October Horror Challenge 2018 #53: "Hypothermia (2010)"

This is a case where the movie cover is way cooler than the movie poster, so I had to show you both. Dude. The movie poster is like "here we are, standing on the ice, maybe this movie is a touching family drama," and the movie cover is all "blargh, here's a monster, it's gonna eat you!" Two very different approaches, seriously.

This movie is about two families who go on an ice fishing trip together in an isolated, snowy no-man's-land. Right away we know there's something under the ice watching them (and not just because we saw that movie cover - we see lots of shots from the creature's point of view, watching them from under the ice). Crap, get out of there, families! But of course they never listen to me.

Once we get to know the two families, it's clear that one is hyper-masculine caveman dad and his teenage son, who have top-of-the-line gear and everything, and the other family are more laid-back (plus there are some women who break up the testosterone a bit). The families try to get along, but the differences between the two families start to cause a rift, and soon it becomes clear that the thing under the ice isn't just a big fish, but is something else.

Unfortunately, captain testosterone, the dad from the first family, keeps refusing to see that something is wrong, because of course he does. The grandfather from the second family is Mivhael Rooker, Mr. "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" himself, and even he is willing to admit that the creature they're up against might be too much for them to handle.

This movie is better than I thought it would be. The acting is good, even though super dad annoys me, his actor does a good job portraying him, and it's always nice to see Michael Rooker. The isolated location adds to the creep factor. I love horror movies and novels that take place in the winter, because the cold and the snow get under my skin and make things scarier for me. I've survived plenty of freezing, icy winters, so I relate to the wintery horrors of these stories.

I like this one. They know to keep the monster hidden in shadows because they don't have the biggest budget to make the creature effects look anything but cheesy. I do think the characters all act way calmer than they should after the horrific things start happening (doo dee doo, we're getting picked off by a monster, let's all take a nap) but I still kind of like the movie, in spite of its quirks. Remind me never to go ice fishing again.