Never Cry Wolf (1983) Review

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(More customer reviews)The first time I saw Never Cry Wolf on the big screen in 1983 is a day I'll never forget. When the credits started rolling and I came back down to earth, I could not remember where I was or what I had done that day up to that point. The film had so overwhelmed me that everything else seemed unimportant, and the film seemed like the only reality. That had never happened before and it's never happened since.
It took me many years and many more viewings to figure out why this film is so extraordinary. For the first 45 minutes or so, Never Cry Wolf is content to be a conventional "Man and Nature" film, with the "natives" being set up in the "noble savage" archetype--they are the ideal, the "good guys," the righteous ones, while White man is evil (except for our hero Tyler). It's a structure that's been used many times, and it's fine. Of course all this is beautifully-filmed and hauntingly beautiful, but the film was still fairly conventional, albeit extremely well-done.
But then it unleashes a surprise, which turns the story on its head. Tyler is talking to Mike, his Inuit friend, one of the "noble" ones, one of the "good guys." Mike reveals that he would like to kill wolves, and explains why. The reasons sound so much like the reasons of "White" man.
This casual revelation stuns Tyler--and us too. The film shatters the "noble savage" archetype in a brief, economic scene. (The penultimate scene, also between Tyler and Mike, which could be considered as an extension of this scene, is equally brief and economical. The script is a masterpiece of understated writing, almost like cinematic haiku.) We are not hit on the head with this "message" and in fact it, along with the equally eloquent closing monologue (normally I hate VOs in a film--*show* me, don't *tell* me, but here it's essential and extremely well-done) are so subtle that many critics who praised this film actually did so while missing the point.
Never Cry Wolf takes the old archetype of civilized man being dropped into nature and finding it a "purer," "richer" existence, and stands it on its head. No doubt Tyler still finds it this way, but he also learns Darwin's oldest rule: survival of the fittest. At the end of the film Tyler tells us he has learned there are no heroes and no villains. Indeed we never find out who is responsible for the film's final slaughter, and that is one of its greatest strengths. This, and Bambi, are the only two Disney films ever made that embrace ambiguity as a dramatic element. For that reason I've always regarded these, and not "Fantasia," as Disney's riskiest--and greatest--motion pictures. So many movies make a lot of noise about how they are going to shake up our world. This one really does, and very quietly. Yet even many viewers never seem to latch onto this, seeing it as a wide-eyed call for conservation. It actually isn't.
As others have stated, the music/cinematography/acting/directing are all marvelous. The wolves are well-trained performers--I once had the pleasure of visiting the wildlife preserve where they were living out their "retired days." And the last shot--an ad lib between Charles Martin Smith and Zachary Ittimangnaq, is endearingly sweet, without being sappy in the least. This is film with sentiment, but it is not *sentimental.* It would never get made today. (Seems like I say that about most of my favorite films.)
And that's the reason I *suspect* Disney treats this film very shabbily. It was made the year before Michael Eisner took over the studio. Eisner likes Big Event films. Never Cry Wolf is a small film. Eisner likes fantasy. NCW, despite some fanciful moments done mostly for humorous effect, is grounded in reality. Eisner likes stars. NCW has none. Studio chiefs rarely tout the work of their predecessors--if anything, they have an investment in making such work look as poor as possible, so that they look better by contrast. Yet it's hard to deny that while Disney has made more popular films since then, it has never made something as, well, deep, or unique, or special. The studio today seems to have forgotten about the movie, or wants the world to. On the latest DVD release, except for a small legal notice on the disc itself, you'd be hard-pressed to find proof this is Disney's product at all. The transfer to DVD was farmed out. Even the Disney studio logo at the film's start has been completely lobbed off! (The logo of the company that transferred it to DVD replaces it.)
It's clear Disney wants nothing to do with this film today. Nothing in any of the studio's theme parks, collections of literature, or merchandizing even acknowledge its existence. The DVD has NO extras--not even a theatrical trailer. The Internet Movie Database lists a TV documentary, "The Making of Never Cry Wolf," that surely could have been included. Most upsetting of all, the DVD is *not* enhanced or anamorphic. Comparing it to my old VHS copy, it appears the DVD was take from the same print of the film, meaning they may have just dubbed the VHS version to DVD!
A travesty. Maybe someone could do a proper restoration of this great, neglected film. (You listening, Criterion?) It's great to have Never Cry Wolf on DVD, but it deserves better treatment from its studio than it's gotten so far. (You listening, Eisner?) Why Disney has virtually disowned this masterpiece baffles me.
(Note added later: as you may have noticed, NCW is now available in a number of different releases. At least one is "enhanced" for 16:9 TVs, so if you have an HDTV (and especially an HDMI DVD player), this is the way to go. The enhanced version features artwork on the cover from the original film, of Charles Martin Smith standing with a pair of binoculars. The image has a "hand tinted" fake color look to it--it's not the plain black and white image, nor is it the "cool" black cover of the howling wolf. The ASIN number is B0001I55Y2. --Or, just look on the video box and you'll see it says "Enhanced for 16:9 TVs." This is the way you want to go.
Now the bad news: although Disney finally released this in the enhanced picture format, with better resolution, and although they now actually put their name on the front of both the box and the film, they STILL used the same crappy print, which looks like a run-of-the-mill theater print with many a nick and scratch, and which was used all the way back for the original VHS release in the 80s! Unreal! Again there are no extras, not even a trailer. If there's any need to prove the Mouse rots, this is it.)

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Filmed amid spectacular wilderness vistas, NEVER CRY WOLF reveals a world of hypnotic beauty and breathtaking cinematic imagery. An unforgettable adventure begins as Tyler, a young inexperienced biologist, is deposited alone onto the desolate Arctic terrain. Once settled, he struggles to endure the forces of nature as he documents the mysterious habits of the wolves he has been sent to study. An odyssey of self-discovery told through captivating drama, NEVER CRY WOLF is a haunting, lyrical film from the director of THE BLACK STALLION.

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Frozen (2010) Review

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(More customer reviews)We've seen so many thrillers in which the threat comes from something unnatural, be it a ghost, a zombie, or a masked serial killer that cannot himself be killed. This is partly why "Frozen" is such a refreshing experience - nature itself is the threat. Human beings are capable of withstanding a great deal, but there's always a breaking point, and this movie does a pretty good job of searching for it. It begs the question: What would you do if you found yourself in a similar situation? Is there anything that could be done? Or is it merely a matter of waiting to die? For something that very easily could have been a mindless shock fest, "Frozen" is instead an effective story where suspense builds from a fairly plausible situation.
As far as the plot is concerned, there isn't all that much to describe. In fact, it can all be summed up in one sentence: At a mountain resort, three college kids struggle to survive when they're left stranded on a ski lift. Everything depends on how the plot advances, and this includes character development, which is surprisingly strong. Dan (Kevin Zegers) and Lynch (Shawn Ashmore) have been friends since the first grade. Because of Dan's new girlfriend, Parker (Emma Bell), Lynch now feels that their friendship is in jeopardy; their skiing trips have traditionally been a Guys Only thing, and yet here she is, tagging along. For the first twenty minutes or so, Lynch repeatedly tells Parker, as nicely as possible, that she's in the way.
Hoping to get in one last hill before the ski lift closes for the night, the three smooth-talk their way onto the ski lift. Unfortunately, there are two lift operators, and the second one doesn't realize that the three skiers who have just descended are not the same three currently ascending the mountain. The lift is subsequently switched off. Dangling above a snowy slope on a bleak winter night, Dan, Lynch, and Parker remember, with horrific clarity, that the resort will remain closed for an entire week.
You can probably imagine what they now must face. Obviously, the cold, which quickly leads to frostbite in spite of their warm clothing. There's also the heat of the midday sun, which will probably lead to sunburn. And that howling off in the distance? I can assure you that it isn't coming from rescue dogs. So what can Dan, Lynch, and Parker do? Shout for help? Try to pull themselves across the sharp wire carrying the suspended chairs? Jump off and hope they don't break their legs? Throw their ski equipment to get someone's attention? Lose control altogether? Take your pick. No matter what they decide to do, it sure as hell won't be easy.
Had the characters not been properly developed, there would be no conceivable way to successfully make this last for just over ninety minutes. Writer/director Adam Green, who had previously directed the slasher homage "Hatchet," goes in the right direction by giving each of the three leads some well worded dialogue, most of which focuses on memories and primal emotional outbursts. There are some good moments between Parker and Lynch, who eventually understand that hating one another will get them nowhere. One of the best scenes shows Parker tearfully panicking over the fate of her new puppy, who was left alone in her apartment. Stupid, you say? What would you think about if you were in her place? Exactly.
If there is a weakness to "Frozen," it's that some of the suspense is wasted on scenes of overbearing makeup effects, which I can't describe for fear of spoiling the plot. What I will say is that movies like this work so much better when it relies on psychological horror; the idea of falling off, of freezing, of being attacked, of losing your balance, etc. is always more effective than seeing it. Of course, there would be no resolution if nothing physical happened, so maybe it's a moot point. Regardless, I felt the human scenes were stronger than the action scenes, where the characters were reduced to little more than infernal screamers.
The long and short of it is that "Frozen" is better than I thought it was going to be. In an age when horror movies are about little more than young people dying elaborate deaths, I realized that I actually cared about these skiers and what was happening to them. While it occasionally falls victim to conventional thriller tactics, it still tries for something more, getting under your skin not through visuals so much as through the overall situation. The idea of being left alone in a hostile environment with no resources is genuinely frightening. The idea of zombies eating your brains? Fun, maybe, but certainly not frightening. There's no chance of that happening in real life, despite Max Brooks' evidence to the contrary.

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A typical day on the slopes turns into a chilling nightmare for three snowboarders when they get stranded on the chairlift before their last run. As the ski patrol switches off the night lights, they realize with growing panic that they’ve been left behind, dangling high off the ground with no way down.

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