Chiller (1985 TV Movie) User Reviews (27)

Not Exactly Wes' Finest Hour...

[MetalGeek · 5/10 · 5 March 2007]

"Wes Craven's Chiller" is the latest addition to my collection of "Dollar Store DVDs," and at this point I think I'm going to have to seek professional help for this addiction, because I don't know how many more of these sub-par films I can stand before my brain explodes...

Anyway, "Chiller" may have a famous name director, Wes Craven, in the driver's seat (the back of the DVD I bought makes sure to mention that this film is "from the director of Scream and Red Eye!") and an interesting enough premise but the execution suffers due to its made-for-TV origins. It seems that rich old Mrs. Creighton's heart was in the right place when her beloved son Miles fell ill with a terminal disease, and she had him cryogenically frozen at an experimental lab until a cure can be found. Ten years later, Miles' tube malfunctions and he's thawed out a little early; fortunately, medical science has progressed enough that he is successfully revived. UN-fortunately for the rest of the characters, he's a little, um..."different" after his resurrection, though nobody can convince Mama of this for nearly three-quarters of the film's length. The family dog hates him (so it suddenly disappears), his teenage cousin is scared of the way he leers at her while she's swimming in the pool, and when he takes over the family corporation his underlings are shocked at his cut-throat business practices (the scene in which he forces the kindly old senior partner into a fatal heart attack in a stairwell would probably make Gordon Gecko of "Wall Street" proud). Eventually the family's priest (Paul Sorvino, in a mostly thankless role) realizes that while Miles spent a decade between life and death, he lost his soul (cue creepy music) and it's up to Mama to do something about it before more lives are lost. Though "Chiller" is only about 75 minutes long, it feels a LOT longer than that. The few bright spots for me were seeing a young Jill Schoelen (the young scream queen later seen in "The Stepfather," "Popcorn" and Robert Englund's take on "Phantom of the Opera" before she disappeared off the face of the Earth) and the final battle in the walk-in freezer between Miles and Mama Creighton. It should be noted that the DVD I watched (released on the Digiview label as a double feature with a 50s version of Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart") is absolutely god-awful... the picture is grainy and dark, the sound alternates between overly loud or inaudible, and the cheesy synthesized music, which probably sounded creepy in 1985, comes across as dated and annoying now. I was also left with this nagging question... whose soggy, defrosted legs are those that we see at the beginning of the movie, shambling around amongst the cryo-tubes? It's never addressed!!For a buck, "Chiller" was an OK night's entertainment, but truthfully, unless you feel the need to see absolutely everything that Wes Craven has ever had his hands on, I'd say that you could live a long and happy life without bothering with this one. You got it, "Chiller" should've been left in deep freeze where it belongs.

Good premise- horrible picture quality.

[AJSteele · 5/10 · 7 June 2013]

This 80s film has a very good concept. What if you died and were cryogenically frozen immediately after, then thawed out years later. Would you be "soul-less?" Watch the film to find out.

Some very creepy moments but it's basically a dated 80s TV movie. Why bother releasing a film to DVD if there is no desire to enhance it? To make money I know, but, it's just wrong. The picture quality is awful and that's enough to make you want to shut it off. The "film" could stand a remake with a much broader scope because of it's interesting premise. There are a dime a dozen horror films out there but I don't think this approach to terror has often surfaced. What makes the film all the more relevant is the fact that man-kind could actually come face to face with this issue for real.

Missed Chance at Making a Great Horror Film

[ryan-10075 · 5/10 · 29 April 2019]

Wes Craven through the years directed four different TV movies. To this point I have seen only this one and INVITATION TO HELL (which I liked less than this one). But, as it says above; I think this was a real wasted chance at making a great horror film when you look at all the people involved with it.

It is the story a man named Miles Creighton (coldly played by Michael Beck) who has been frozen cryogenically for almost 10 years. The pod he is in is failing so doctors race and bring him back to life. In the end we see that perhaps Miles isn't the same man he was before.

I do think we have a good premise here written by J.D. Feigelson. But, the film doesn't seem to take us more than a step or two any from this idea. The best comes from Paul Sorvino who plays Reverend Penny who questions if Miles has a soul. Beatrice Straight also stars as Miles' mother Marion. I really enjoyed her in POLTERGEIST, but here I find her almost hammy. Beautiful scream queen Jill Schoelen also stars. Stan Winston also was involved doing FX. I did find the scene involving Miles coming back to the life of the living in the hospital quite formidable in the FX department as this was an 80s TV movie.

So, with that cast, with an FX wiz like Winston and a man in Craven who really did a great job in showing us a new and groundbreaking side to nightmares in A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET just a year earlier they really missed in making perhaps one of the best horror films of maybe the 80s. I think if they allowed Craven to expand upon the script and take it away from some of the trappings of TV they may have had a great film here.

Cold and detached, missed a chance for some fun

[james_ian_miller · 24 September 2002]

Miles Creighton, ten years after his sudden death, thaws unexpectedly from cryogenic stasis and is returned to the living, in mind and body but, according to the film's presumption, missing his soul. As his behaviour slides from the obnoxious to the abominable, a family friend, the Reverend Penny, ponders the whereabouts of Miles' better third, and experiences a crisis of faith. Good or evil, altruism or selfishness, existentialism or abstinence - these are the dilemmas given to us in the exchanges between the Reverend and the Sociopath.

This film is as detached, cold and humourless as its protagonist, but does provide a few shocks, and the acting is fine. I thought a chance for a droll swipe at Corporate America (or wherever) was missed, in that his employees noticed so quickly how appalling his new policies were - this was the Eighties, after all, and the lack of a soul was considered a prerequisite for success in some quarters. Gordon Gecko himself might have taken a dose of the liquid nitrogen, if he thought it would give him an edge.

Although, unsurprisingly, the metaphysical questions posed by this film are not answered, it did make me think twice about the rent on Uncle Vern.

More Luke-warm than chiller

[metalrage666 · 3/10 · 28 October 2015]

Business man Miles Creighton, played by Michael Beck is cryonically, (not cryogenically - yes there's a difference), preserved for 10 years due to a medical transplant not being possible at the time of his death. One night his tube malfunctions and he is taken to hospital where his mother arranges for the procedure to be undertaken.

The operation is a success and his mother is just happy to have her son back in her life and tries her best to continue life as normal and returns her son to the family company as CEO. To everyone else, Miles is just not normal and appears emotionally distant and ruthless with his decisions in the company and with people in general. The only one who dismisses this is his mother who brushes aside the nay-saying as simply a result of his long time in stasis and the impromptu revival.

However it becomes clear that Miles has indeed changed and sparks the debate of whether a deceased person once revived is also revived with a soul. Miles becomes violent and sociopathic towards most people and only when he tries to kill the family priest by running him down with his car does the mother finally realise that what has been returned to her is not her loving son.

Miles ends up being re-frozen in a large walk-in freezer and is then shot dead by his mother after he attacks a police officer revealing his demonic eyes to his mother just before he dies. The movie ends back at the cryonic facility with sirens sounding as more cryo-tubes start to malfunction.

Chiller can be described as one of Wes Cravens' weaker efforts as this tries to go for a more atmospheric suspense over blood and gore. And as this was made for TV, the violence is quite low-key so even for 1985 it would be hard to consider this a horror movie and is instead more of a thriller. The quality of picture and sound is quite low, so in watching this you can be forgiven for thinking that this came out in the mid- seventies. Most of the cast performances in this are not the best but I felt that Michael Beck did a good job of portraying a soulless psycho where killing or hurting people isn't given a second thought.

Chiller also came out at a time when cryonics was starting to regain interest in the early/mid eighties after the failures and legal scandals of the seventies, so the ethical, spiritual and moral implications were being discussed vigorously by religious, family and legal groups and whether cryonically frozen people should be brought back and this movie does briefly touch on that point. As yet a successful revival is still beyond the current technology levels so Chiller is pure fantasy and remains scientifically impossible. It's not the greatest movie by any means but if you manage to catch this on late night TV, then it's at least worth a look.

Poorly executed TV movie from Wes Craven

[The_Void · 4/10 · 18 March 2008]

After his success with A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984, director Wes Craven for some reason decided that his next project would be this TV movie. I'm not a big fan of this director on the whole; early exploitation flick The Last House on the Left as well as his modern slasher Scream sit well with me, but the rest of his work is very hit and miss and I'd hesitate to call him the master that others have labelled him as. The main theme here is cryogenic freezing, although it's more a springboard for the plot rather than an important part of the movie. The main influence here is obviously the excellent 1974 zombie film Deathdream and we focus on Miles Creighton; a businessman cryogenically frozen for ten years before an accident that means he has to be thawed out immediately. Miles is a part of a project for people that are ill; they pay to be frozen in the hope that they will be revived in the future when their illnesses can cured. Miles is successfully revived and it's seen as a miracle...but the person that wakes up is not the person who was frozen, as Miles returns without a soul.

This film could actually have been quite decent judging by the idea behind it, but instead we're given a plot that doesn't really have a lot to it and it has to be said that Craven doesn't make the best out of the potential of the film. The 'soul' is the main focal point, but it would seem that not having a soul and simply having a murderous intent/no compassion are the same thing, which feels a bit unimaginative. The film was made for television so it's not particularly nasty and it's obvious that not a lot of money was spent on it as the whole production feels very cheap. Michael Beck never became a very popular actor and that isn't surprising judging by his performance here; while he is passable, he largely lacks charisma and is not formidable in the central role. The plot doesn't flow too badly but there's a real lack of suspense and/or tension and things slow down too much too often, which results in the film being rather boring on occasion. It all boils down to a predictable ending also. Overall, I have to admit that I was not impressed at all by this film and as far as Craven's filmography goes, Chiller would have to go down with Shocker, the Scream sequels and The Hills Have Eyes II as a miss.

Cold Cut

[overcafeinated · 1/10 · 1 January 2005]

Interesting topic. Pathetic delivery - script and direction.

Our hero, Miles, thaws out and has his emergency world-first life restoration surgery. This is where the fun begins. The underlying issue is that Miles has NO SOUL!!! This is used to explain his quasi-erratic behaviour of being indirectly responsible for two deaths (I believe this to be the total number of deaths in 104 minutes).

On the livlier side, Miles prefers the odd glass of brandy, blazing fireplaces and his young, maturing female cousin. The finale does indeed do justice to this film.

Some thoughts: 1. Producer $$$ were parted with to create this tripe. J.D. Feigelson was the script writer and a (or sole) producer. Looks like he did not learn a lesson on "how not to bring an interesting idea to life" when one views his other writing credits. This will support the credibility of this script.

2. Now available on DVD!!! This IS truly scary. Should be forever "Bottom of the Shelf" in VHS format.

3. A re-incarnated human without a soul will default to an evil entity.

4. The score offers minimal support. Not even an in-form Jerry Goldsmith could save it.

5. Deserved the 0230 time slot on TV and a touch more entertaining than the infomercials + test patterns it was competing against at the time of my viewing.

6. Thankfully did not spawn any sequels ala Wes Craven's "Nightmare" franchise. Chiller Too: The Return Return of Miles, or something like that.

Despite my rating of 1, I still recommend this movie as a great example of how to kill an acting or script-writing career. This should apply to directing, however Wes Craven will eternally be exempt due to his sole good piece of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" 1984.

a typical corporate man

[lee_eisenberg · 5/10 · 26 April 2016]

One of Wes Craven's lesser known movies focuses on a cryogenically frozen man who gets brought back to life...but isn't exactly the same person. One might interpret "Chiller" as a look at the corporate world. This individual who previously was just like any ordinary person is suddenly an unfeeling, ruthless jerk. Isn't that the stereotype of the sort of people who crashed the economy a few years ago? It's not any kind of masterpiece but passable. As the unfrozen man, Michael Beck looks like Vigo in "Ghostbusters 2". I guess that the point is the same as in countless horror movies: we humans shouldn't try to play god. The rest of the cast includes Beatrice Straight ("Network" and "Poltergeist") and Paul Sorvino ("Goodfellas").

So, to riff on Princess Elsa, does the cold bother you anyway?

poorly conceived and executed

[disdressed12 · 3/10 · 17 November 2007]

weird.this is a TV movie,yet the rating on the box says it's rated R.there's nothing in the movie that would remotely qualify for an R rating.aside from that,though,the movie is very slow and pointless.i mean the idea was good,but nothing was done with the storyline.it just wasn't developed.it's mildly creepy,and the acting is actually quite good,better than the movie deserves.i don't see myself watching it again anytime soon,if ever.there have been other movies dealing with the same concept which are better made than this one.i haven't seen too many Wes Craven Films,so i can't really compare it to any of his others.as for this movie itself though,i think it is poorly conceived and poorly executed.for me,i can't give Chiller a higher rating than 3/10

"What Happens to a Man's Soul When He Dies?"

[BaronBl00d · 6/10 · 20 December 2005]

I liked this made for TV movie about a cryogenetically frozen body being brought back to life. Michael Beck plays the cold-hearted lad who dies ten years ago and was frozen by his mother waiting for a chance for science to bring him back via new medical technology. His cylinder goes on the fritz and action must be taken quickly to see if science has the answers now that it did not have ten years earlier. Beck is revived but not the same person. It seems that whilst his body is living again, a chasm only fills the void vacated by his soul's departure. Beck comes back with no regard for human and animal life and only wants to appease whatever appetites he might have at that very moment. Now, this is some pretty absurd stuff I grant you, but director Wes Craven and some good acting save it from being terrible. In fact it does get one thinking about some things. The acting is uniformly good with Beck doing a good job and Oscar winner Beatrice Straight and Paul Sorvino as a cleric really bringing home the bacon. They both do stellar jobs with this material and give it some much needed credibility. Sorvino is very convincing in his role. Some good character acting by Dick O'Neill and Anne Seymour add to the mix, and the addition of beautiful Jill Schoelen doesn't hurt either. Kudos also to Craven for not going overboard as many others might be apt to do. Beck is a man with no supernatural abilities per se but rather just soulless is his approach to another chance to "live."

Miles is as Cold as Ice! ...Even AFTER his thawing.

[Coventry · 5/10 · 15 October 2023]

The eighties were a decade of hits and misses for director Wes Craven. The biggest hit being "A Nightmare on Elm Street", evidently, but also "Deadly Blessing" and "Deadly Friend" were very good. The big misses were "The Hills Have Eyes II", "Shocker", "Swamp Thing", and to a lesser extent "The Serpent and the Rainbow". But Craven also helmed two made-for-television projects, and those are strictly middle-ground. "Invitation to Hell" and particularly this "Chiller" are watchable and entertaining, but not highly memorable.

Ten years ago, Miles Creighton died from a nasty disease and his loving mother paid a lot of money to cryogenically freeze his body; - hoping that somewhere in the future advanced medicine techniques can save him after all. That time has come now (also because his cryogenic pod started leaking), and Miles miraculously recovers quite well. There's something different about him, however. The family dog barks at Miles non-stop, he's unable to show any emotions, and he doesn't mind killing people. It seems as if Miles lost his soul when he died, and it didn't return when he was thawed. No worries, though, because what becomes of people without souls? Exactly, CEOs of big corporate organizations!

"Chiller" remains interesting to watch, mainly thanks to the adequate performances of Michael Beck (Swan from "The Warriors") as the cold and heartless Miles, and Paul Sorvino as the good-hearted priest who tries to warn Miles' mother that her revived son isn't really her son anymore. There are also a couple of reasonably suspenseful moments, notably when Miles "fires" the company's previous CEO and family's friend Mr. Beeson, or when he petrifies innocent women like his little sister Stacey or the ambitious committee member Mrs. Kenyon. Wes Craven never really puts his mark on the film and the whole adventure feels too much like a routine job for him. Since it's a TV movie, you shouldn't expect gore or graphic violence either, but thanks to the ever-reliable Stan Winston, there are still some eerie frozen faces that attack near the end.

Great thriller

[kitsuyuutsu · 8/10 · 10 October 2017]

I know some reviews weren't exactly positive, but I really enjoyed this movie. Michael Beck does a phenomenal job acting the part of a man who no longer has a soul. His cold, calculating, selfish nature alone is enough to give you chills. As are some of the weird effects (his eyes are just freaky). Granted, it may not have been on the same level of horror/thrillers that Wes Craven pumps out, but you need to consider that this was a made for TV movie in the 80s and the restrictions on content and language that were allowed to be aired were much more strict than today. If you take that into account, this is a very good movie. It may not be so scary you need to change your shorts after watching it, but the whole portrayal of a man who was brought back to life with no soul is enough to give you the willies.

A nice conundrum presented by Wes Craven

[rsoonsa · 6/10 · 4 January 2002]

With this endeavour, director Wes Craven will not, in all probability, please many enthusiasts of his other films, the majority of which involve a good deal of violence and bloodletting, but he does a workmanlike job with this account of storage cryogeny which goes awry. Wealthy Marian Creighton (Bernice Straight) has kept her son Miles (Michael Beck) in cryogenic suspension for ten years since his death from a liver disease, and when a computer failure results in his sudden thawing, his mother decides upon immediate liver transplant surgery for him, a procedure not available at the time of his demise. Although this surgery is successful, and Miles resumes his former station as CEO of the family corporation, an issue arises as to how one might know of the possible lack of his spirit, or soul, whereas the other two elements of life, body and mind, have plainly been restored. The destructive behaviour of Miles is such that his mother and her clerical friend Reverend Penny (Paul Sorvino) begin to doubt that they should thank a higher power for delivering Marian's son to her, and a metaphysical inquiry becomes dominant in the film. Beatrice Straight gives, as ever, an excellent performance in her role, Paul Sorvino is tastefully nuanced as the troubled prelate, and Michael Beck obviously savours his part as the fulsome Miles, but Craven cannot seem to distance himself from his cinematic terror bromides, most of which become red herrings for a scenario which largely focusses upon ontology.

Why Was this made.

[jed-estes · 1/10 · 5 August 2006]

What was Wes thinking making this dribble? It does not jive well with any of his other work but then again he seemed to fall into a slight slump after making a A Nightmare On Elm Street. This can be seen by his follow ups 1.Invatation to Hell 2.Chiller 3.Hills Have Eyes II 4.Deadly Friend 5.Serpant and the Rainbow 6.Shocker all of these films were either mediocre our crap it was not until People Under the Stairs that he gained his momentum back and started to kick butt again. Chiller it'self has none of Craven's regulars and none of his suspense. The only good scene in when the old man has a heart attack on the stairs after graveling for his job.

"This really is the age of miracles--isn't it?"

[Backlash007 · 3 November 2004]

~Spoiler~

Wes Craven has had one of the most unusual careers of any genre director. He started out pretty late in life (33 maybe), made some classic exploitation and horror films, and then jumped into the dreaded realm of made for television flicks. Why I wonder? To pay the rent I suppose. The story of Chiller begins in a very atmospheric cryogenic chamber setting and it really got my hopes up. It was a creepy beginning and it was Craven at the helm. So why didn't I like the movie? Production values for starters. They really hindered this project. Also, the made for TV quality was really hard to get past. The story was lacking something too. I think Craven was exploring ideas here which would have been more suited for the big screen. In the story, Michael Beck (The Warriors) awakes from a cryo-sleep after being dead for quite some time. Many can immediately tell there is something different about him. But his mother, the one who put him in stasis, refuses to believe them. A priest (Paul Sorvino from Goodfellas) becomes our hero and the question of the human soul comes into play. Beck's character is quite evil and we are presented with the possibility that he lost his soul when he died. Not a bad premise, but nothing is ever resolved. Many questions the film poses go unanswered-which may or may not be a good thing. I think the film's main message is "Don't play God" or maybe just "Let sleeping dogs lie." Scream queen fans may appreciate an early appearance of Jill Schoelen who went on to star in The Stepfather, Cutting Class, Popcorn, and When a Stranger Calls Back. On another note, this features some of Stan Winston's early F/X work, and it's quite good. The DVD has a funny trivia game to make sure you were paying attention to the movie. Sadly, that's about all the DVD has to offer because the transfer (what transfer?) is horrible. While I don't think you should go out of your way to see it, Chiller was certainly better than Vampire in Brooklyn.

Turn it off after 30 minutes

[davidmvining · 3/10 · 1 July 2022]

Wes Craven was suddenly hot stuff, so Chiller sometimes gets billed as Wes Craven's Chiller. Well, he didn't write it, it was written by J. D. Feigelson (who also produced the television movie), and it's more of a return to form for Craven after A Nightmare on Elm Street, by which I mean that it's Craven returning to his less than stellar roots of horror filmmaking. There are ideas there (they seem one step removed from Craven's well-trod ground), but the film ultimately just settled into dullness for a very long stretch. It's unfortunate because the opening is actually surprisingly strong, but there comes a point where all of the promise of that opening is just lost.

Miles Creighton (Michael Beck) was near death and put into a coma and cryogenically frozen ten years before the start of the film where his cryo-pod malfunctions, requiring an emergency procedure and surgery not available ten years prior in an effort to save his life. At the behest of his mother Marion (Beatrice Straight), the doctors go through with it, saving his life. This opening half-hour or so is actually pretty solid stuff. The mystery of the pods, the emergency of the surgery, the earnestness of Marion, the wariness of Reverend Penny (Paul Sorvino), and, finally, the outright body horror of Miles' body waking up all combine into an entertaining package that would serve as an open-ended short film. If you're thinking of checking this out, I would honestly just click the thing off after Miles wakes up, because nothing afterwards is all that interesting.

Miles, you see, before he went into cryosleep secretly, was the head of a corporation, and the second he's back up, Clarence Beeson (Dick O'Neill), an executive at the place, offers him his old job back of CEO, apparently. Because corporations (even privately held ones governed by boards of directors) often just fire CEOs and replace them with people who have been legally dead for a decade. Whatever. It's stupid, but we can go with it.

Heartless Miles enters his position all heartlessly and immediately wants to kill all charitable works that the company is giving while in the middle of an economic downturn where the company has done better than expected. (I'm the heartless guy who was cheering him on because I loathe all corporate charitable giving.) Up against him is Leigh Kenyon (Laura Johnson), the head of marketing who insists that all of the other big corporations do it (not that it's effective, sorry, this is kind of a hobby horse of mine), and Miles sets out to dominate her after firing Clarence because he's heartless.

And...that's pretty much the bulk of the movie. He's heartless and he's a bully. Much like the rest of Craven's filmography, there's no sense of rising dramatic tension or stakes. It's just a series of things that happen in a row where someone is kind of unpleasant until we're gonna get our big showdown. In some of his work, the showdown is enough to make at least some of the film entertaining (like Invitation to Hell), but others are kind of sad and pathetic (like Summer of Fear). This is the latter.

There's no real imagination to how it all ends. It's just a steady series of small events where Miles is kind of a dick to everyone, capping with him running into Reverend Penny and sort of driving off with Penny's coat caught in the door of his car, and then an attempt to sexually dominate his mother's ward whom she took on in the ensuing ten years, Stacey (Jill Schoelen). The horror/action climax happens in a freezer (to some ironic effect, I suppose).

The idea supposedly at the film's core is something to do with the presence of the soul, the idea that science bringing a man back to life brings back only the body, the animal, and none of the humanity. It's little more than an excuse for anything, though, brought up late and done nothing with it.

This isn't Craven's worst film, but it's near the bottom. That first thirty minutes or so is intriguing and ends with a bit of a bang of a body horror spectacle that is actually quite creepy. Everything after that is just dull, plodding, and formless.

Cold Cold Heart

[kapelusznik18 · 5/10 · 18 August 2014]

***SPOILERS*** With no hope of surviving death, from a combination kidney/liver malfunction, 22 year old Miles Creighton, Michael Beck, was put on ice-Cryonically-on orders of his mother Marion, Beatrice Straight, until an organ or organs from an organ donor would become available for him so he can be thawed out and operated on. That's if when thawed he's still alive. All this becomes moot when an electrical short happens at the Cryonical Storage Center where Miles has spent the last ten years of his life in suspended animation that in fact, after a few days in the fresh air & sunshine, brought the stiff back to life.

Overjoyed at first to get her son Miles back his mom soon has seconds thoughts if thawing him out was the right thing to do. It takes a while but after killing the family dog Hep, who sensed that he was evil, and his late father's good friend and vice president of Miles, who's now put in charge, brokerage firm Clarence Beeson, Dick O'Neill, by first firing him and then, when he came back begging for his job back, inducing Clarence to suffer a fatal heart-attack. Miles also goes a step farther in his sexual attraction towards his kid sister Stacey, Jill Schoelen, whom he tries to seduce by trying to first get her drunk and then popping her! The guy turned out to be a both lowlife and sadistic swine who couldn't care less whom her hurt even his family members!

***SPOILERS*** It's family friend Reverend Penny, Paul Sorvino, who soon realizes what a fiend Miles is in that his unfeeling and psychopathic actions proves to him that the man lacks a soul. And when he confronts Miles about it Miles, by getting Penny's jacket stuck in his car door, tries to kill him by dragging him on the highway to his death! Rev. Penny who survived all that soon lets Mrs. Creighton, while semi-conscious in his hospital bed, know what a rotten and soul-less person her "beloved" son Miles really is. And what's more he's only her son in body but not in spirit or soul which really counts. The film tells us that the body that dies at death is separate from the soul that survives it which explains Miles Dr. Jeackel & Mr.Hide personality. He was a good boy before he died but turned into a monster when he came back to life in lacking a soul explains the actions he did since his resurrection, by thawing out, from the dead. It's now up to his mom to put her son Miles back on ice permanently before he does any more damage! but the problem is that Miles, in enjoying the criminal life that he's now leading, is not going to go that easily.

Frozen

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 26 July 2023]

Miles Creighton (Michael Beck, Xanadu) is frozen at the point of death, but begins to thaw ten years later. His mother decides to see if he can be saved and a miracle surgery brings him back - without a soul! His mother Marion Creighton (Beatrice Straight) doesn't believe that her son could be evil, much less be killing people, yet it's true. He even tries to kill friend of the family Reverend Penny (Paul Sorvino) and his stepsister Stacey (Jill Schoelen) is next on his list.

Directed by Wes Craven - this came out on VHS as Wes Craven's Chiller - and written by J. D. Feigelson (Dark Night of the Scarecrow), Chiller has an amazing moment when the zombie CEO tells the priest ""I'll tell you what's on the other side. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. You die and there's simply darkness. No streets of gold. No harps. No halos. No angels and saints. It's all here, so you better live it up, holy man, because this is all there is."

I tend to prefer Craven's small screen movies to so many of his big screen efforts. This one has a pretty bad script, to be honest, that has some interesting ideas of the beyond and never really shows us some important things, like why everyone thinks Miles is so great. Instead, we only know the blue-faced tyrant strip-mining his father's company.

That said, if you're up late, it's certainly a good movie to be half-awake to.

HE'S THAWING FAST

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 8 April 2019]

Miles is frozen and brought back to life 10 years later. He is cold and heartless. His own dog barks at him. Why? Because dogs are known to be "soul detectors." They can sniff out if a person has a soul or not. Apparently when you die and come back, your soul opts not to make the return trip. Having been frozen and thawed many times (first time was by accident) I can tell you that is not the case, although it is not good for the arthritis.

For some reason people without souls are stereotyped into the category of people with souls who behave badly, i.e. Peeping Toms have no soul.

The transfer quality of the film is very bad. Seriously, is this the best copy they had lying around? Even if it was a good copy, the film doesn't translate well into the 21st century. Pretty much a waste of time to watch it.

Parental Guide: No f-bombs, sex, or nudity.

Strained By a Poor Release

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 22 July 2014]

Corporate exec Miles Creighton (Michael Beck) dies, and is cryogenically frozen in the hopes that he can be revived. Ten years later, the procedure is a success, and Miles returns -- without his soul.

So you have director Wes Craven, writer J. D. Feigelson ("Dark Night of the Scarecrow"), special effects from Stan Winston and an incredible actress with Jill Schoelen. How can you go wrong? One suspects the film is better than generally given credit for, but few have actually seen it in a format that actually allows the full effect of the film to be felt.

There is absolutely terrible DVD quality (both picture and sound) on the Digiview Entertainment version (it appears the film fell into the public domain). Most likely, this version was transferred from a second or third generation VHS. It does not do justice to the film, and if a better version exists, get that one instead.

A really creepy and compelling 80's made-for-TV fright feature

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 7 February 2007]

Corporate executive Miles Creighton (a superbly unnerving performance by Michael Beck) gets revived after being cryogenically frozen for ten years. He comes back as a cold, amoral, unfeeling automaton who's only concerned about satisfying his own urges. He proves to be a ruthlessly cut-throat businessman and even develops incestuous longings for his sweet, comely, frightened cousin Stacey (winningly played by the always pretty and perky Jill Schoelen). Director Wes Craven, working from an interesting and provocative script by J. D. Feigelson, does an expert job of creating and sustaining a creepy and unsettling atmosphere. The solid and credible acting from a fine cast constitutes as another substantial asset: Beatrice Straight as Miles' loving, but scared mother, Paul Sorvino as a concerned priest, Dick O'Neill as Miles' loyal business partner, Laura Johnson as an ambitious advertising executive, Anne Seymour as Sorvino's elderly friend Ms. Bunch, and Alan Fudge and Craig Richard Nelson as honest, dedicated surgeons.Stan Winston's excellent make-up f/x, Frank Thackery's slick cinematography, Dana Kaproff's spooky'n'shivery synthesizer score, and a pertinent central message about how being truly human requires having a soul are all up to speed as well. A genuinely eerie and on the money effective made-for-TV horror movie.

They shall see tomorrow.

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 12 October 2023]

Corporate executive Miles Creighton (Michael Beck, "The Warriors") is brought back to life after a decade of cryogenic freezing. But everybody watching this at home can tell that something is now missing from his personality: it's his soul. He's now a conscience-free creep who thinks nothing of slaughtering the family dog, peeping on his younger sister (the lovely Jill Schoelen, "The Stepfather"), or firing longtime family friend / employee Clarence Beeson (Dick O'Neill, "Wolfen"). A concerned Reverend (Paul Sorvino, "GoodFellas") comes to realize the truth about Miles, but Miles' mother Marion (the wonderful Beatrice Straight, "Poltergeist") has blinders on when it comes to her son.

A somewhat forgotten effort from fright master Wes Craven (of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" fame), this mid-80s TV movie lacks the intensity and impact this might have had, had Craven made it for theatrical release. Written & produced by J. D. Feigelson ('Dark Night of the Scarecrow'), this sci-fi / horror film is of course mild with its horror elements due to the nature of the TV medium. At its best, it's mildly involving, although it does boast some good makeup effects by Stan Winston ("Aliens") and presents a philosophical musing on the nature of the soul. It's still amusing to watch an entertainingly icy cold Beck do these horrible things. The supporting cast includes such other familiar faces as Alan Fudge ("My Demon Lover"), Craig Richard Nelson ("My Bodyguard"), Laura Johnson (Cravens' "Red Eye"), Anne Seymour ("Trancers"), Joseph Whipp (Cravens' "Scream"), and Brian Libby ("Silent Rage"), but Straight is the definite standout as the devoted mother in need of a wake-up call.

The tale is overall pretty routine, with the cliched use of the "one final scare" at the ending. It's watchable enough, but I would only really recommend it to Craven completists.

Six out of 10.

Decent film from Craven

[Michael_Elliott · 26 February 2008]

Chiller (1985)

** (out of 4)

Wes Craven's made for TV flick is frozen from the get go and never goes anywhere. In the film, a man returns to life after being frozen for ten years and guess what he does? If you guessed he goes on a killing spree then you've just saved yourself 80-minutes. Just looking at the film you can tell Craven didn't have much hope in the film because you can't see any of the typical Craven trademarks. The story itself is rather lame and it's nothing new so there's not much to get excited over. There isn't any gore since this was made for television but there's also no suspense, no humor and no good performances. Paul Sorvino has a small role but even he's sleepwalking.

A Cold Blooded Chiller

[Rainey-Dawn · 7/10 · 5 December 2016]

Miles Creighton passed away and was frozen cryogenically by the wishes of his mother Marion. One night his cryogenic chamber malfunctioned and he started thawing out. The security called for an emergency and Miles was rushed to the hospital, his mother notified and after some time he was revived - he lives again after 10 years frozen! He becomes the president of his father's company and he changes everything about, from policies to firing people. His personality is completely different - he's become very abusive, violent, hateful and willing to kill - he's downright horrible. The big question is: "Did Miles' soul/spirit reunite with his body after being dead for 10 years or is it someone else's soul/spirit within him?" I liked this film. It's a slow movie that feels more like a film from the 1970s than the mid-80s which is something I really enjoyed about it.

7.5/10

A Fabulous Memory from My Childhood

[sublime_twilight · 10/10 · 25 August 2007]

Considering the circumstances and process of cryogenics and the impact that religion and belief systems have on an individual's actions throughout his/her life, this movie is intelligent, poignant and frightening in a realistic manner when considering though factors. Indeed, in the horror genre, most things are fantastically unbelievable, so the keep is to be opened minded when entering this and most any realm of fantasy.

I have loved this movie since I was a little girl. When I was about five or six years old in "85 or "86, this movie would come on TV quite a bit. It always came on really late at night. My mother and I loved it. I kind of thought that Miles looked like Robert Palmer. As I reflect on this movie, I feel that it along with Critters, Carrie and Christine (my fours C's or horror films), sparked the beginning of my love of the horror genre. I have searched for this movie for years. I had a hard time finding it, because I couldn't remember the name of it. Finally, I decided to do a search for "cryogenics,hell, mother, son, priest," and the movie came up number 4 in the search. Thanks IMDb!!!!!