Adama Brown A quick glance at the summary might convince you this is an environmentalist screed. It's not. Nor is it a horror movie. In general, it's a psychological thriller. It very much reminded me of 2007's "Sunshine," with a small group of people isolated together against the extreme environment around them, slowly being worn down towards insanity by the place and the events around them.For the first part, the movie struck an excellent balance between building tension by not showing you too much, and showing you enough to create real mystery, making you wonder what's next and what's really going on. Unfortunately, the ending doesn't fare as well. I think that they had a hard time finding a compromise between taking away the mystery, and going over the top with it. They seem to have tried to do a little of both, and it didn't turn out well.This is a great movie to see if you just want to savor the well executed wind-up as well as some great performances, and don't care that the last 20 minutes will probably leave you wanting. I don't regret watching it, but at the same time I'm not likely to watch it again.

bluecrab22 Even if you are a patient film-watcher, this movie will try your patience. It starts off well enough, in a bleak part of Alaska (where it also ends, and where all the so-called "action" takes place). An oil company's exploratory team establishes a base and explores. Weird, inexplicable stuff happens. People have visions...or are they seeing real things? There are consequences. The characters aren't engaging so we don't care much, but we do get teased along for the ride. Are there monsters of some kind? Malevolent forces? "Oh," you think. "That reminds me of "The Shining." "Ah," you sigh. "Aliens." "The Thing, the THING!" you think.More supposedly weird stuff happens and finally, there's an ending of sorts, one which I think will disappoint most viewers. I gave this 3 stars because I like snow-and-ice settings in movies and it rather infuriatingly held my interest just enough that I wanted to see the outcome. I will not be watching it again to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Bob_the_Hobo This is a very creepy film. Perhaps it's the setting, a bleak, desolate snowy climate, or perhaps it's the isolation the characters face on a daily basis. It's moody and dark and wonderful.An oil drilling company called 'North' has decided to drill in what is literally the last untouched place on earth. The drilling is headed up by Pollack (Ron Perlman). Pollack doesn't listen to the environmentalist that was hired to go with them (James LeGros). There's more stuck in the drilling compound, like Maxwell, who starts to get very scared of the "them" he sees outside the compound.The setting makes things very creepy. And the eco-horror aspects are equally scary. The performances are all great.True, however, the end may be well received to some. It's a little weird. But I found a giant transparent moose out in the middle of nowhere creepy as well.Well worth your money.

capkronos I've never really understood why the concept of environmentalism rubs so many out there the wrong way, especially when it concerns the search for oil. We all know that oil is a non-renewable resource. We know it isn't going to last forever. We know that the pursuit of it has led not only to vast environmental damage, but also numerous wars and countless deaths. And most of us realize that some time in the near future we are going to have to adapt to using an alternate fuel source whether we like it or not. But for some unknown reason, we refuse to move forward. We won't be satisfied until every single inch of the Earth has been drilled and every single drop of oil is used up. We could care less what's being done to the Earth, our atmosphere or our fellow man as long as we have reasonably priced gas to fuel our vehicles.Environmental concerns seem to split people right down the middle, at least here in the U.S. You have those who side with oil companies and feel there is no reason to change, at least not right now. These people typically encourage drilling wherever there is oil (regardless of whether or not it's a federally protected nature preserve or park) and view those opposed to this as being paranoid "tree huggers" and anti-capitalist. The other side seems to want to cut our dependence on oil (both foreign and domestic) and go ahead and start implementing an alternate fuel source immediately. The same split between the population can be seen for issues of global warming/climate change. There are those who believe it's needless paranoia with no solid scientific data to back it up, while others believe there's either enough evidence on hand to be concerned and ultimately we're better off being safe than sorry. And all shades of gray in between, I'm sure.The above issues are what fuel this movie. We really don't know for sure what the extent of our damage will be when all is said and done. We also don't know what interesting ways mother nature may react to what we are doing...The film is set in Northern Alaska at the remote site of a future oil drilling installation. Ron Perlman plays Ed Pollack, who represents the corporate side of the fight; a man excited about the prospect of a huge untapped oil reserve located within a wildlife sanctuary. Jim (played by James Le Gros) represents the other side of the struggle; an environmentalist who worries about the damage being done. His concerns are brushed off by Ed and most of the others until strange events begin occurring. The group seem to have unleashed either a supernatural force or some type of hallucinogenic toxic gas that leads to paranoia, madness and murder.Director/producer/co-writer Larry Fessenden (HABIT, WENDIGO) does an excellent job exploiting the desolate snowy landscape and sense of icy isolation in a way comparable to Carpenter's THE THING. For the first hour he also does a good job keeping the threat obscured and dealing with our fear of the unknown. We have no idea whether we're dealing with something supernatural or natural (which may be one in the same, actually). The production values, cinematography and music are all good, as is the dialogue and acting.Unfortunately, I felt the entire film was undermined by several wrong turns along the way. Blast it! Through some typically lame CGI, the off-screen menace is finally visualized as big, stealthy, silly-looking dinosaur/ moose hybrids (wendigos?). If we were able to fall back on the toxic gas scenario, with the monsters simply being hallucinations, this might have been forgivable. However, several occurrences - strange animal footprints seen in the snow, a plague of crows feasting on corpses, video evidence of the creatures, etc. - do no allow us to draw that conclusion. If the filmmakers had kept this more ambiguous and let we, the viewers, decide for ourselves, I'd probably consider this one of the better horror films of the decade. As is, it's an interesting, well-made, well-meaning film with a good concept, but they failed to pull it all together at the end.Still, this one did make me think. And I'm still thinking about it a few hours after watching it, which is - to me - always a good thing.