A TV Movie from a Decade before I was born- why not?!?
As the World gets hotter and hotter, let's jump back 50+ years for A Cold Night's Death.
This TV Movie appears to be the bridge/missing link between The Thing From Another World and John Carpenter's The Thing.
A pair of Scientists are called into a frozen base up in the Mountains. They find some strange stuff and a dead guy running it.
Can the new guys figure out why the guy went crazy? Can they finish the research?
This one was Produced by Aaron Spelling, which sure is unexpected for a '70s TV Movie/Special. That was sarcasm, for all of my younger readers.
The duo has to experiment on the monkeys there because...something to do with space travel. That's not important, so let's move on.
Is this a forgotten gem or just another TV Movie?
To find out, read on...
In Audio Logs (foreshadowing the Game Cliche by Decades), we learn that the previous Scientist at this base sounded crazy and cut off communication.
This is all relayed to us by an uncredited Vic Perrin, famous for voicing such Characters as Dr. Zin, Sinestro on
Super Friends and the original Control Voice on
The Outer Limits.
He died in 1989, so he wasn't there for the Series
I'm currently covering.
They are flown to the Base by a Pilot (the only other Actor credited here) and find the guy frozen by the Tape Recorder.
He froze to death, but yet he didn't seem to be trapped.
Spooky.
They work at the Base- which is experimenting on how chimps react at high altitude because whatever the hell NASA- and things are good...at first.
Tensions rise as time goes by (shown by their stubble).
Wallach (left) thinks that Culp (right) is experimenting on him, but he says that he isn't.
They seem to make up...a bit when they hear a noise and find a chimpanzee on the loose.
Things don't improve long term, however, as they don't trust each other.
All the while the experiments on the chimpanzees continues.
Culp is the only one who can/will work outside (shoveling the snow) and he ends up trapped out there!
Culp manages to get his way back in- thanks to a spot he opened earlier in the Film- and he's absolutely not doing well.
He was, indeed, frozen today.
Exasperated and nearly dead, he tries to explain what he figured out- the original Scientist was driven crazy by the chimpanzees.
Wallach doesn't believe him- and he's also a bit crazy- and shoots Culp.
He goes back to the Recording Room when he hears the wind and snow coming through the door. He turns around when he hears the door close...and lock.
As Culp tried to explain to him, the Chimpanzees' Leader was experimenting on them as reprisal for their experiments on the creatures.
He's now trapped Wallach in there.
The End (or beginning)!
A minimalist Film that manages to do quite alot.
Minimalist? I must be one of those fancy, highly paid Critics to use such fancy language!
Jokes aside, I did like this one quite a bit. It is glacially paced at first- pun fully intended- but does pick up. If you can get invested in the Culp-Wallach dynamic, it really works.
As stated, this reminds me of the sense of paranoia and mistrust that The Thing (1982) cultivated so well. I wonder if Carpenter was inspired by this in any way.
It all could be a coincidence.
Atmosphere is 1,000% the name of the game here and the Film does well with (technically) only 4 Actors playing parts (I don't count the frozen guy or the chimpanzees).
This could easily be turned into a Play with very few tweaks OR a short-form Horror Game.
It's been over 50 years- it's probably not under copyright, fellas!
It was nice to escape the extreme heats (with it only being May here!) for the extreme cold...even if both leaving you trying to get to the pool.
Next time, let's start June off with the return of Bond...James Bond. Will this Film about Love woo me too? Stay tuned...
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