Dr. Miller (Troy Donahue) owns Universal Cryogenics Lab Inc. They freeze dead people with the hope that they can be thawed out when a cure has been discovered for their illnesses. Dr. Miller is slimy. Before freezing people, he takes out their vital organs and, along with his aid, Jerry (Steve Gluck) sells them on the black market. Mary Hampton (Linda Blair) works for Miller as a liaison with the customers but has no idea of the backroom dealings. During the cryogenic process the subject’s blood is removed and replaced with a proprietary green fluid that is supposed to keep the cells from deteriorating until the person can be thawed again. The fluid is highly conductive to energy sources, so an insulating foil is wrapped around the bodies.
The most recent client is the deceased wife of the very rich Joseph Davenport (Jack De Rieux). Davenport’s son, Joe Jr. (Ron Vincent) is a criminal. During a recent bank robbery Joe is shot and put on life support. Davenport calls Miller to have his son also frozen. Miller is more than happy to accommodate the millionaire and get some more body parts to sell.
On Halloween night a fierce thunderstorm takes down the power at the facility. The backup power system engages but that too gets fried and fails. Without the power needed to keep people frozen, they begin to thaw. Vince Marlow (Dan Haggerty) and Mark Evans (Michael Jacobs) are security guards at the lab. Vince decides to take the cylinders containing the frozen people outside hoping that the below zero weather will keep them from thawing. The green fluid in the frozen people attracts electrical charges. When lightning from the electrical storm begins to hit the metal cryogenic cylinders, the bodies inside come back to life as killer zombies, or crynoids, including Davenport’s son, Joe.
“The Chilling” was released in 1989 and was directed by Deland Nuse and Jack A Sunseri. It is a low budget American horror movie with comedic undertones.
The acting is bad and so is the script, but somehow, the combination of frozen zombies and a bank heist makes the movie far too entertaining to totally trash.
It is a slightly different take on the standard zombie movie. The underlying theme of the film is whether or not cryogenics is a good idea or not. Does it go against the laws of nature or the laws of God? Should man do something just because he can? In this instance the answer is no. Not for any ethical or moral reason, but because zombies could be the result.
In the opening credits there are cryo-chambers supposedly containing frozen people. The labels on the chambers say, Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney, Michael Jackson and Teddy Roosevelt. The inclusion of Teddy Roosevelt in the line causes confusion since Mr. Roosevelt died in 1919 and the first frozen person was James Hiram Bedford in 1967. Michael Jackson planned on being frozen as well as cloned. Alas, neither happened. He was buried in Forest Lawn cemetery. Rumor has it that Walt Disney was frozen, but this myth has been debunked. He died in 1966 and was buried in Forest Lawn. Charlie Chaplin died in 1977 and was buried in Switzerland. Only his assets were frozen when his second wife sued the estate. Chaplin’s body was stolen and ransomed. The thieves were caught and his body re-interned.