Ice Road Terror (2011)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Well, this movie is hilarious. Hilariously bad that is. The budget is two million and it shows. The monster, which is the center piece of the movie, just looks terrible, but that's what makes the movie fun. I had to laugh so much the first time they showed it on screen.Of course the movie has no logic whatsoever. The main "plot" is that two truckers have to make one last delivery before the spring comes and then they encounter the monster which was awoken (or whatever) by some sort of mining operation. Then they go and kill it. Done. That's your plot.One scene of the movies has the trucks on the titular ice road and the monster breaking through the ice. Which is all fine and dandy, but you will notice that the ice is not even an inch thick but is supposed to support two 40 ton trucks, which would probably require at least two feet of solid ice to support them.There are a couple other scenes that defy all logic, but that's only to the benefit of the movie, because overall the movie would be pretty boring if not for the terrible action scenes.The rating of course is a so bad it's good rating, as an actual movie you had to rate it 2 or 3 at best.

Seeing Ice Road Terror was not that mind blowing. The film actually had decent acting, somewhat good action, and a simple plot. But overall it was nothing special.This film is basically about a company up in Alaska that awakens a prehistoric predator "dinosaur". A couple truckers then try to take hazardous materials up to the area where the beast is, not knowing that it exists.I actually thought the human characters were good in this film. They really seemed like truckers and were characters you could get behind. Also the girl who was the scientist was pretty good too. Surprising because usually in movies like these the humans are all cliché.The "dinosaur" in this film is weird in that it really is a big lizard. I do not know of any predatory dinosaur that runs around on four legs. It was pretty standard CGI for this beast and it got some decent action but nothing special.The story is pretty easy to follow.I thought that I got tricked because they showed a carnataurus on the box and some dvds even had a tyrannosaurus on them even though neither of those dinosaurs are in this film. The only creature in this film is the giant lizard. So I don't know why they had to false advertise this film.Pretty standard SYFY film. I do not strongly recommend it, but it isn't bad either. Watch it on a rainy day.

Do ya think the SyFy Channel is even aware that all it's original flicks have pretty much ... scratch that ... have exactly the same plots and characters and simply plug in some new creature into the formula? I think they're fully aware of this and they embrace it. This way they can keep the budgets of all their Saturday night originals roughly the same (in the $1.5- $2mil range). With ICE ROAD TERROR we get the same plot and characters we've come to expect and we even get another prehistoric creature freed from the ice (more on this in a minute). But what makes ICE ROAD TERROR stand out from the pack is the fact that it's fun ... really fun. I found myself having more fun with this one than I have with a SyFy flick in a really long time. Let's find out why.While blasting in the arctic for diamonds some prehistoric creature was released that lived under the ice and snow. The creature is angry and really hungry ... really hungry. As the creature tears its way through the workers at the site, we flash over to two ice truckers Jack (Ty Olsson; who was in TV's BATTLESTAR GALACTICA & the SyFy Original BEHEMOTH) and Neil (Dylan Neal; from DAWSON'S CREEK) who're loading up to haul a huge batch of explosives to the diamond mine site -- a site that is at the end of a very long ice road. Tagging along is a large-chested scientist-environmentalist Rachel (Brea Grant; who was in Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN 2 & 16 episodes of TV's HEROES). I mean come on; ya gotta have the female love interest for one of these rugged truckers who has a heart of gold!!There's some harrowing moments as we watch the trucks struggle on the ice road and wonder if they're gonna make it (yeah right). But the real fun begins once they get to the diamond mine site. Mostly everyone is dead and our threesome of heroes quickly find out there's a huge creature chomping on limbs and tearing apart bodies. So they high tail it out of there and the creature, which is some mythical Inuit legend, follows them for hundreds of miles to a cabin in the woods. Here the trio, as well as the couple who live at the cabin, make their last stand against the creature. There's sympathetic characters who die; heroic characters who sacrifice themselves for the others; and the standard last man/woman standing who finally get so angry they kill the creature. There's nothing new here ... ... except I found myself having a really fun time!! The film moves at a great pace and gives us lots of action. We wait all of five minutes before we see the creature (which as far as I can make out is called a "Wangchoke;" seriously) and it starts tearing apart the cast just as quickly. Plus writer Keith Shaw (who also wrote the very fun MALIBU SHARK ATTACK) and director Terry Ingram weren't afraid to show off a little blood, guts, and gore. The camera doesn't turn away as the creature rips people apart and throws around body parts and I was pleasantly surprised by the gore content. Of course this is no DEAD ALIVE, but for a SyFy Original we get some pretty fun gory moments.Most noticeable here is the pacing. We don't get the typical "let's meet the characters for a while" scenes. We meet the characters and get to know them while they're fighting for their lives. The scenes on the ice road are pretty good (in a silly way) as the creature dives and re- surfaces in and out of the ice like some frigid version of the beasts from TREMORS. And of course there's some stuff that just doesn't follow. Example: You'd think Jack, who's an experienced ice trucker, would spend more than five minutes and use more than a bungee cord to secure the explosives in his truck!! His truck catches on fire and he and Rachel must jump into the cab of Neil's truck while they're still driving. After making them jump from one moving truck to another, Neil then decides he needs to stop to check something out. So why didn't he just stop and let them walk to the truck in the first place??!!But the real fun comes when they make their way to one of Jack's old friends who luckily has the only cabin in about a 500 mile radius!! There they make their stand against the Wangchoke (I swear that's what it's called). Another stand out element in ICE ROAD TERROR is the acting. Everyone involved does a great job and they all look like they're having a really fun time. This energy was infectious and you'll feel it!! The Wangchoke is of course 100% CGI, but it looks way better than the typical SyFy Original. Not since the giant spiders in ICE SPIDERS have I been impressed by a CGI creation. The Wangchoke has realistic movements and has a lot of details in it's design.For all intents and purposes I should be writing my typical "skip it" review for ICE ROAD TERROR. But due to solid performances, a good looking and scary CGI monster, a really fast pace, and lots of spraying blood and gory, meaty looking body parts being thrown around, ICE ROAD TERROR is a really fun "giant creature attacks" flick. Nice job guys and keep 'em coming like this one!!Please note that I've given ICE ROAD TERROR, a SyFy Original, a higher rating that SUPER 8. Shame on you J.J. Abrams!!Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

As bad as this film is, there was a germ of something better.A road crew frees a hungry dino-monster in Alaska. The survivors do everything to escape the beast in their ice road trucks.Sounds kind of cool if you're thinking of a certain similarly named TV show.However, this is syfy and the terror takes place on half melted roads for only the first hour or so.With a bit of imagination. style and real location work, Ice Road Terror could have been a nifty little gem.But then, this is syfy.