Two young criminals break into a rich property, intent on stealing the beautiful car sleeping in the garage. Finding the corpse of a murdered man, they alert the police. An inspector calls at the address in question, only in order to discover a very gracious, relaxed and hospitable host. Indeed, his host is so cooperative that he immediately confesses to having buried the corpse...
The first fifteen minutes or so of the movie are masterful : taut, intriguing, fascinating. If "Mister Frost" had gone on in the same vein this could have become a horror movie, or a horror/thriller movie, for the ages. Sadly the quality slowly descends until the movie becomes watchable, nothing more. This may be linked to the fact that the movie springs from an international co-production (tax breaks or European subsidies, anyone ?) One rather gets the impression that much was lost in translation...
Strangely enough the movie, in spite of all its mass murders and mayhem plus all its talk about mass murders and mayhem, seems to have only a shaky grasp on the real nature of evil.
The movie's most important asset is a riveting, fascinating performance by Jeff Goldblum, who projects a powerful blend of charm, unpleasantness and threat. This is clearly one of Mr. Goldblum's better performances.
Much of the intrigue concerns a female psychiatrist confronted with a male patient who tells her a whoppingly incredible story - in this case, that he is the Devil himself, in all his sable glory. Does the patient suffer from an industrial-strength delusion or could he be telling the truth ? Lovers of the horror and fantasy genre will recognize a thematical ressemblance to "The Medusa Touch", which, in my humble opinion, is a rather better picture.
The first fifteen minutes or so of the movie are masterful : taut, intriguing, fascinating. If "Mister Frost" had gone on in the same vein this could have become a horror movie, or a horror/thriller movie, for the ages. Sadly the quality slowly descends until the movie becomes watchable, nothing more. This may be linked to the fact that the movie springs from an international co-production (tax breaks or European subsidies, anyone ?) One rather gets the impression that much was lost in translation...
Strangely enough the movie, in spite of all its mass murders and mayhem plus all its talk about mass murders and mayhem, seems to have only a shaky grasp on the real nature of evil.
The movie's most important asset is a riveting, fascinating performance by Jeff Goldblum, who projects a powerful blend of charm, unpleasantness and threat. This is clearly one of Mr. Goldblum's better performances.
Much of the intrigue concerns a female psychiatrist confronted with a male patient who tells her a whoppingly incredible story - in this case, that he is the Devil himself, in all his sable glory. Does the patient suffer from an industrial-strength delusion or could he be telling the truth ? Lovers of the horror and fantasy genre will recognize a thematical ressemblance to "The Medusa Touch", which, in my humble opinion, is a rather better picture.