Search - Freezer Burn on DVD

Couldnt stop laughing

ribcage | Lantana, Florida United States | 02/23/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Freezer Burn totally blew me away. I came across it on accident since I was looking for the Crispin Glover, Tom Green flick Freezer Burn: Invasion of Laxdale, but figured since I got it there was no reason not to watch it. I did a quick look up on IMDB to get an idea of the tone of the film, and it seemed sound enough. A man cyrogenically freezes himself so that when he wakes up a young girl he has fallen in love with will be old enough for him to pursue. I didn't read any more so I really had no idea of the tone of the film. What was in my mind was that I was going to sit through a low-budget movie about a pedophile scientist. While the film didn't quite entirely shake that underlining pedophile feeling, it was absolutely much more than my expectations.

Considering it was low budget, and considering the premise, I thought I'd be walking into a film full of tepid, unlikeable characters with jokes that try to hard. I was completely wrong.

Our main character, Virgil, is a man torn between struggling to reach a breakthrough in his experiments while trying to maintain a tenuous relationship with his wife. His lab assistant Rex, the coarse funny man to Virgil's confounded straight man, was great and while his jokes were certainly out there, they were delivered with perfection and never stretched too far to get a laugh. Virgil's wife Blake was a great villain for the first half, although how much of a villain she really is for having a husband who focused more on work and a fourteen year old is up for debate. The object of Virgil's affection, Emma, was appropriately shown very little so as to enforce his idolization of her. Finally, the strange hood Virgil befriends had some really snappy, witty scenes, although he carried a weird accent that faltered every now and then.

Virgil and Rex are working in 1994 to find a way to preserve organs outside of the body for longer periods of time. Meanwhile, Virgil's art teacher wife cares little for his work, which he clearly has been retreating into to avoid facing problems in their marriage. This continues, until Blake meets one of her 14 year old students Emma, at which point it explodes since he can't hide his infatuation. He fails to come home from working late one night, and she arrives at his lab to find a painting by the girl that she had forbidden him to purchase. This causes Blake to snap and destroy all of Virgil's work. His investors back out, Blake files for divorce, and Virgil is left feeling like he has nothing left to lose...and having found a breakthrough in the wake of Blake's destruction, with the money from the sale of his house he enlists Rex's help to freeze him for fifteen years and monitor him month to month in a self-storage facility, and the help of his criminal friend to keep tabs on Emma so he can find her when he awakes.

Of course, when he wakes up 11 years later things have not gone to plan.

The setup was written a bit better as far as story goes, but the second half took the already great humor and took it up a few notches, so I didn't mind. The story overall was clever and original, and its the first comedy I've seen in a while that was actually witty from time to time. And of course, there's lots of zany comedy to appeal to my more primitive side(which is admittedly much stronger).

I don't think I've ever seen a film made for so little money that was so consistently hilarious. Freezer Burn amazed me, and what's better than a film that amazes you? One that makes you laugh the entire time you're being amazed. Freezer Burn delivers and then some."

Good Acting, Cheesy, Low Budget, Film - that is worth watchi

Daniel G. Lebryk | 08/26/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"There are movies that are absolute stinkers made with gazillion dollar budgets. There are movies that try to do interesting things on a very small budget, but are also stinkers. Then there is Freezer Burn. A phenonomally low budget film (supposedly $45,000 - although that's hard to believe) that is actually pretty well done with an interesting story. Its all about knowing what you have and maximizing the story.

Virgil is a scientist working in a very very tiny laboratory with his confined to a wheelchair assistant Rex. They work on freezing organs so they will last longer before being transplanted. After success with a monkey heart, Virgil and Rex move to larger things, a dog. In the meantime we discover that Virgil has a, well, the name for a female dog, of a wife. She is an art teacher. The real conflict builds as Virgil meets a 13 year old artist and decides he really likes her. One of the funnier jokes is Rex talking to Virgil about the girl; hey just wait a year and move to West Virginia where you'd be legal. No nothing of the sort happens, Virgil is actually a very straight up likeable guy. He decides to use his freezing machine on himself.

Its a very rough around the edges movie - what do you expect for your $45,000? There were many moments where the director just spent too long developing the story line. I really wanted to know what would happen next and found myself fast forwarding fairly frequently at about mid point in the film. The interesting thing about this film, the acting by Rex and Virgil is surprisingly good. They are both very believeable in their roles. Emma is absolutely sweet and innocent as the gifted 13 year old artist. Virgil's wife Blake is just not very good, much too acidic, and over acted.

Technically, Charles Hood's first directing job is surprisingly good. Camera work is steady and solid. There's very little handheld garbage. Exposure is decent. Sound is well recorded, dialog is so critical in this film and it works. Pacing, as I mentioned, is off quite a bit. Hood drew this film out too much, editing for a 90 minute film.

The DVD has some oddities on it - actually the first time I've ever seen this. A piece called 'final defrostification of VIRGIL STAMP.' Here's what is strange, this is a 22 minute piece, and its essentially the whole movie edited down to 22 minutes. Magic. A shortened version of the film. Yeah, its way too short, too much cutting to be really that good. The gag reel is pretty lame, about 7 minutes of mostly incomprehensible junk. And finally almost as weired as the short - two images of the movie posters, the teaster poster and the promo card.

Yes it is an odd little DVD. The special effects are super cheesy. The laboratory and most of the sets are claustrophobic. The ending is a bit cheesy. But the acting by the two lead characters, boy I liked that. This film had much more going for it than I ever would have imagined."

Human Popsicle

Julian Kennedy | St Pete Florida | 07/30/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Freezer Burn: 7 out of 10: A low budget charmer is the best way to describe Freezer Burn. It has some pretty good naturalistic performances as well as some pretty funny writing.


It isnt perfect by any means and some parts, in particular the ending, fall a little flat. It is also a low budget movie, with all the limitations that come with that. If you can look past the lack of polish, there are some very fun and entertaining bits in here.


Ella Rae Peck gives a charming, and most importantly believable, performance as the objet d'underage de passion. Her smile brightens up the screen. (Great now I sound like the protagonist). She is however a realistic character and not some fantasy or tragic Hollywood concoction.


Michael Consiglio gives the other standout performance as the wheelchair bound lab assistant. He reminds me of Nicholas Brendon (Xander) on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He has that great ability to turn a silly throwaway line into something genuinely funny.


Overall, I had a fun time. The film has a great tone. Kind of silly but also surprisingly realistic compared to a more polished Hollywood film. I certainly recommended it for both Sci-fi and low budget fans.


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