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Somewhere in a strange ice-inflicted reality between Heaven and Hell, an evil entity has just been destroyed by his power hungry apprentice known as The Presence (DJ Vivona). During the battle between the two, a woman that was meant to be sacrificed by them manages to escape back to earth, alerting the demons of hell and the angels of heaven that their common enemy (The Presence) may now be weak enough to defeat. The only catch is that only a flesh and blood human can reenter the dimension, so together they decide to send a recent suicide victim to be the chosen assassin.
Alison (Ramona Midgett) is the unwitting assassin and she, along with six other humans that The Presence has picked to become victims of his sadistic games, will be sent to kill him. He is known to torture, kill, and trap the souls of his victims in the ice around him so the task will not be easy, but together they must try.
ICE FROM THE SUN comes to us from Eric Stanze and Wicked Pixel Cinema. It's seems as though Wicked Pixel is hell bent, and doing a damn fine job, at making a name for themselves with wildly different, avant-garde horror fare. After seeing another film from them that consisted of several short movies entitled THE SEVERED HEAD NETWORK that reveled in the abstract, and now after seeing ICE FROM THE SUN, it's safe to say Wicked Pixel is carving their own niche in the genre.
ICE FROM THE SUN begins by showing a montage of bizarre, dreamlike sequences that are disturbing in their presentation and accompanied by a rocking soundtrack. All of this is an assault on your senses that you don't usually see right from the get-go of a movie, but such is the way for this film. Rather than having a typical linear horror film thrown at you, Eric Stanze wants to make you think about what you are seeing, and wants you to be disturbed at what you are thinking. While at times the strange beauty will strike out at you, other times you'll be disgusted by the hideousness of what's happening on screen. Rarely does a movie with this low of a budget pack such a visual punch so adequately.
This film is erotic, violent, and will make you feel a wide range of emotions in its two hour running time. Eric Stanze has a definite edge behind the camera and he is a fine director that will jolt you, disgust you and make you sad, depressed, and ultimately make you question if what you have just seen has fucked you up in the head! Take for instance one scene where a woman is stripped of all her clothes, tied to the back of a truck and then dragged across the ground until she's nothing more than a mangled mass of meat. Then, to top it all off, rock salt is poured all over her!
Like THE SEVERED HEAD NETWORK, dialogue is not needed. It's there of course, but some of the best scenes are when there is nothing said at all, but rather the visuals overcome your senses. As Alison jumps from one strange world to the next, you are taken right along with her into a nightmare scenario where the visuals speak louder than words.
This movie isn't for every horror fan because of its avant-garde, art house approach, but if you're looking for something new and fresh to liven up your horror cinema tastes, then this is definitely something to see. Come to think of it, you can't really go wrong with anything that Wicked Pixel has put out so far.
Hooray for independent horror!!
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