The Chill Factor (1993)

"Satanists on Snowmobiles"

I'm riffing on the (very) obscure 1971 grindhouse picture WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS with that headline, a film in which there are very few werewolves and only one manages to get on his motorbike right at the end of the picture. Okay, now I've hopefully lowered your expectations (after raising them - sorry) here's what this 1993 picture is all about.

A group of college friends go on holiday to snowbound Wisconsin, planning the usual collection of activities including drunkenly challenging each other to a snowmobile race in terrible weather.

Off they go! Off one of them comes! Into a tree he goes! With his head! Oh no! They are Miles From Anywhere. Hang on - what's that old abandoned shack up ahead? Ignoring the rather nice house we can see way off in the distance (maybe we're not supposed to spot it but that's Blu-ray for you) the gang holes up in the boarded up, dusty old building that's actually rather nicer than the one in Sam Raimi's EVIL DEAD (think Holiday Inn versus Travelodge). 

There's a lot of wandering around. Then some more wandering around. Then a bit more. Then someone finds an ouija board with an eyeball stuck on it. They decide to hold a seance. This may stretch the bounds of believability but this place has no heating, it's below zero, and the girls have already shown a blatant disregard for health and safety by wandering around in, removing and changing a variety of skimpy garments. Why they aren't all dead before the monsters have a chance I have no idea.

The ouija board thingie does something to our injured snowmobiler that leads to him having sex with some of the girls when the rest of the party aren't being bumped off. Finally he grows long fingernails and turns into a very low budget version of the alchemist from Dario Argento's INFERNO and - yes - the snowmobile race is on!

To be fair, in an otherwise utterly undistinguished film the snowmobile footage is pretty good, with the race at the end being especially well put together. How much you'll enjoy it will very much depend on your patience / tolerance / willpower to get through the first two acts.

Released previously on VHS as DEMON POSSESSED, somehow THE CHILL FACTOR has been deemed deserving of a 2K scan. There are new interviews with Jeffrey Lyle Segal (makeup), Alexandra Reed (production manager), and stunt coordinator Gary Paul. You also get a commentary track from Hank Carlson (special effects) and Josh Hadley ('a horror writer' but not of this). Then there's the usual still gallery, trailer & reversible sleeve, plus a booklet in the first pressing.

THE CHILL FACTOR is out on Blu-ray from Arrow on Monday 15th July 2019