JACK FROST 2: REVENGE OF THE MUTANT KILLER SNOWMAN (2000)

 

(Director/screenwriter: Michael Cooney)

Review

A year after the niveous carnage of JACK FROST (1997), anti-freeze dissolved serial killer snowman (Frost) is accidentally resurrected in an FBI genetics lab by a clumsy employee (Brett A. Boydstun). The icy menace (again voiced by Scott MacDonald) tracks his source-film nemesis Sheriff Sam Tiler (Christopher Allport, TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., 1985), with whom Frost shares a psychic link, and his friends to a tropical island.

Sam, traumatized by his experiences with Frost, and his wife (Anne, again played by Eileen Seeley, CREATURE, 1985) are (also) island-bound to attend the wedding of Sam’s deputy (Joe Foster) and his secretary (Maria).

The quip-spouting Frost, via his “genetically altered water molecules”, wastes no time in dropping bodies—initially two boat-trapped castaways, then young, drunk, and otherwise oblivious vacationers. The kills are creative and appropriate (e.g., a LOONEY TUNES-esque icy anvil crushes a model; a man’s tongue, in a shout-out to A CHRISTMAS STORY, 1983, has his tongue ripped off; sentient-spawn snowballs tear apart numerous victims). Before long, Sam and the others figure out the environs-dominant Frost is out to get them, and this time, it’s going to take more than anti-freeze to end him.

 

Other notable cast members include:

Ian Ambercrombie (WARLOCK, 1989) as Sam’s terrible “Psychiatrist”;

Chip Heller (MUNCHIES, 1987), returning from the first FROST, as Deputy Joe Foster;

Marsha Clark (MY DEMON LOVER, 1987), also from the first movie, as Maria, Joe’s future wife;

Stefan Marchand (HELLBORN, 2003) as Charlie, one of starving, life raft-bound castaways who fights with fellow boat-mate Dave (Doug Jones, JOHN DIES AT THE END, 2012);

Ray Cooney (real-life father of director Michael Cooney) as the idiosyncratic Col. Hickering, former British officer and murder-hiding resort manager;

David Allen Brooks (THE KINDRED, 1987) as returning-from-the-first-film character Agent Manners (played by Stephen Mendel in JACK FROST);

Tai Bennett (JOHN DIES AT THE END, 2012) as Bobby, as Col. Hickering’s assistant;

and

Sean Patrick Murphy (THE HANGRY DEAD: THE BIGGEST INSTAGRAM MOVIE EVER, 2020) as energetic entertainment director, Captain Fun.

Michael Cooney, despite a behind-the-scenes dramatic slashing of his sequel budget, has crafted a tightly written and edited, silly, and over-the-top work that deftly balances horror and humor. If you can get past its financial limitations, hammy acting and bad dialogue as well as ridiculous/cheesy CGI gore and plot elements (Frost can travel via the actual ocean and control local weather), you might enjoy this decent, Asahi beer-sponsored follow-up to the solidly made first film. 

Be sure to watch the credits all the way to the end. A follow-up to JACK FROST 2 was planned, but Christopher Allport, who played Sam Tiler in the first two films, passed away before it could be filmed, scuttling Michael Cooney’s intentions.

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

In Andrea Subissati’s article “Massacre Under the Mistletoe” (Rue Morgue magazine, issue 203, November/December 2021, pp. 12-18), she interviewed JACK FROST director Michael Cooney. In it, Cooney said that Asahi beer, JACK FROST 2’s only sponsor (to the tune of $5,000] might’ve thought they were funding a sequel to the Michael Keaton film, also released in 1997. 

JACK FROST (1997)

 

(Director/screenwriter: Michael Cooney)

Review

Snowmonton, California. After a truck carrying vicious serial killer Jack Frost (Scott Macdonald) to his execution collides with a genetics company truck, Frost’s body is bathed in the experimental fluid, fusing his melted body with the snow. The police, thinking Frost dead, declare him as such.

But Frost is still alive. He is a murderous snowman seeking revenge on the small-town cop (Sheriff Sam Tiler, played by Christopher Allport) who arrested him, with a few more killings along the way. Tiler is still jittery about Frost, who to the end of his life, vociferously vowed vengeance on Tiler.

The bodies pile up quickly in this low budget horror comedy─an old man is found frozen to death, with serious spinal damage; a bully picking on Ryan, Tiler’s son, while Ryan builds a snowman (actually Frost, unbeknownst to Ryan). Horrible, quip-punctuated deaths follow. 

As a direct-to-video comedy horror flick, JACK─not to be confused with the 1998 Michael Keaton film─is a golden turkey (“so bad it’s good”): it’s fun, mostly light-toned, and fast-paced, with good cinematography and FX, and intentionally cheesy/well-shot kill scenes (and quips to accompany said killings). One of the murder scenes involving a bathtub stands out for its darkness: a young woman (Jill Metzner) is raped by Frost before she’s covered in frost (while this is shot in a ridiculous, darkly humorous way, it’s obviously still disturbing and unnecessary)─shown in JACK's original trailer, the filmmakers had not intended for Jill to be assaulted that way, just killed, but since her murder scene so closely resembled further violation, they shot additional footage of Frost saying sex puns.

Shannon Elizabeth, billed as Shannon Elizabeth Fadal, played Jill. This was her first role; she appeared in AMERICAN PIE two years later and other bigger budget movies.

There are no wasted shots in JACK and all the players are solid in their roles, making this hour-and-a-half-long B-movie breezy entertainment with an imaginative, laugh-out-loud finish to its villain. Its ending explicitly leaves JACK open for a sequel, keeping with the (mostly) fun spirit of the film. Followed by JACK FROST 2: REVENGE OF THE MUTANT KILLER SNOWMAN (2000).

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

In Andrea Subissati’s article “Massacre Under the Mistletoe” (Rue Morgue magazine, issue 203, November/December 2021, pp. 12-18), she interviewed JACK FROST director Michael Cooney. In it, Cooney said:

—JACK FROST was made in 1994 but not released until 1997, and originally was budgeted as a bigger film with a bigger director.

—JACK FROST  was not intended as a horror film, though it was “influenced by horror films. . . [it was influenced] by Sam Raimi’s THE EVIL DEAD (1981)”.

—Cooney wished he’d shot JACK FROST “on film.” The producers wanted it “shot on digital because that’s how they wanted to promote it. Nobody had lit this camera before, and we struggled. The early digital [cameras] had no depth of field; we were trying to figure out how to make pools of light; the little centre on this brand-new camera picked up every piece of light. . . I think it would have had more warmth if it were shot on film.”