chill factor weird science

Movies shot in the snow should always get extra credit. Not only does it involve cast and crew working under less than optimal conditions, but the logistics of shooting when the temperatures drop below freezing add a new level of difficulty. Plus it all looks awesome on camera! So The Chill Factor (1993), despite its community theater acting and Cabin in the Woods cliches, gets a gold star just for trying to pull off a supernatural slasher set in northern Wisconsin.

After a snowmobile race gone wrong, Jeannie and her five friends hunker down in an abandoned hunting cabin while a winter storm rages outside. A quick exploration of the premises uncovers a satanic back-story involving human sacrifice, demonic possession and missing kids. And by the time morning rolls around, Jeannie might just be the only human left alive!

Produced by Windsor Lake Studios, a regional company also responsible for Arrow Video's other recent release Trapped Alive, The Chill Factor (release in the U.S. as Demon Possessed) can't compete on the same level with other flicks of the day like Leprechaun or even the Full Moon catalog. But it's endearingly earnest in its attempt to create suspense; so much so that nearly 45-minutes runs off the clock before there's even a clue that something spooky is going on.

So why bother? Well, horror fans aren't the type to let an obscure curiosity pass them by. And The Chill Factor offers up enough unfamiliar scenery, strange incest subplots, corny dialogue and one incredible death-by-icicle scene to hold your attention. It also offers the first (and probably last) chance to watch a demon ride a snowmobile. Only in Wisconsin!

Arrow Video's 2K restoration is up to their usual high standards, even though much of the film seems drastically underlit. Extras include interview, commentary, stills and a collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film to go with that great new reversible artwork.

Let me just put this out there: Weird Science is a hot mess! Obviously, it has its good points (Bill Paxton) and has earned a vocal fan base, but as the missing link between John Hughes' The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, the movie seems like the product of a completely different director. Its defenders use that as a rallying cry. But the uncomfortable premise of two teenage boys creating a living sex doll on their computer is a tough tightrope to walk...one that Hughes' film comes precariously close to plunging to its doom.

Gary (Anthony Michael Hall) and Wyatt (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) are a pair of horny nerds who fantasize about a life of parties, girls and popularity. They get all that and more after they create Lisa (Kelly LeBrock), an all-powerful computer girlfriend who instructs the boys in the finer points of sex, drugs and rock n' roll. But Gary and Wyatt's new identities are far from a perfect fit, forcing them to stand up to bullies, big brothers and interdimensional mutants before they can find out who they truly are.

In it's defense, Weird Science does attempt to teach a few moral lessons. But watching LeBrock make-out with a 15-year-old boy is skeezy no matter how you spin things. Hughes' film is much more comfortable scoring laughs from its scattershot sketch comedy approach. It's a full-speed blender of '80s hairstyles, new wave music and movie references (actor Vernon Well reprises his role as the mohawk nemesis from The Road Warrior) that never stops to catch its breath. LeBrock adds some warmth to her intentionally two-dimensional role and Bill Paxton launches himself into cinema immortality as Chet, the big brother from hell. From any other director it would probably get dismissed as just another insignificant juvenile fantasy. Then again, that might be just what Hughes planned in the first place.

Arrow Video's new 4K restoration is surprising from a company that rarely swims with the big studio releases. But they prove themselves up to the challenge here, including the previous 15-minute documentary It's Alive: Resurrecting Weird Science from the previous home video edition and adding new interviews, writing and a seamless Edited-for TV version that highlights the different dubs and takes.