Ice House

One wants to get back at his cheating wife. I wouldn't want to be there with them. Don't want to watch a movie about them. Pretty dull stuff.

If there was a classification of C-grade films, this would be it. I have never seen or heard of any of the actors, as most are fairly newbs. This is amateur producer, editor and director Steven Elbert's first entry into filmmaking. Then you have the single resume-credit of Patrick Mills as writer.

Yes, this film has many issues in pretty much every filmmakers check-list, however, they have to start somewhere, right? You could tell from the start that this was an amateur production, probably an independent movie filmed on a shoe-string budget. The cast were inexperienced, yet eventually became convincing and started to seem experienced. Not perfect, but adequate - especially lacking casting direction from an inexperienced director.

The camera work was sloppy at first, but improved throughout the film. The score was actually decent and fitting when it was playing, which is much better than your typical overbearing and unfitting score you generally hear in B-grade films. The story was actually very clever and had some interesting bi-polar moments between the two leads. It had some good and surprising twists, with only a few plot and technical issues.

Although the 108 min runtime initially felt it'd be too long, the pacing was decent enough to fly by, especially with the twists and revelations throughout. You can tell thought went into the details of the screenplay. For his first ever writing credit, Mills did good, and both he and Elbert should be proud of their accomplishment.

Had this been the final cut from any somewhat-experienced filmmakers, it'd be lucky to get anything higher than a 4 from me. But considering this is a first attempt from two amateur filmmakers - and the fact you have to start somewhere, they deserve my 7/10 based on the merits of their experience and production abilities. For more clarification on how I review films, visit my IMDb user page to see more of my 1000+ reviews and read my reviewing criteria. Then support these two new and upcoming filmmakers by giving this film a chance. Bravo from me, sirs.

Not sure why, but I was roped in (reeled in?) by this ultra low budget psychological thriller within five minutes. I'm shocked the producers could deliver such a good story for $80,000.

It starts like a stage play. Who are these two, somewhat "off" dudes sitting in an ice house on some godforsaken frozen lake in Minnesota? Then the onion is peeled back, mostly with dialogue, but creepy voyeurism too, followed by physical conflict and jeapoardy.

Others here have covered the details. But the movies is a good exploration of class conflict, extreme sociopathy, small town social dynamics, and maybe -- I'm strecthing here -- some homoerotic feelings by the male antagonist. He is an ultra-misognyst, prefers the company of men and had an unusual 20-year attachment -- sort of stalky -- to our "good guy" here. Or maybe he is just old fashioned.

The last thirty minutes are very twisty / surprising.

I give it an 8. That includes +1 star to account for the very low budget.

The headline is all the review you need, really. The two unknowns in the leads turn in excellent performances in a film that has great dialogue, but little else. Slow, glacially paced with nothing else going for it, it's hard to recommend.

I actually came here to find other films by the director and writer. Alas, it turns out this was their first efforts, except a short film by the director. Hope more is in store; much better than Hollywood is churning out. Low budget, interesting site (didn't know ice shacks came in luxury class), good acting, character development, sociopaths, economic strife, and twisting storyline. When you get to the end and feel upset, think old Hitchcock shows. Crime doesn't pay because the best laid plans oft go awry.