Sometimes They Come Back... for More (1998) (V)

Director:

Daniel Zelik Berk

Writers (WGA):

Stephen King (characters)
Adam Grossman (written by) ...

Release Date:

January 1999 (UK)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Hell Has Finally Frozen Over!

Plot:

On a arctic circle radio shack, an ancient evil lurks, ready to strike at a psychologist, an army man and their collective forces. |

Plot Keywords:

Antarctic | Sequel | Stephen King | Vomit | Third Part

Cast

Clayton Rohner	...	Captain Sam Cage
Faith Ford	...	Dr. Jennifer Wells
Max Perlich	...	Lieutenant Brian Shebanski
Chase Masterson	...	Major Callie O'Grady
Damian Chapa	...	Dr. Carl Schilling
Jennifer O'Dell	...	Mary
Michael Stadvec	...	Captain Robert Reynolds
Stephen Hart	...	Major Frank Whittaker
Douglas Stoup	...	Lieutenant Baines
Frank Ceglia	...	Soldier in Bar

Also Known As:

Frozen
Ice Station Erebus (Australia) (video title)
The Antichrist (Philippines: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence/gore, language and some nudity.

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Philippines:R-18 | Australia:MA | Netherlands:16 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Antarctica

Company:

Trimark Pictures

Movie Connections:

References The Thing (1982)

How to Turn a Great Movie Into a Good Movie

I am a little bit agitated about this movie. I really liked it, but I found myself angry at the filmmakers more than I normally would toward the filmmakers of a really terrible movie I watched. Why, you ask? Well, it is because this film was on its merry way of becoming a superb movie, worthy of a Zanatos score of 9 or 10, but they botched up the job. I will explain in a second, but first let me give an appropriate synopsis.

Two military officers respond to a call for help at a top secret mining operation in Antarctica that the United States government is conducting. The officers, weapons in hand, are dropped near the base and walk the rest of the way. When they arrive, they find that only two people are still left, a medical doctor and a tech engineer. A third member of the base's crew, someone closely associated with one of the two military officers, has apparently started killing off the rest of the crew. Strangely enough, he is also able to summon them back from the dead to do his bidding in preparation for a heinous ritual.

I was happily enjoying the thrills of this movie for a long time, but then the botch-job occurred. Without giving away too much, I will try to explain...but you might want to skip this paragraph to avoid me spoiling anything for you. Anyhow, for those who chose to continue reading, the first botch up was that they killed the wrong female character, giving the poor female character the lead. She was terribly weak in both performance and character (Chase Masterson was so much better). It seemed to unintentionally suggest that women were very inferior. Consider the scene where the two leads, being chased by the undead, step out in the Antarctic cold, and the Faith Ford character immediately has to be carried a few steps by the male lead. Even after they are indoors, he is carrying her because she is acting like she is unconscious. It was just the wrong thing to do, making women in general look helpless, which they are not. The second botch-job was the love theme. Movie makers constantly insist on the ideal ending by letting two characters fall in love. I'm sorry, but there was not only no chemistry for such a thing here, and falling in love under these circumstances is just impossible. This movie could have been spectacular had they left the falling-in-love theme out (and they could have easily written it so with the same results), and, especially, if the doctor and female military officer roles had been switched.

I remind you, though, that I did enjoy this movie. "Sometimes They Come Back...For More" did have thrills and was fun to watch. I guess I just sound so bitter because I know the filmmakers had the opportunity to make a great movie, but settled for a good one. Most films with a budget like this one's can't come close to making that claim, which is why it saddens me that this one missed out on being great. However, I still recommend fans of such films as "The Thing," and "Evil Dead" to check this one out. Zanatos's score: 7 out of 10.