"The Thaw" is 2009 Canadian horror film directed by Mark A. Lewis and written in collaboration with Michael Lewis. In a nutshell, "The Thaw" is like X-Files episode "Ice" combined with some John Carpenter's "The Thing" vibes.
The film is a representative of an ecological horror niche, so it is less about the thrills and kills and more about constructing a hypothetical situation and exploring themes.
The film tells the story of Canadian Arctic research station on Banks Island that studies the effects of Global Warming. The group is led by renowned environmental activist David Kruipen (played by Val Kilmer), who tries to warn everybody that things are dire and if we don't take any action soon enough - it would be too late. You know - just what global warming guys are usually saying. For the most part - he is not very successful in his quest, but he is respected well enough to maintain his research.
Banks Island is an example of severe effects of climate change. From Kruipen's point of view - it is a middle of a war zone. In the past it was covered in ice and now there is only small patch of it left. The island manages to look both unassuming and horrifyingly devastated at the same time. Desaturated colour scheme also contributes greatly to the overall devastation/desolation feel
The film opens with the team making a breakthrough discovery. While observing a polar bear who for some reason came back to an island - they discover the remains of the woolen mammoth buried in the ice. The thaw brought it back to the surface and polar bear found it. But that's not all.
Then things go off the rails, as the polar bear falls ill and dies. Then members of the team start to succumb to the unknown disease. This leaves Kruipen with some tough choices to make.
In the meantime, the station expects a group of students to arrive for science practice. Kruipen used this as an opportunity to patch things up with his estranged daughter Evelyn. At first he pulls her in thinking that he is going to share with her his greatest scientific triumph. She reluctantly agrees. Then, upon realizing that things are going southward, Kruipen tries to prevent her from coming in. Due to pre-existing conflict between the two, Evelyn disregards the latter attempts and comes in regardless.
When the group arrives, they find an empty station. After some walking around they find a body of dead polar bear. The discovery is suspicious enough for them to try to contact Kruipen's group on the radio. But the radio conversation leaves more questions than answers and the only thing the group is left to do is to wait until Kruipen's party comes back.
Meanwhile strange things start to happen. Students are attacked by strange insects and one of the Kruipen's colleagues arrives to the base alone and severely ill. It appears that she killed Kruipen to escape from something.
To make things worse, for some reason she breaks the helicopter equipment so that no one could get out of there. After a while she succumbs to the unknown illness. It becomes clear that those insects are related to it - they infest the host and breed inside the body slowly consuming it.
This throws the group into a frenzy. Two of the students and a pilot are already infected and it is a question of time when the rest will follow suit. Paranoia gets better of them and things get bloody. Then Kruipen reappears and it seems like things are going to get under control. However, Evelyn discovers his notes and tapes and finds out her father's real intentions regarding his discovery. And that's where the film stops being just another low-budget horror film and does some high drama.
The story goes. In the past, David Kruipen was an environmental activist. The lack of impact of activism turned him into a radical and it led him to blowing up an oil pipeline.
This made him something of a legendary figure in the community. After that he moved on from radicalism into more reasonable ways and tried to make difference with facts and research.
However, the more he tried to uncover the effects of global warming and convince people to make changes - the less he accomplished. No one cared. You have to agree that when you are trying to change people's opinion on an important subject matter to no avail over and over again - that might be quite dispiriting. And you what that does to people - it makes them desperate. The thing with desperation is that it makes people go to extremes.
Kruipen was desperate to do something that would have a long-lasting effect. And when he discovered mammoth remains and found out about the parasites inside - he knew he was onto something. His grand plan was to infect himself with parasites, get back on the mainland, start an outbreak that will kill a lot of people and after the outbreak is contain - this will convince everybody that they need to take care of ecology and change their ways of life.
It is quite far-fetched, but seems plausible from the standpoint of a man who has no idea how to prove his point after so many failed attempts.
This character arc elevates the film from standard isolated horror to fall from grace narrative. Kruipen is barely in the film but his shadows lingers over it. We see his plan roll out in a microcosm of the research station. And then we get the big kick - Evelyn finds out her father's real intentions and confronts him about that and he agrees with her but goes on with his plan. Kruipen is aware of how misguided and delusional his plan is - but he proceeds because it might work out this time.
And he fails because things are bleak enough to get some retribution.
Sometimes the film is more than sum of its parts. This happens when the film manages to build enough substance around itself. And it expands the film beyonds its actual scope. This aspect can make you appreciate the film even more despite its apparent flaws. That's pretty much what "The Thaw" manages to do.
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