Chill Factor (1999)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Hugh Johnson

Writers (WGA):

Drew Gitlin (written by) &
Mike Cheda (written by)

Release Date:

1 September 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Thriller

Tagline:

This Fall, Action is served on the rocks, with a twist.

Plot:

If a new biological chemical weapon is exposed to temperatures over 50 degrees Fahrenheit, it'll do something very bad...

Plot Keywords:

Ice Cream Truck | Montana | Gun | Buddies | Restaurant

Cast

Cuba Gooding Jr.	...	Arlo
Skeet Ulrich	...	Tim Mason
Peter Firth	...	Colonel Andrew Brynner
David Paymer	...	Dr. Richard Long
Hudson Leick	...	Vaughn
Daniel Hugh Kelly	...	Colonel Leo Vitelli
Kevin J. O'Connor	...	Telstar
Judson Mills	...	Dennis
Jordan Mott	...	Carl
Dwayne Macopson	...	Burke
Jim Grimshaw	...	Deputy Pappas
Richard Todd Aguayo	...	Gomez
K. Addison Young	...	Ranger at Dam
James Van Harper	...	Ranger in Chopper
Tommy Smeltzer	...	Deputy Art Lewis

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and language.

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #36903) | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18SG | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Netherlands:12 | Netherlands:16 (video rating) | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:12 | Norway:15 (video premiere) | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | UK:15 | Argentina:13 | Philippines:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Liberty, South Carolina, USA

Company:

Morgan Creek Productions

Trivia:

The exterior diner scenes were filmed in the small town of Liberty, South Carolina. In real life, the diner is actually a wood shop and the $15/night hotel is actually a coin-operated washette.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Officer Pappas is talking to Mason in Darlene's he places the cap on his coffee cup. The next time they show him the coffee cup has no lid and he grabs the lid to cover his coffee again

Quotes:

Col. Andrew Brynner: It won't be long now, gentlemen. And it won't be very pleasant.
[Brynner puts a small sample of Elvis on the road by Tim and Arlo for testing]
Col. Andrew Brynner: But such is the price of patriotism.

Ready for Thanksgiving

This film practically gobbles, it's so bad. At one point, I though it might even tip over to a parody of the thriller genre, but the funniest parts were unintentional. Cliches and unlikely, even impossible plot points and lack of continuity abounded. I realize the script was probably a first effort by a pair of 20-something boys, but these boys aren't even remotely clever. They shouldn't be allowed near a word processor (or better yet, a pitch meeting) ever again, at least not without adult supervision. And may the equally untalented director be similarly rewarded.

Cuba Gooding, who can be wonderful, was so hammy, he resembled Stephin Fetchit at several points. This was the first time I'd seen Skeet Ulrich, and he's a cute Johnny Depp lookalike, the perfect bookend for the Sharon Stone clone in one of the few female roles. David Paymer, who is usually a talented actor, has a grueling death scene in this that is unintentionally as funny as some of Bruce Vilanch's work.

I'm certain this film was created with the special effects first (gratuitous violence, literal cliffhangers, and things blowing up) and then a storyline was sketched out to incorporate this unlikely series of events. The plot, such as it is, involves a deadly substance, developed by the Paymer character, that Ulrich and Gooding, as two ordinary guys, are trying to keep out of the hands of the bad guys, a highly trained paramilitary group.

Unfortunately, I suspect this film will do fine at the box office, as some in the audience seemed to find it more entertaining than I did. While not my favorite genre, I like decent action thrillers (e.g. Escape from Alcatraz), and audience acceptance of dreck like this makes it even more difficult for more challenging films to get produced and released.