X-Message-Number: 16969
From: "john grigg" <>
Subject: I have seen the film _Chiller_ by horror maestro Wes Craven
Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2001 03:25:44 

This film was probably discussed ages ago on Cryonet but it was new to me!  
I thought for some reason _Chiller_ had only been a book.  I was quite 
surprised to see it as a Wes Craven film.  He is considered by horror film 
standards to be very good and was the producer of the _Nightmare on Elm 
Street_ and _Scream_ series which made a huge bundle of money.

I was very drawn in to the film and thought it very engaging.  The writing 
and acting were generally excellent, though I disagreed with the explanation 
they gave of why cryonics could go horribly wrong.

The depiction of the cryonics company was pretty funny for me.  They have a 
security guard manning a control panel who is very skeptical of cryonics 
himself and I assume is simply contracted out by his security company to do 
the work.

I did like the set which had horizontal dewars that actually had a viewing 
window to see the frozen person's head!  And there was even a flashing light 
mounted on top in case of a malfunction and thawing!

One of the dewars does malfunction and the thawing is so far gone the body 
must be taken to a hospital for emergency surgery.  No nanotechnology is 
present though! lol  The doctors work on him as if he is simply an advanced 
hypothermia victim who needs some transplants!  I suppose the suspension 
techniques done on him were much more advanced then what is available now, 
and so there was no need to repair each individual each cell. ;)

The wealthy mother of the man shows up and we learn she was hell-bent  at 
any cost save her son from dying young of some disease.  So, as a final act 
of desperation she had him suspended.

The family priest shows up and is very confused because he presided over the 
closed casket funeral.  She explains and he feels she is being foolish 
because the son must for all practical purposes be dead.
The priest asks a doctor if the son can be brought back and is told they are 
going to find out soon.

SPOILER!!!

Scroll down to read the rest of my post!









The son is brought back to life but is in a deep coma.  After many weeks the 
doctors want to pull the plug but the mother refuses.  That night during a 
massage by a nurse he experiences "horror movie convulsions" and opens his 
eyes to show dark alien orbs.  The nurse runs away and when she comes back 
with others he seems ok but very weak.

The son comes home to a magnificent mansion to recuperate.  Interestingly, 
the family dog which had loved him now growls at him viciously as if it 
senses something the others do not...  The dog soon is found dead.

When the man's health is restored he is given the top spot in the major 
corporation his father had owned.  He ruthlessly cuts spending for all 
charities and fires anyone standing in his way.  He kills the old CEO who 
was there just to bring him up to speed.  Then he seduces and beats a 
beautiful female assistant.

The priest comes calling when the charity money is cut and senses the evil 
present.  He tries to warn the mother but she refuses to heed him and says 
he is just really there for the money.

When home the son is constantly cold and standing before a roaring fire with 
a glass of cognac in hand to warm himself.  People say once he was very warm 
and caring but that part of him seems totally gone.

The priest and later the mother become convinced that cryonics brought back 
his body but NOT his spirit.  And a reanimated material body without a 
spirit would have no conscience, resulting in a amoral monster like her son.

He confronts the priest and orders him to stay away from his family and 
business.  The priest keeps on asking, "who are you really?"  The priest 
won't back down and this results in violence.

As time goes on even the mother becomes suspicious after he leaves the 
priest for dead on a highway only to have him survive and tell the tale.  
She comes home to check on him and catches him as he attempts to rape a 
young women who lives with them.  She is outraged and sees him finally for 
the monster he now is.

The mom tells the girl to run upstairs and hide.  The mother stays 
downstairs and runs for her life as he tries to kill her.  He finds a big 
fish gaffing hook on the wall to finish the job.

The son suspects she is in a big walk-in freezer and so goes inside.  As he 
searches for her he hears the door behind him lock!  He had been outsmarted 
and screams in rage.  His mother lowers the thermostat as low as it will go!

When the police arrive they shudder as they see his apparently frozen body 
standing by the wall.  As soon as the first officer gets close to check for 
a pulse... the son clamps his hand over the cop's throat and lifts him right 
off the floor!

A struggle ensues and the officer's gun gets thrown to the ground.  The 
mother picks it up and finally fires several rounds into her son's chest.  
He falls to the ground dead.  She gets close only to have him open his eyes 
revealing what the terrified nurse had seen when he first awoke.  The son 
grabs her but the bullets have done their job and he slumps to the floor for 
the final time.

The last scene shows a guard at the cryonics company freaking out as all the 
dewars have their malfunction lights and alarms going off!  Time to bring 
forth a whole big batch of reanimated serial killers...

I did enjoy the film(it was well-done generally) but found it disturbing in 
that Wes Craven was using cryonics to further his horror film career... and 
not cryonics.  I realize though the goal of those in Hollywood is to 
entertain and make money, not do public service.  At least unlike his other 
major works this one was not turned into a eight film series! lol

Even as a Christian(LDS) I found the idea of people coming back without a 
soul ludicrous.  This is because the Christian concept of the spirit is that 
of a hand(the spirit) within a glove(the body) and the spirit is what 
animates the otherwise lifeless body.  But, as horror films go it was an 
interesting concept.

I think the better idea for the plot would have been something which does 
somewhat bother me as a Christian who wants to be cryonically suspended.  I 
see the possibility that if the spirit does indeed leave the body for the 
spirit world upon death, that at reanimation the spirit might not want to 
return.  And so someone ELSE might take up residence inside since there is a 
vacancy.  And so you might get a demon possession where the original 
inhabitant of the body is not even there to offer any kind of resistance.

Or, where the original owner of the body does return to it but with 
company...  Students of out of body experiences say to leave the body and 
then return is dangerous for this very reason.  "The shielding is down" the 
basic premise.

I realize for many here this seems amusing at best.  But, with my beliefs in 
religion and studies of OBE/NDE's I see it as a possibility.  Though I would 
hope God would not allow such a thing to happen.  But, much evil does get to 
go on in this world.

If people are reanimated in the late 21st century and a surprisingly amount 
of vicious criminal activity is committed by them I will wonder...  Or 
perhaps these uninvited guests would lay low and wait for the right 
opportunities over the long haul to plant discord.

I hope my concerns here are never realized.  But, I think when we are all 
reanimated we should keep a close eye on each other. ;)  I hope there are 
still people with faith in Christ when we make our return(in case we need 
exorcists).

best wishes,

John

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