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| Images courtesy of Cleopatra Entertainment |
Outside of the niche indie circuit of short films as a
cinematographer, editor and occasional writer-director, you’re forgiven for not
knowing the name Jesse Palangio of two of the Monster Pool anthology
horror films. Chances are though after
viewing his feature film debut as a director and cinematographer Blood and
Snow, a microbudget arctic science-fiction alien viral outbreak thriller starring
Vernon Wells wanting to be John Carpenter’s The Thing, you’ll wish you
remained blissfully ignorant. Releasing
through Cleopatra Entertainment who put out the inspired and wonderful The Shock
of the Future, this more-or-less straight-to-streaming cheapie means well
but never finds its legs or footing and somehow winds up being an even smaller The
Thing knockoff than Harbinger Down.
In the arctic region near a scientific base, two scientists including
a non-English speaking woman discover a meteor impact site in the tundra. However, an unseen force appears to kill the
man and infects the woman Marie (Anne-Carolyne Binette). Left for dead, she is rediscovered by the crew
and rescued by sympathetic Sebastian (Michael Swatton) and boozing Luke (Simon
Phillips) who bring her back to their base commandeered by Paul (Adam Huel
Potter) and The Professor (an aged Vernon Wells). In the time-honored tradition of such a
thriller replete with a husky dog who risks being infected itself, the woman
eventually reawakens and begins exhibiting warning signs she might not be
herself including but not limited to binge eating, superhuman strength and a
sudden ability to speak English fluently.
Soon characters begin dying off and it’s a race against time and
freezing temperatures to stop the inhuman infection from spreading.
With frankly dull and dismal looking cinematography by the
director himself in scenes timed and blocked so poorly you can’t tell what’s
going on, hasty camera movement including a drone-shot that pans downward
slightly to keep a vehicle in frame or when two characters are talking faces
drift in and out of frame, Blood and Snow unfortunately is kind of
dire. With recurring poorly CG rendered wide
shots panning over the base with obvious digital snow, a complete absence of
visual effects makeup save for some digital eye coloring of Anne-Carolyne
Binette when she switches into alien mode, the film doesn’t look very good or
have much to offer in the way of horror goods.
Dialogue is also largely poorly recorded with some lines sounding line a
microphone was clipped to the actors’ parkas.
Whereas Harbinger Down made the most of its limitations, Blood
and Snow can’t seem to escape them.
I already talked about the film’s ungainly cinematography so
let’s talk about Mass composer Darren Morze’s average middling
score. It goes through the usual motions
of starter-pack Hans Zimmer or trying hard for those John Carpenter bass notes
but never manages to be anything more than serviceable. Speaking of serviceable, outside of Simon
Phillips as the mouthy boozer and Anne-Carolyne Binette as the infected havoc
wreaker, everyone here is just kind of hanging around on set. Vernon Wells, a gifted and renowned character
actor, is just winging it here half-asleep and barely registering onscreen as
the stereotypical mad scientist wanting to understand the alien rather than
kill it. While the ensemble players work
fine against a negative budget, for a film promising plentiful blood and gore
we get nothing aside from one slit throat.
Otherwise its all very stale and stagnant old hat.
It gives me no pleasure to give a negative review of a film tailored
to my genre interests or propensity for cheaper regional fare with personality
over picture. But alas, I have to give a
hard pass to Blood and Snow. Amalgamated
Dynamics effects work this isn’t, it fails to deliver and seasoned horror fans
will not be blind to its corner-cutting shoddiness. If Jesse Palangio hopes to have a future
career in film, his best bet is to avoid shooting his own work. While credited as a cinematographer of many
productions, the camerawork and final visual look and sound of Blood and
Snow was hard on the eyes and ears.
Nothing wrong with a regional or lo-fi quickie as I’ve enjoyed a handful
of dingy dirty shot-on-video films in the past but while those goofball
do-it-yourself ventures were entertaining, Blood and Snow was just
exhausting if not exasperating.
--Andrew Kotwicki
