everclearspiral I've always been a fan of Eric Stanze's ICE FROM THE SUN. It has a very unusual visual style, a cool storyline, great music, good performances (especially DJ Vivona, who I thought was good in CHINA WHITE SERPENTINE) and some awesome gore! Still, I wasn't all that thrilled with the original DVD release. It had a few extras, but it kinda felt a little barebones for my taste.This new release from Image Entertainment kicks ass! This 2-disc edition has a ton of extras! ON THIN ICE, a feature length documentary about the making of ICE FROM THE SUN that was released on VHS is included on this edition. It was fascinating to see the whole process on how the movie was made. Besides the new commentary tracks (nice), the improved picture and sound (very nice), and all the other extras, it has the trailer for the new Wicked Pixel flick DEADWOOD PARK, which looks amazing. Can't wait to check that one out.If you love the flick like I do, you gotta pick this baby up. You won't regret it!

lomticks_of_toast 3/10 (single viewing)I bought this DVD after a long search for the ultimate in film depravity, and boy did I get it.About a year ago I went on a mission to seek out just how dark and horrifying film can be. I did this for reasons I don't fully understand, although I've been a long-time (mostly mainstream) horror film fan and believe most of the junk coming out of Hollywood these days is terrible. Basically, I wanted to become a sort of detective like Nicholas Cage's character in "8mm", who was searching for a lost girl and, in order to locate her, had to begin an extensive investigation of underground "snuff" films, delving into its sick and twisted incarnations...My search led me to films (most of which I have not seen yet) like "Begotten", "Clean, Shaven", "Cannibal Holocaust", "Scrapbook", "I Pi$$ on Your Corpse, I Spit on Your Grave", "Man Behind the Sun", "Nekromantic", etc. Anyhow, I skipped these films and was attracted to Ice From the Sun because it sounded like it had a more interesting plot (and "Scrapbook" in particular seemed too intense based on some reviews I'd read).I viewed the DVD only once and have since gotten rid of it. Utterly vile, as I expected. But my criticisms have to do with sound and story quality. Unfortunately, the sound quality is horrible and I had trouble adjusting the volume level during several scenes. More importantly, however, I just don't feel like the story was told well. Parts of the film made me very uncomfortable, but other parts were just plain silly and goofy.**Spoilers Below!!!**During one segment, a character is running through the woods while another guy is digging a grave. He just runs around for a few minutes, going nowhere, repeatedly coming across the grave-site. I nearly fell out of my chair laughing it was so corny. Another segment has a vain girl transformed into a dog and sitting in a carnival booth while people laugh at her; only at the end of this segment when a shotgun is put to her head did I feel a twinge of disgust/fear. Another segment has a character leading 2 girls around on leashes, sitting in an empty theater, eating fried chicken. Each of these segments tried to represent base fears of the various characters but just came across as, well, stupid.I will admit, however, to feeling very uncomfortable during the truck-dragging sequence. The use of sound (or lack of it) in this segment was what made it truly horrifying to me, and also the lack of emotion on the face of the guy driving the truck, like he was just going down to the local 7-11 for a Slurpee...although I feel it could have been better if we hadn't seen the victim afterward, perhaps just her feet. Also, the worm-mouth/self-operation segment was sickening and well filmed. I wish the rest of the film had been presented this well.Overall, if you want to see something vile, check this out. Just be ready to wrestle with the audio and sitting through a rather long film, with the disturbing segments separated by some rather corny segments.

dwpollar 1st watched 10/21/2001 - 4 out of 10(Dir-Eric Stanze): Although technically this is an amazingly complicated production and the story is just as complicated, the reliance on blood and gore deter from what could have been a very mysterious and well-done psychedelic fantasy/horror film. If it didn't have so much reliance on shocking us with violence and gore I believe I could watch this a second time just to understand it better. I would like to see what other efforts this filmmaker puts out just because of his wild visual styles, but hopefully his topic will not be quite as disturbing as this one.

Allen Richrards ICE FROM THE SUN, directed by Eric Stanze, is easily the most visually stimulating movie I have seen in some time. It's just amazing to look at. Stanze paints images that are some of the most fulfilling I've seen and they leave you craving more. What's unbelievable is that he accomplished this on the micro-budget level and may have just raised the levels for all of us. With this expressionistic tale, style and form play more important roles than content and story. Stanze mixes formats, image textures, and sounds to create some of the most effective horror film atmosphere since Sam Raimi with the original EVIL DEAD.There isn't so much a plot as a premise which allow events to unfold. A figure known as The Presence, who was once a wizard's apprentice, has become an entity so powerful and bloodthristy that both the angels in Heaven and demons in Hell fear him. He reigns in a dimension found within magical ice scraped taken form the face of the Sun.A young woman, Alison, is resurrected after taking her life in order to assassinate The Presence. She is instructed that while she journeys to confront The Presence, there will be 6 other mortals brought to this realm. Their roles are to die and Alison is ordered to not interfere. After all, everyone has a reason for thier existence.The stories of The Six make up the bulk of the film. Each character is dealt scenarios that mirror their personalities. A vain woman who uses looks and sex is literally turned into a dog and put out of her misery. Fortunately Stanze sees to it that the rest of the movie isn't so O'Henry-esque and that the scenes are more of a chance to explore human nature. I do want to pass along a note of warning, this film is graphic. Either extreme gore or abundant nudity populate almost every scene. While none of the images are designed to arouse, they nevertheless leaves the viewer breathless, amazed, and transfixed.