Chiller (1985)

Written and Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff

Film Information

Director: Wes Craven
Producer: J.D. Feigelson, Anderson G. House
Screenwriter: J.D. Feigelson
Date Released: May 22, 1985

Cast:

Michael Beck as Miles Creighton
Beatrice Straight as Marion Creighton
Laura Johnson as Leigh Kenyon
Dick O’Neill as Clarence Beeson
Alan Fudge as Dr. Stricklin
Craig Richard Nelson as Dr. Collier
Paul Sorvino as Reverend Penny

Rating = 2.5/5 Graves

***May contain some spoilers***

Synopsis

10 years ago, a man named Miles (Michael Beck) was chronologically frozen in order to preserve his body. One day, the freeze machine malfunctions and the hospital is forced to perform emergency surgery to try and revive Miles from his frozen state. When the surgery is successful, Miles’ mother is ecstatic to hear the news. However, strange things start happening after Miles’ recovery and he begins to act differently.

Gore Factor

There is hardly any blood or gore. However, most notably, when Miles is still recovering from his surgery, there is prosthetic work in which his body starts to pulsate that created a cringe worthy moment. Other than that scene, the remainder of the film does not incorporate much special effects work.

The Grave Review

The storyline of the film, Chiller (1985), is interesting and a unique take on what would happen if people were chronologically frozen and then subsequently brought back to life. However, the pace of the film felt slow at times. With the newly revived Miles, you expected the character to be more proactive in how he changed his behavior, but the character felt short in this respect. Overall, the plot had a lot of potential but could have developed the story a little more.

On another note, it was enjoyable to see Michael Beck play a villain. His smile as he terrorizes people was very creepy and fitting to the film. His earlier role was that of a gang leader in the film, The Warriors (1979). It was also somewhat funny to see Paul Sorvino play the Reverend who would later play the role of Pauly in the film, Goodfellas (1990). I suppose every actor needs to start somewhere.

For the following reasons, Grave Reviews gives Chiller (1985) two and one-half graves out of five graves.

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