This sick comedy of errors and accidents takes a real-life incident and turns it on its ear. It's the sort of story (involving a grisly accident and a desperate survival attempt) that could be -- and probably has been -- turned into a treacly, uplifting TV movie; but the execution here may remind you of the Black Knight Sequence in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It would seem far-fetched if something very much like it hadn't actually occurred and been well-documented.
Production values are surprisingly decent (props include an ambulance and giant drill-thingy), makeup effects are sufficient to pull off the necessary illusions, and the acting ranges from competent to very good. Fortunately, the best performance is by the actor who's on screen for the entire runtime. This guy's a trouper, and pulls off a couple of pratfalls Bruce Campbell would be proud of.
(This is not some over-the-top, "splatstick" gorefest, by the way, contrary to another reviewer's comments. You'd see more grue on the average CSI episode, and the humor here is mostly derived from the situation rather than spurting karo syrup.) Good score and nice crisp cinematography, particularly for the outdoor scenes.
The ending threw me at first; I expected a final capper, some kind of dark joke to top the previous ones, maybe an E. C. comics sort of twist. The actual conclusion is more subtle. It struck me as ambiguously bleak, and goes for pathos and irony rather than an in-your-face "gotcha." On those terms, it works quite well.
Good, economical visual style, great use of real snowy locations and some laugh-out-loud funny moments (watch out for that fence!) make this one worth your time. I'll be keeping an eye on Mr. McMahon.