A sequel that didnt *really* need to exist, but im kind of glad it does, ‘Jack Frost 2’ sees us once again returning to the mahem of a mutated snowman melded with the DNA of a vicious serial killer…Only this time? We’re going tropical BAY-BEEEEE!!!

Yes, its 12 months on from the last film, and this time some of the folks from the first entry have decided to get out of town for christmas to try and put the events of 12 months prior behind them. However, around the same time a group of mad scientists find Jacks body trapped in a bottle of antifreeze and release him! Leading to the killer snowman (and later some of his offspring) to travel to the luxury hotel to take chilly vengence…Only now; Jack has the edge as he’s immune to Antifreeze!

And, in someways this is a step back…In others, its kind of a step forward. The most noticable difference between this and the last film is this has been shot on early 2000’s high(er) end digi beta (or some varient therein thereof) yes…this is essentially an SOV movie for all intents and purposes. Which DOES feel like a bit of a step back after the previous films ‘All film’ basis…but at the same time, it kind of suits this movie to go that route anyway…

The last film juggled serious horror and some heavier moments of comedy; this? is basically the flip opposite, a comedy movie with Horror elements. Which, again; I think suits the film better than it being the other way around.

The tone of the script as a result is much lighter, much more engaging and the pacing is fairly breakneck. However that does then remove more spooky elements that the horror had previously supplied.

The characters also feel a little one note here, they’re leaning into the comedy…But not in a ‘laughing with them’ way…which does make this thing feel a little cringey in places…It should also be noted that ‘Jack’ as a physical entity…isnt in this thing a whole lot, in fact he’s pretty much MIA until the 3rd act of the film, existing only in V/O form up until that point. In his place? we have some adoreable little murderous snow babies…which sometimes are shown via GENUINELY adoreable little puppets…and then much less adoreable as ultra basic early 3d CGI…which has not aged all that well…especially when its shown on tape.

the direction and cine seems a lot less styalized here vs the original, but does have a bit of a charm of its own, im quite glad they swapped stylization out for enhanced colour as this really is a genuinely quite vivid film for the most part, which is really nice.

The performances range from cheesy to cringey, but again kind of suit the tone…Even if they dont ENTIRELY carry the same vibe as the first one did, and the soundtracks a little bit on the irritating side as it all sounds a little bit samey and I get the feeling they managed to wangle 1 or 2 copyrighted songs (as re-records) for this thing, as they get ploughed into eternity the amount of replays they get in this thing.

Honestly? by around the half way point I realised EXACTLY what film this reminded me of. It reminded me of ‘The Gingerdead Man’…only, this one came first and is SIGNIFICANTLY better than that…but it has similar plot beats, a similar vibe and tone it probably has a bit of ‘Gingerdead man 2’s ‘ DNA in it as well for the weird and slightly meta humour. So…I guess that would be my steerage for you guys…if you’ve seen any of the ‘Gingerdead man’ movies and thought ‘I like the idea, but its a shame about the execution’ give ‘Jack Frost 2’ a try…as its *LIKE* those films, but with a much tidier execution.

As it stands, I could easily see this one going into regular christmas rotation!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/jack-frost-2-the-revenge-of-the-mutant-killer-snowman/