenson (Cory) brought on his charm
quite well too as the protective husband
really bringing a nice charming
personality. He had the right looks too
for a slasher film like this one. He shows good struggling energy into his part whenever he needed to behave this way. Nice moments on him weakly talking to someone else after being stabbed.
Ron Kologie (Carl) brings alot of goofiness
to his part as the perverted type and
having a nice leannes which you'd picture
in someone who doesn't have it all
together. He does well acting hyper and
bubbly and at the same time knew on how
to act troubled and intense too. He reacts well to cutting himself accidentally in a bathroom while trying to snort cocaine. There's a good blocking moment with him by getting forceful with his fellow actress by
kissing her. Nice
painful reactions after being caught in abear trap.
Plus the cast also features former Addams
Family child star Lisa
Loring (Jeanette) who still does fine as an
actress and showed a nice smooth talking
type of personality as well as getting
snappy during certain moments in the
story which looked very natural. She shows perfect reactions on
her wide eyed expressions while being
electrocuted.
Elizabeth Gorcey (Diane) was high on energy
and really knew on how to act full of
life and being ready for anything too.
She reminds you of one of those easy
going types out of the crowd. She also
does well acting aggressive too during
certain moments. There's a good moment with her screaming in terror after
spotting her onscreen dead boyfriend and trying to
run to the cabin but yet her performance
lacks when she pounds and screams at the
door.
John C. Cooke (John) brought a perfect
seriousness to his part by acting blunt
and sometimes stern and unpredictable in
which he seems very real at doing. He
knew how to bring this part he played to
real life as one of those cocky types. Plus he had a kind of dorky look to his presence in which seems to fit in a bit well with who he was onto the screen. He was nice by getting stern towards two of his fellow actors.
I also enjoyed Joseph Alan Johnson (Alex Bourne) performance
as a deceiving resident at the mountain
skiing resort showing a nice guy attitude
but having a secret of his own as he was
the perfect drawing card to the story and
he made it clear that he can pull it all
off. He's got the well groomed guy next door looks to him bringing on a perfect charm onto the camera too.
Debra Deliso's
character is full nude fornicating with
her boyfriend during the first half of
the film.
Also a brief nude scene by Ron
Kologie who is doing cocaine in a
bathroom.
Joseph Alan Johnson is having a
fantasy of making out with Lisa
Loring's character in a bath tub with her breasts exposed and his
butt revealed
Lisa also goes skinny dipping in her
hot tub exposing almost everything.
A characters
throat is stabbed by a ski pole
A women's eye is stabbed by an ice pick
Someone killed by a bear trap and his
corpse is shown but none of these scenes
look too gruesome as the film's budget
was tight.
The music for this film was
done by Dan Milner who composed
the same music for the action made TV
series American Gladiators.
Some of it was performed on keyboards in
a cheesy Z-grade style but some of it
sounds similar to a Friday the
13th sequel which sounded great
when there was the moment with the lead
character trying to escape from the
killings that she spotted. There's the
odd rusty screeching sounds with the
synthesizer which sounded pretty neat for
a Z-grader film like this. There's many
low and high pitched classical sounding
synthesizer music played at the same time
during the suspenseful tales told which
seems to blend in not too badly. |
