Chiller (1985)

It is a performances centric movie

Awesome Movie

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

***SPOILERS*** With no hope of surviving death, from a combination kidney/liver malfunction, 22 year old Miles Creighton, Michael Beck, was put on ice-Cryonically-on orders of his mother Marion, Beatrice Straight, until an organ or organs from an organ donor would become available for him so he can be thawed out and operated on. That's if when thawed he's still alive. All this becomes moot when an electrical short happens at the Cryonical Storage Center where Miles has spent the last ten years of his life in suspended animation that in fact, after a few days in the fresh air & sunshine, brought the stiff back to life.Overjoyed at first to get her son Miles back his mom soon has seconds thoughts if thawing him out was the right thing to do. It takes a while but after killing the family dog Hep, who sensed that he was evil, and his late father's good friend and vice president of Miles, who's now put in charge, brokerage firm Clarence Beeson, Dick O'Neill, by first firing him and then, when he came back begging for his job back, inducing Clarence to suffer a fatal heart-attack. Miles also goes a step farther in his sexual attraction towards his kid sister Stacey, Jill Schoelen, whom he tries to seduce by trying to first get her drunk and then popping her! The guy turned out to be a both lowlife and sadistic swine who couldn't care less whom her hurt even his family members!***SPOILERS*** It's family friend Reverend Penny, Paul Sorvino, who soon realizes what a fiend Miles is in that his unfeeling and psychopathic actions proves to him that the man lacks a soul. And when he confronts Miles about it Miles, by getting Penny's jacket stuck in his car door, tries to kill him by dragging him on the highway to his death! Rev. Penny who survived all that soon lets Mrs. Creighton, while semi-conscious in his hospital bed, know what a rotten and soul-less person her "beloved" son Miles really is. And what's more he's only her son in body but not in spirit or soul which really counts. The film tells us that the body that dies at death is separate from the soul that survives it which explains Miles Dr. Jeackel & Mr.Hide personality. He was a good boy before he died but turned into a monster when he came back to life in lacking a soul explains the actions he did since his resurrection, by thawing out, from the dead. It's now up to his mom to put her son Miles back on ice permanently before he does any more damage! but the problem is that Miles, in enjoying the criminal life that he's now leading, is not going to go that easily.

Corporate exec Miles Creighton (Michael Beck) dies, and is cryogenically frozen in the hopes that he can be revived. Ten years later, the procedure is a success, and Miles returns -- without his soul.So you have director Wes Craven, writer J. D. Feigelson ("Dark Night of the Scarecrow"), special effects from Stan Winston and an incredible actress with Jill Schoelen. How can you go wrong? One suspects the film is better than generally given credit for, but few have actually seen it in a format that actually allows the full effect of the film to be felt.There is absolutely terrible DVD quality (both picture and sound) on the Digiview Entertainment version (it appears the film fell into the public domain). Most likely, this version was transferred from a second or third generation VHS. It does not do justice to the film, and if a better version exists, get that one instead.

This is a fairly decent little flick, however it's a bit too slow paced at times, and after a great start, it becomes a tad tedious,and a bit too silly for my liking. It has some creepy atmosphere at times, and the score is good, however, it can't rise above average, due to the slow pacing, and, unlikable characters. This was another movie i got from a DVD called Psychotic Connections. The Directing is decent.Wes Craven does a decent job here, great use of colors, some decent overhead shots, a very effective stalking scene at the beginning,some pretty cool zoom in's however the pace, is awful at times, and extremely inconsistent. There is no gore. The Acting is so so. Michael Beck does a decent job here, and seems to be having fun with his role, and was sort of menacing. Beatrice Straight is good as the Mother, and was okay in the dramatic sequences. Laura Johnson is very pretty and does what she has to do well. Dick O'Neill is okay here, and did what he had to do adequately. Paul Sorvino is so so, here and terribly miscast,he was amusing at times though. Jill Schoelen is beautiful!, and does great here, and is one of the great horror scream queens!. Overall worth a rental, but not much more, since it's only average at best. ** out of 5

~Spoiler~Wes Craven has had one of the most unusual careers of any genre director. He started out pretty late in life (33 maybe), made some classic exploitation and horror films, and then jumped into the dreaded realm of made for television flicks. Why I wonder? To pay the rent I suppose. The story of Chiller begins in a very atmospheric cryogenic chamber setting and it really got my hopes up. It was a creepy beginning and it was Craven at the helm. So why didn't I like the movie? Production values for starters. They really hindered this project. Also, the made for TV quality was really hard to get past. The story was lacking something too. I think Craven was exploring ideas here which would have been more suited for the big screen. In the story, Michael Beck (The Warriors) awakes from a cryo-sleep after being dead for quite some time. Many can immediately tell there is something different about him. But his mother, the one who put him in stasis, refuses to believe them. A priest (Paul Sorvino from Goodfellas) becomes our hero and the question of the human soul comes into play. Beck's character is quite evil and we are presented with the possibility that he lost his soul when he died. Not a bad premise, but nothing is ever resolved. Many questions the film poses go unanswered-which may or may not be a good thing. I think the film's main message is "Don't play God" or maybe just "Let sleeping dogs lie." Scream queen fans may appreciate an early appearance of Jill Schoelen who went on to star in The Stepfather, Cutting Class, Popcorn, and When a Stranger Calls Back. On another note, this features some of Stan Winston's early F/X work, and it's quite good. The DVD has a funny trivia game to make sure you were paying attention to the movie. Sadly, that's about all the DVD has to offer because the transfer (what transfer?) is horrible. While I don't think you should go out of your way to see it, Chiller was certainly better than Vampire in Brooklyn.