Val Kilmer again plays an environmental scientist (as he did in The Chaos Experiment) this time doing research in Canada. Apparently the glaciers are melting quickly. A polar bear he and his crew are tracking is found lunching on the brains of the corpse of a mammoth no less, that is surfacing thanks to the thawing.

Later his crew is getting sick and crazy. He is filming some type of a confessional.

Meanwhile some students are sent to study with him and his daughter goes along for the ride- even though he begs her not to go. When the kids arrive, no one is at the base camp except for the body of the bear. The kids spend the night but problems surface. The helicopter pilot is bitten by something, and so is one of the students- all over her body. Suddenly one of Kilmer's colleagues appears but she is ends up dying in a few minutes.

The kids realize that there is some prehistoric bug that is infecting everyone. It went from the mammoth's brain to the bear to the crew and now to some of them. And from here things get annoying as the daughter takes charge of sorts since the males are as usual completely useless romantics. All sorts of fights ensue. The kids find Kilmer's research and tapes and discover that the helicopter has been disabled by someone and have to call for help. But they have to survive until help arrives.

Suddenly Kilmer shows up...but he has different plans than the kids. The ending is neat. And actually the ideas behind it of radical ecologists perpetuating eco-bio-terror is very interesting. The problem is the annoying teenies. Had this movie been cast with adults, it could have been a striking movie. Instead we get the usual teen team led by some girlie who's of course much tougher than the guys- so much so that when a guy can't hack someone's arm off she rushes to grab the meat cleaver. Hollywood's warped political/social agenda is undermining their own artistic work. When will this annoying fad be over? Overall, the movie is well done, has good special effects, somewhat of an original story that is pretty interesting, but is more interested in furthering grlpower than its own aims.

Infestation horror, with a global warming message, regarding prehistoric parasites which are unleashed after a woolly mammoth is unearthed by melted ice on a Canadian Arctic island infecting a research team(..led by Val Kilmer as a famous ecologist known for his vocal outcry towards mankind's awareness and acknowledgment of our treatment of Mother Earth). The lives of students who accept an invitation from Dr. David Kruipen(Kilmer)and their helicopter pilot will become endangered once they land at the research center. Also, along for the trip is Kruipen's estranged daughter Evelyn(Martha MacIsaac). The students include Atom Galen(Aaron Ashmore),whose father is an oil man as ironic as it may seem, Federico(Kyle Schmid),with a phobia towards bugs of any kind, and Ling Chen(Steph Song). When the kids find a dead polar bear and the research cabin empty, they will soon discover to their horror parasitical "vertebrae" which enter the skin and lay eggs, multiplying at an alarming rate. Pilot Bart(Viv Leacock)is bit while posing over the dead polar bear for a picture and Ling is infected while having sex with Feddy(Federico's pet name)on the floor. When Kruipen's assistant Dr. Jane Sanders(Anne Marie DeLuise)returns from their camp worse for wear, the group will see firsthand what the parasites do to human hosts, as victims vomit as their insides become overrun by hatching eggs, with skin irritations soon evolving into open sores..it isn't too long before those infected are devoured carcasses spilling forth hundreds upon hundreds of parasites. Can those uninfected escape before the parasites get to them and was there an ulterior motive by Kruipen, frustrated by the unwillingness of an uncaring world towards helping their environment better itself after mankind's treatment over many years of pollution and other factors?

Not bad for it's type, "The Thaw" is pretty much still a terror tale whose threat are hatched bugs which could become a global nightmare if released from their isolated quarantine.

The cast is actually pretty solid, although Val Kilmer's part is relatively small. Instead Ashmore(Smallville)and MacIsaac's young characters are the center voices of reason/calm as Schmid's Federico loses control when it's confirmed that he is infected in his penis, and Song's Ling is steadily becoming more diseased..interesting choice, deciding instead to focus the developing story around young people, witnessing how they respond to a crisis of such magnitude. I will just say this, if you are terrified of the mere sight of creepy crawlies scurrying about, and into open wounds on the skin, make sure not to pop this bad boy in the DVD player.

"The Thaw" also features the unpleasant sight of how the flesh responds negatively to infection, including a decision to chop off an arm that doesn't end well for the recipient(..we see that it isn't so easy to lop off an arm with one swipe of a cleaver). "The Thaw", I believe, will accomplish it's goal to make your skin crawl..if that is what you so desire, check this flick out. Released by GhostHouse Underground.

This is one of those movies that sounds promising on script, but fails to deliver on the screen.

The concept seems alright; something frozen has been thawed up and is now a threat to mankind. Right, nothing wrong there.

But the way some of the characters behave throughout the movie, just makes you wonder "what the...?". The movie is not scary at any given point, it just delivers a lukewarm thrill.

Certain parts of the movie were excellent, with some fairly decent effects. But those moments do not have enough leverage to carry the entire movie.

Val Kilmer's performance in this movie seemed like he just wanted to get it over with and get paid. I am not a huge fan of his already, but this performance was poor. And before the movie really got into gear and were ready to take you on a ride, it ended...

This movie experience is being archived deep, deep down in my memory, and will hopefully never get thawed...