After discovering Michael Cooney made a sequel to Jack Frost, there was no way I was going to miss it. I’m pleased to say that 2000’s Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman is a lot sillier but also a whole lot funnier than the first one, catching me in just the right mood today. Spring has sprung, the weather is turning, the sun is shining and, if our government is to be believed, the virus is on the retreat. Wahey!
In this barmy sequel, Sheriff Sam (Christopher Allport again) and his wife Anne (Eileen Seeley) jet off on a sunny island vacation to help Sam get over last Christmas’s encounter with the killer snowman. What they don’t count on is a reincarnated Jack tracking them down to start a new killing spree in the sun. That’s right, it’s a film about an evil mutant snowman on a tropical island. This is undeniably a Christmas film, but the sun-kissed island paradise setting with its beautiful beaches and copious cocktails is just what I’m looking for today as I start to dream that maybe I’ll be able to go on a lovely holiday at some point soon. We’d been due to fly to Spain this month but of course the virus had other plans, so I settle for living vicariously through Sam and his missus, though I could definitely do without the icy bastard trying to spoil their vacay.
It’s a film that is acutely aware of its own ridiculousness and willing to push the envelope even further with the silly, snow-themed kills and not a toss given if none of it really makes sense. Jack, killed by anti-freeze last time out, is accidentally reanimated by pesky scientists who dig up his remains from an unmarked grave to do tests and accidentally bring him back via a spilled cup of coffee. Of course. It’s suggested that Jack’s DNA is now magically linked to Sam’s after their previous encounter, or maybe he’s just psychic like the shark in Jaws: The Revenge, so he’s able to track him down by stowing away in an icebox aboard a runner dingy, carrot nose and all. Handily, on the island are many large-breasted young model types for Jack to off in increasingly ludicrous ways, with the film going full blown Looney Tunes in its tone and ridiculous kills. It’s a big signal of intent that early on Jack squishes one hapless victim by transforming into a giant anvil.
This time Jack can morph himself into basically anything he wants, including ice cubes that just happen to be used to ‘waken up’ a bikini model’s nipples for a photo shoot. For added lunacy, the ice cubes also make her explode when she drinks them, of course. The movie, like most low-rent horror flicks, is overly concerned with boobs, but thankfully this one lacks the sleazy, rapey edge of part one.
It’s all more in good fun with lots of goofiness throughout, including a ‘eureka’ moment where our heroes realise, via a spilled cocktail, that Jack has inherited Sam’s hitherto unmentioned banana allergy. This leads to an absurd, Rambo-esque scene involving a banana being fired like arrows, which I totally approve of.
The effects budget is clearly much bigger on this one, with the standout moment coming when Jack multiplies into a horde of sort-of-cute little vicious snowball minions, reminiscent of Joe Dante’s Gremlins. The film really tries to do a lot with these ‘snow-babies’, including the obligatory Gremlins-style overrunning a bar and causing chaos scene. The effects don’t quite match the ambition, but it’s a fun homage that really abandons part one’s slasher formula, sort of making this the O.T.T. multicoloured, everything but the kitchen sink Gremlins 2 of this franchise.
It's a preposterous movie, but confidently well-directed and it knows exactly what it wants to be. I love that the credits feature a sting teaser for a third instalment that never got made, hinting at a giant ‘Frost-zilla’ that attacks Japan. Now that would have been something.
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