Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman (2000) A-Pix Entertainment/Horror-Comedy RT: 91 minutes Rated R (language, graphic violence and gore, nudity) Director: Michael Cooney Screenplay: Michael Cooney Music: Chris Anderson Cinematography: Dean Lent Release date: November 21, 2000 (US) Starring: Christopher Allport, Eileen Seeley, Chip Heller, Marsha Clark, Scott McDonald, Ray Cooney, David Allen Brooks, Sean Patrick Murphy, Tai Bennet, Melanie Good, Jennifer Lyons, Shonda Farr, Ian Abercrombie, Doug Jones, Stephanie Chao, Granger Green.
Rating: ***
I can’t say Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman is either better or worse than its predecessor, but I certainly must give writer-director Cooney points for effort. This sequel is positively loony!
First off, I LOVE the title! Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman sounds like a Saturday Night Live skit. And if that’s not enough, wait until you hear the premise, you’re going to love this one. Maybe you should sit down for this. Are you sitting? Good, here it comes. Jack Frost (the titular mutant killer snowman) comes back to life and terrorizes our heroes at a tropical island resort. Yes, you read that right, a tropical island resort!
How can a snowman survive in such a climate, you ask? Easy, he’s a mutant killer snowman. In a movie like this, that’s about all the explanation you’re going to get. I suppose it might have something to do with the genetic tinkering undergone by Jack’s liquefied remains at the beginning of the movie, but who knows? Moreover, who cares? And if that’s still not enough, get a load of this. Jack “gives birth” to killer snowballs. That’s right, killer snowballs! He coughs up snowballs, they hatch and little snowballs (replete with icicle fangs!) come out. I swear I’m not making this up. I can’t believe I just wrote all of this with a straight face; after all, I couldn’t maintain one at all while watching the movie.
It goes without saying JF2 is a bad movie for many of the same reasons as the original movie. But once again, everything that should have worked against it actually works in its favor. A friend of mine once stated there are some movies that you just don’t watch under any circumstances (like Leprechaun: In the Hood and JF2). Obviously, I disagree with him on that point. Where is the fun in avoiding movies with bad titles? If I listened to him (or any of legions of people who have voiced this same sentiment over the years), I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of experiencing the delirious fun that is JF2 (not to be confused with JFK).
Let me help you get caught up on things. At the end of the first movie, Sheriff Sam Tiler (Allport) and company finally took down the evil Jack Frost (McDonald) with antifreeze (duh, that sounds logical!) and buried his liquefied remains in jugs in the local cemetery. Of course, the movie’s parting shot leaves the viewer with the impression that the situation isn’t over yet. Sure enough, it’s not over!
At the beginning of JF2, somebody digs up the jugs and takes them to a laboratory where scientists conduct experiments on the liquid. An accident resurrects our old friend Jack who reforms and escapes from the lab. D’OH!!! It’s been a year since Jack’s rampage through Snowmonton and Tiler still hasn’t recovered from the stress of his bloody encounter with the mutant killer snowman. Sam and his wife Anne (Seeley) decide to take a vacation to a tropical Pacific island to attend the wedding of their friends, Deputy Joe Foster (Heller) and his fiancée Marla (Clark). They’re greeted by the eccentric Colonel Hickering (Ray Cooney) and his staff, including an activities director who calls himself Captain Fun (Murphy).
Naturally, Jack follows the group to the island and proceeds to rack up another impressive body count after washing up on shore. He starts with three models there for a photo shoot. Shortly after a couple of guests discover the mutilated bodies, Sam learns the resort’s head of security in none other than our old pal Agent Manners (Brooks) who somehow survived his “fatal” encounter with Jack in the original movie. Fired from the FBI, he’s certain Jack is responsible for the deaths, but he and the Colonel decide to cover things up to avoid a panic among the other guests. They end up blaming the grisly mess on a “coconut shark” attack.
Jack continues his murderous rampage until there are only a few survivors. That’s when the snowman starts coughing up the aforementioned killer snowballs. I should also mention that Sam and Jack are now psychically linked due to the fact that some of the sheriff’s blood (from an icicle stabbing wound) dripped into the antifreeze. Naturally, this will be a primary factor in figuring out how to kill Jack once and for all.
Gorehounds will be thrilled that the body count in JF2 has been increased twofold (24 on-screen murders) which basically means more blood for their buck. Once again, we’re treated to some fairly creative murders. Here now are some of the gory highlights: a woman gets crushed by a snow anvil, a woman gets impaled on giant icicles protruding from the ground, another woman gets killed with a pair of tongs to the eyes, a woman’s head explodes after ingesting ice cubes made from you-know-who, a guy gets a carrot in the eye, a female skinny dipper drowns after Jack ices over the swimming pool, some idiot gets his tongue torn out by Jack after sticking it to a frozen flagpole (a nod to A Christmas Story, perhaps?), a guy gets his arm knocked off by a snowball and people get stabbed with icicles or killed by icicle projectiles.
Additionally, several people are attacked and killed by the killer snowballs with their little icicle fangs (aka death by “frostbite”). This whole plot thread can only be seen as a huge nod to Joe Dante’s Gremlins (another warped holiday classic!). At one point, somebody throws one of the little buggers into a blender and turns it on. I’m sorry, but I love stuff like this! Who cares if JF2 once again features lousy special effects, terrible acting and hilariously bad dialogue (including more groan-inducing puns involving ice and snow)? I won’t even bother quoting any of them this time. Watch the movie and hear them for yourself.
Here’s the deal, anybody who watches a movie called Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman knows exactly what they’re getting themselves into. You should be able to tell by this self-explanatory title whether or not you’ll enjoy it. It’s the kind of movie that would play well as a special holiday feature at a grindhouse. It’s 100% schlock! As one of my colleagues from the Philadelphia film scene would say, “It’s crap!” In this case, that would be a compliment of the highest order. It’s excellent bad movie fun!
