A Cold Night's Death (1973)

Excellent, a Must See

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

The concept in "A Cold Night's Death" is very good...and very interesting. However, it's also a very, very simple idea...so simple that it cannot be supported in a 90 minute film...perhaps 15-20 at the most. As a result, there were significant periods of dull filler and the overall effort is one I wouldn't recommend.Robert Jones (Robert Culp) and Frank Enari (Eli Wallach) are sent to the Tower Mountain Research Station because the man running the place, Dr. Vogel, stopped transmitting five days ago. Additionally, before this be was beginning to sound more and more irrational. When they arrive in this frozen wasteland to replace him, they find the Doctor...dead...frozen in a room exposed to the elements. How did this happen? Through the course of the film they put the puzzle pieces together and Dr. Jones thinks that the apes at this research center had something to do with this!As I said, the basic idea isn't bad but you could probably sum up the plot in two or three sentences! Wallach and Culp do their best...you can't blame them. But the script just isn't enough to hold your interest...though the payoff is pretty cool...if you're still watching by then!!

One of the finest TV movies of the 1970s, A Cold Night's Death (AKA: The Chill Factor) pitches Robert Culp and Eli Wallach at the Tower Mountain Research Station. They play research scientists who are investigating what has happened to the researcher who was working there, he was doing altitude tests on primates, but all has gone quiet and when the two men get there, they find a bizarre set-up, but more tellingly things start to happen to shake them into a state of paranoia.In this day and age of multi million pound blockbusters, of intricate sets and big buck production design, it's refreshing to come across a TV movie that shows you don't need those things to make a successful film. With just two actors, a minimalist set-up, and a smartly written script, you can achieve great unease and a sense of foreboding atmosphere. Culp and Wallach are polar opposites of the male scale, they are like some long term married couple, which amplifies when suspicion and mistrust starts to take a hold.Jerrold Freedman directs and he has a skill that utilises the sparse sets for maximum impact. The murky corridors of the research station tingle the spine, the snowy exteriors seem to hide terrors unknown, whilst his camera work (jarring angles) and the sound work are perfectly in keeping with the suspenseful and mysterious flow of the narrative. Complimenting the story's tone is Gil Melle's score, which blends synth pulse beats with electronic shards of shock. The resolution to the mystery isn't exactly a surprise, but it delivers the requisite whack, enough of a jolt to raise the hackles. 7/10

Two scientists (Eli Wallach and Robert Culp) head to an Antarctic science lab to relieve another doctor who has been sending back crackpot messages. They find the doc dead, having locked himself in a room and left the window open so that he froze to death. Naturally, this method of suicide perplexes both men, but still have a job to do in testing chimps for outer space travel. They go about their business, but things start to slowly go bump in the night. Are they not alone? Is the station haunted? This is a superior TV movie from back in the day. The cast is mainly the two leads and both Wallach and Culp are fantastic in their roles. The setting is really great (think Carpenter's THE THING, which it looks very similar to) and the tension really builds perfectly. Best of all, the film's mystery really pays off and you will be rethinking everything you've seen 75 minutes prior. To say anything more about it would give it away.

This vintage TV movie offers profound insights into the human condition and the implications for our exploration of outer space. NOT! What it does have is a darker buddy buddy relationship than we have come to expect from Spelling and Goldberg and good production values, probably because it was a two hander with more room to spend elsewhere.The problem is the audience guesses quickly who-dunnit, thus stretching credulity to the limit when the scientists are less quick off the mark. Okay, so fans of the genre automatically look for the sinister, whereas the characters in the 'real' world are reacting as events unfold. Nevertheless, when Dr Enari is forced to apologise to Dr Jones, the penny should have dropped there and then. Altitude is blamed to a certain extent, but professionals in the same field will probably be niggled at the near basket cases presented here before any real investigating gets under way. Funnily enough, although the who was obvious, the why never really entered my head. The out of left field answer will either amuse or frustrate. Culp gives a strong performance as a man pushed to mental and physical limits and I actually winced when his head took a dunk into some frozen water.Although daft, this movie haunted me for several hours after I saw it so I give it a qualified thumbs up.