bowmanblue 'Thaw' is basically a warning against global warming where, because if the polar ice caps melting, a woolly mammoth's body is discovered an unfrozen. Bugs are unleashed from its corpse which then set about infecting and killing your average bunch of American teenagers who always seem to end up in these sorts of situations.Thaw seemed like a bit of a remake of 'Cabin Fever' due to it having a group of dopey teens in a secluded setting, turning on each other as they don't know who's definitely infected and who's not. However, where as Cabin Fever had a fair share of humour to its gore, Thaw plays it straight.That's not to say that Thaw's a bad film. It has its plus points - the bugs are well animated (as far as inch-long beasties can be) and there are some nice moments of gore to keep those with a strong stomach happy. The film goes along as you'd expect. Sure, if this happened in real life, we'd probably do something different, but, luckily for the plot (and bugs in many ways) the group of teenagers contains a prize chump who seems to choose the wrong decision at every turn (which results in another death or amputation).Thaw is no classic (it has Val Kilmer in it after all), but there are worse horror films out there (like most of the studio 'After Dark's' output). Don't expect too much and you may enjoy it.

wes-connors In the near future, climate change (aka "global warming") causes parts of the Arctic to melt. Investigating the effects, environmentally conscious Val Kilmer (as David Kruipen) is startled to discover an intact woolly mammoth is thawing. Other creatures feed on the ancient carcass. A polar bear dies from the experience, and appears to be infected with parasites. "The Thaw" unleashes these creepy crawlers to fester under the skin of other animals, and lay their eggs. The creatures feed on the host body and look around for more. Human flesh is especially tasty. The squeamish should be on high alert...Before the horrifying danger is clear, four graduate students are selected to observe Mr. Kilmer's expedition...When his estranged daughter Martha Macisaac (as Evelyn "Evy" Kruipen) decides to go, the count is lowered to three. Joining her are attractive Aaron Ashmore (as Atom Galen), Kyle Schmid (as Federico "Feddy" Fulce) and Steph Song (as Ling Chen). The script should be clearer about how the first student becomes infected. Kilmer isn't on screen much, but helicopter pilot Viv Leacock (as Bart) is part of the group; he should have been included in the opening credits. It all adds up to a surprisingly effective thriller, written and directed Mark A. Lewis; he should be working more. The special and visual effects are excellent.******* The Thaw (8/30/09) Mark A. Lewis ~ Martha Macisaac, Aaron Ashmore, Kyle Schmid, Steph Song

steelhyaena Here be potential spoilers, so here be a few carriage returns.When you realize the research station is abandoned, maybe it's best to not go into the lab. If you have to go into the lab, perhaps you shouldn't put your arm around the smellily-dead polar bear. (Is 'smellily' even a word? Is now...) If your common sense and intelligence flee you and you somehow screw up the above... the Thing To Do is actually contact CDC immediately, not play headgames and hide the fact that you have 'bugs in your *euphemism*'.The character of Federico had me swearing through this whole film. As I said, it wasn't the best, but it was entertaining in that 'Thing' kind of 'infectious-isolated' sort of way. Stop hatin'! It's a fun watch.

Paul Andrews The Thaw is set in remote Canadian Artic wilderness on Banks Island where global warming ecologist & activist Dr. David Kruipen (Val Kilmer) & his team discover a prehistoric frozen Woolly Mammoth which has started to thaw due to global warming, inside the Mammoth are hundreds of eggs belonging to a extinct species of insect like parasite creatures that lay eggs inside living host's that are then then eaten alive from the inside when they hatch. Members of the team become infected & Kruipen tries to prevent his daughter Evelyn (Martha MacIsaac) from reaching the base but she refuses to listen to him & along with some research students arrive at the research camp to find it deserted, soon they too become infected & once the realisation of what the insects may mean if they get back to civilisation the survivors try to find a way to destroy them before the entire world becomes infected & millions suffer a horrible death...This American & Canadian co-production was written & directed by Mark A. Lewis & is a fairly effective take on the often used 'various character's trapped in a remote location that are menaced by some sort of horrific threat (aliens, zombies, killers, mutated animals or parasitic bugs like here)' sub-genre that was much better than I had expected. When I was about halfway through The Thaw I kept thinking about how similar the premise & especially the location & general story is to the classic The Thing (1982) with the main exception the script substitutes an alien creature for parasitic bugs which is fine but generally speaking The Thaw obviously owes a lot to The Thing. The script is fairly tight & has a decent pace, it builds-up quite nicely although there's not much of an ending which might have been more to do with a lack of budget rather than a lack of ambition. The character's are alright but apart from Evelyn we learn very little about them other than what they do for a living or are students, having said that The Thaw is a better film for not being bogged down in dull teen talk that plague horror films. Lasting 90 minutes The Thaw has a few nice scenes & is perfectly watchable without ever really excelling at any point, you could do a lot worse.The script also has a prominent environmental message with Dr. Kruipen's misguided plan (in an obvious twist ending that makes little sense) to wipe out mankind & save the planet from destruction, it gets a little heavy handed at times & it's nothing no-one out there doesn't already know & I doubt The Thaw will change the way people think about global warming or other such issues although at least it tries. There's a bit of gore here, there's a nicely handled amputation as a guy has his arm cut off with a meat cleaver, there are various scenes of people with sores & half eaten flesh as well as the bugs do what they do best & eat people. It's unusual to say but the special effects in The Thaw are surprisingly good although not too large in scale, the CGI computer animated bugs look fine as do the on set make-up effects & fake blood.Filmed in British Columbia in Canada this had nice production values & actually looks like a proper film, while Lewis isn't the greatest of director's as he fails to inject much tension or outright horror into The Thaw at least there's no shaky hand-held camcorder photography & no machine gun editing so I have to give him lots of credit for that if nothing else. The acting is alright, although Val Kilmer gets near top billing he's only in it for about ten minutes & looks bored.The Thaw is fairly unoriginal & feels like a slightly tweaked rip-off of The Thing but it's perfectly watchable all the same, it was certainly a lot better than I have anticipated. For those who remember it The Thaw is also strikingly similar to the season one X-Files episode Ice (1993).