Very high hopes brought Ice From the Sun (IFTS) to my mailbox, I’ve read tons of reviews about it, and heard lots of raves, so I had to see what all the fuss is about. Usually when something is hyped this much, it usually turns out to not meet my stringent expectations for good indie horror. Eric Stanze’s Ice From the Sun may damn well be the first movie I’ve seen that lived up to the hype.

IFTS is an incredibly twisted tale of a sorcerer’s apprentice (this is NOT fantasy horror, trust me!) who fancies torturing humans for fun, the first ten minutes of IFTS sets the stage with a tremendous gore scene, some nudity, some decent acting, and some very cool use of white noise, image effects, processing and filters, also worth noting, there were very cool use of edits and lighting, the kinds of things most indie directors overlook. Just the beginning alone exuded an “artsy” feel of sorts, and the gore that we see in the beginning sequence is hella cool! Fortunately Stanze didn’t just blow his load and roll over and fall asleep, because all of this remains fairly constant for the duration of the film.

As much as I’d like to explain why the movie is titled “Ice From the Sun” I will refrain, one for time's sake (it would take a while) and two, you owe it to yourself to go in with a clean palette, it really is worth seeing. There is one caveat though, if you have a short attention span, or find yourself “not getting” the plot to movies, then you might want to skip IFTS, there is quite a bit of dialog that explains the story, and if you’re not paying attention and just waiting for the nudity and gore, you’re going to miss out. Yes, there are tons of scenes with nudity, and plenty of horrifically twisted gore, but this movie uses a lot of dialog, especially in the first 35 minutes or so for plot development. Also, IFTS is twisted in a "David Lynch" way (many of you may know I hate Lynch, but regardless I dug this movie) so pay attention, or you’re going to be sitting there scratching your head, endlessly muttering “WTF?”

One gripe I had were a few brief but forgivable sound problems. And while not a gripe of mine, it may be distracting to some that the movie is shot on 8mm film, so if you’re looking for crisp clear video you might be bummed. I love horror shot on 8mm, it adds a certain grittiness that greatly adds to the story in my opinion, plus hardly anyone uses 8mm so it sets itself apart from the video and digital video crowd, so no complaints from me on the picture quality, but I just want to make sure you HorrorWatchers know what you’re in for. Open your minds and give it a whirl, this movie may just be a good starter for horror fans who don’t yet have an appreciation for indie. Recommended!

6.5 out of 10 Horrorwatch appropriate inbred mutant country bumpkins

There's a Nine Inch Nails video where there's a montage of rotting fruit, dying stuff, death and decay and funky filters and lens-effects. The reason I point this out is because it's entertaining for three and a half minutes. For ninety, not so much.

Now if what NFlames said is true, that you have to pay attention to get it, then I can honestly say it might be way better than I thought. Once I realized there was a evil wizard in another dimension, then saw some trees shaking in slow motion, and some rotting fruit, and a worm crawling...

Yeah, after the third little series of artsy camera-shit my thumb pressed that magical button that speeds things along, and thank God it worked.

I get that it might be profound and artistic. Thing is, they didn't have it in the Profound and Artistic section at the rental place, they had it in the horror section. This isn't ProfoundandArtisticWatch.com, so I watched it as a horror flick and hated it.

2/10