100° Below Zero Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

100° Below Zero Blu-ray Movie Review

A chilly reception.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 30, 2013

Prepare for the new reality.

It's The Asylum. It's a Disaster movie. Any questions? For veteran cinephiles and lovers of all things junk moviemaking, there shouldn't be any. For the uninitiated, The Asylum is the studio behind all the many "Mockbusters" and a good number of the lousy on-the-cheap movies that appear with some frequency on the SyFy Channel. Titles like Almighty Thor, Alien Origin, and Bigfoot really give a good idea what The Asylum is all about. 100° Below Zero is more of the same, though the movie does show at least some determination to rise above the truly miserable and settle for merely "bad." It's one of the good "bad" movies, meaning audiences could potentially find some value in a laugh-a-thon. There's plenty here that will delight viewers who are in only for the classic ultra bad movie experience. Those looking for the next The Day After Tomorrow should definitely turn away and pretend this doesn't exist.

I can see the cold!

A freak storm is gathering strength off the coast of Europe. Forecasts are grim. Tectonic shifts are forcing volcanic eruptions, and those eruptions are causing more eruptions. The ash cloud could spell disaster for the continent. Estimates are that some 83% of the land mass could be destroyed. Worse, temperatures will drop drastically, and quickly. Large amounts of moisture will rise into the air and precipitation will be constant and long-lasting. The sun will be blocked for two years, and snow will blanket the continent for at least that long. As events quickly unravel, a divided family is caught in the middle. Steve Foster (Jeff Fahey, Lost) and his new, younger bride Lacey (Judit Fekete) are en route to meet with Steve's children, college students Ryan (Marc Ewins) and Taryn (Sara Malakul Lane), who are both in Paris. Weather delays halt their reunification. As they struggle to meet up and survive the dropping temperatures and frigid conditions, one of Steve's old army buddies, a British Colonel by the name of Dillard (John Rhys-Davies, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) does all he can to bring the family together again.

Yeah, it's bad. Really bad. But who can hate a movie in which a girl kicks bowling ball-sized hail straight out of the sky? The movie certainly has a pulse, albeit one that beats to the rhythm of the regular appearance of unintentional humor, but it's at least a pulse. The same cannot be said of every other Asylum movie. This one, bless it, at least cobbles together a plot, well, if "running from nature" and "running into bad people" can be considered a "plot." 100° Below Zero never really feels all that urgent or intense. It's so linear that the only question is "how" rather than "if." It's all of the usual Disaster elements mixed together into one movie: the separated family, the concerned scientist, the military man on a mission, and of course the bad special effects, including a whole lot of phony looking cracks that run along walls and the ground. There are some choice shots of clouds that would look bad in an 8-bit video game. Actors often stand in front of terrible CGI and, therefore, stand out like the proverbial sore thumb. But at least the movie tries. It walks that fine line between the excess of the Roger Corman-inspired movies that are all about pushing the ridiculousness to the extreme and the duds that play with some sort of superiority complex that wear their pretentiousness on their celluloid (or digital, as the case usually is with these things) sleeves. 100° Below Zero finds a pretty good balance between campy and serious storytelling. It does neither well, but it also does neither poorly to excess, at least not so poorly that one cannot even get a good laugh out of it.

The actors also help make the movie tolerable. Sara Malakul Lane and Marc Ewins contribute little depth, but they don't make a mockery of their understandably flat characters. Their performances sometimes stutter but never do fall completely apart, even when tasked with performing the most absurd stunts (that hail stone kick) or delivering dialogue that's usually poorly written or written to lengthen the film. There's a painfully long scene near the beginning during which the two meander about Paris, talking up one another and their family life with little gain beyond establishing that, yes, they're a family, even one that's been tested and patched up with the arrival of the new stepmother. Character development is a luxury in these sorts of movies, and any sort of development beyond establishing names, faces, and basic relationships seems almost in excess. This is downright torturous, especially while waiting for the snow to start falling, the temperatures to drop, and the action to heat up. Their jaunt through Paris is at least a little more kinetic than what John Rhys-Davies does through most of the film, which is sit in the same spot and talk every now and then. Fahey and Fekete find the most balanced narrative. They're halfway believable as a newlywed couple and their story at least takes them through various conditions and along several different modes of transportation. There are no surprises anywhere in the movie, but sometimes that steady, predictable clip is all something like this needs. The film isn't a total embarrassment, bad as it may be, which is really a major indictment of the rest of the Asylum catalogue.

100° Below Zero Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

100° Below Zero's high definition presentation leaves little room for complaint. The Asylum's 1.78:1, HD video photographed motion picture looks quite nice on Blu-ray, delivering consistently crisp details and balanced colors. There's a bit of noise interfering with some of the shots, and bright skies look completely washed out, but this is otherwise a dependable and nice-looking image. Facial textures are excellent, revealing with commanding detail even the finest lines and pores. Some of the textures around the Paris locations look amazing, too. Great clarity and consistent sharpness (other than sloppy visual effects shots) define the image. In fact, it never goes excessively flat or glossy, both problem areas for lesser HD video productions. Colors are excellent. Camouflage uniforms, flag patches, and bright colored clothing stand out nicely against what becomes a fairly cold, blue-influenced palette later in the film. Black levels are of little concern, and flesh tones seem right-on accurate. This is yet another very good, very dependable transfer from The Asylum.

100° Below Zero Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

100° Below Zero offers the now-standard Asylum DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. As is usually the case with these budget titles, the track never wants for clarity but does lack a bit in fullness. Musical elements are delivered smoothly, with a nice, wide stage and enough in the way of accompanying surround support to fairly replicate the fictional frigid environment and all that happens in it. Some of the chaotic sound effects prove enough to rattle the stage, but the track is absent that big, rich, lifelike sort of presentation that would really push it over the top. Still, major and minor elements both are handled well enough for a movie of this budget and caliber. Dialogue is delivered with unflinching clarity and evenness from the center. Don't expect greatness but instead be content in a solid, enjoyable listen.

100° Below Zero Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

100° Below Zero contains the usual collection of brief Asylum supplements.

• "Making Of" Featurette (HD, 5:02).
• Gag Reel (HD, 0:48).
• Previews: Additional Asylum titles.

100° Below Zero Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

100° Below Zero isn't very good, unless being good for a few laughs counts. But it's not a total train wreck, either. It's simple storytelling but effective in a very linear, no-thought sort of way. It's good enough to hold together under straining circumstances -- a minimalist plot, awful special effects, and a terrible script -- and not make a total embarrassment of either the genre or the parent company behind it. Fans of ultra-cheesy Disaster flicks will get a kick out of this one, but anyone expecting a movie with a professional sheen should stay far away. The Asylum's Blu-ray release of 100° Below Zero features the usual tiny array of extras and the usual high quality video and audio presentations. Recommended for the next "bad movie night."