Horror Movie Review: Ice Queen (2005)

Ice Queen (also known as Avalanche Run) has three writers credited. One of which is director Neil Kinsella, which is not a good sign. It screams of half-baked ideas, rewrites and when the end result is Ice Queen everyone involved should feel a little embarrassed.

This low-budget straight to TV/video horror opens in the Amazon Rainforest (unlikely to be shot on location). Here a humanoid female is found perfectly preserved in amber. Upon study it seems as though she dates all the way back to the Ice Age!

Dr. Thomas Goddard (Daniel Hall Kuhn) is very excited about his find so loads her up on a small cargo plane back to the states for further study. On the flight while talking to the pilot, he fails to notice a fault with the heating system that is regulating her body temperature. Awake and very angry, she kills the pilot forcing the plane to crash in the mountains right near a ski-resort.

At this resort we’re introduced to a number of bland characters including Johnny (Harmon Walsh) who loves his girlfriend Tori (Noelle Reno) so much he gets drunk and sleeps with new employee Elaine (Jennifer Hill). There are a bunch more but remembering their names is a real struggle and the actors/actresses hardly stand out.

Anyway, the plane crash causes an avalanche that buries most of our characters inside the resort. If that wasn’t bad enough the plane then slides down the snow crashing into the resort releasing the Ice Queen who goes on a killing spree.

Will anyone be able to survive her wrath?

It’s not possible to hate Ice Queen because it’s not obviously bad. It has many bad moments and many bad ideas but the whole package is just sub-standard. Meaning it leaves next to no impression at all. There’s little worse then a boring and forgettable horror which is what Ice Queen is.

The story is yawn-inducing, the setting bland and the performances poor. It doesn’t even work as an unintentional comedy as nothing really amuses. Maybe you’ll get a kick out of a lengthy ‘getting drunk then having fake sex in a hot-tub’ scene. Or enjoy the WTF reaction most will have when they see the Ice Queen’s movements (played by a game Ami Chorlton).

The plot is boringly predictable leading to a lacklustre ending that has zero emotional stakes and even sequel baits.