I remember when “Mister Frost” hit home video. I was still a teenager and was renting and watching all manner of movies. I was almost into my art house phase, but was branching out past the usual horror films I tended towards. I knew who Jeff Goldblum was, and the idea for the movie was interesting to me.
I liked the film from the first.
It was different, sure, but it was dark, sorta funny, and creepy.
Since first seeing it, I always heralded it as an underappreciated movie that deserved better. It never really got a proper release in the U.S. that I ever saw, but recently I discovered that it had been released on 4K by Le Chat Qui Fume, which makes sense, since it’s a French film. I am not sure how readily the film is available, as the place I got out sold out, but if nothing else, it may still live on YouTube, and may be rentable. It’s worth tracking down, because it’s fantastic.
“Mister Frost” finds Jeff Goldblum living alone on a beautiful estate. He has a passion for cooking, but no one to cook for, so he simply cooks to do it, and to photograph it, before he throws it out. He is interested in the trophy. When two young men try to steal Frost’s car they discover a horrifying secret he has been hiding. Soon after, Frost finds himself in a psychiatric hospital, though he refuses to speak. It is only until he is moved to another facility that he finds someone he wants to speak with, and to this person he reveals himself. He is the devil, and he needs the world to believe in him, and to do this, he needs this doctor’s help. At first the doctor doesn’t believe Frost, but as stranger and stranger things happen in the facility, she begins to wonder if there is something horribly true about what he has been telling her.
This is a very French film. It has strange music choices, and odd pacing, and at times feels very much like an early-90’s film, but if you can let it work it’s magic you will be rewarded. Goldblum is reserved, and creepy, leaning into menace and not cartoon. Despite the film being French it is in english, which will thrill many.
The film has a gauzy look but is fantastic on 4K, and looks clean, and clear, with the usual grain you’d associate with the era. The extras seem as if they may be region locked, at least they weren’t playing on my player when I tried them.
The movie has a deliberate pace that rewards the patient, but which will try the patience of many. It’s a really good film, and one of Goldblum’s unheralded classic performances. It’s a creepy movie, and while it is understated, it is well worth tracking down.
TL;DR: A very good, underseen classic from an understated Goldblum.
4 out of 5
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100161
