The next Midnight Madness film on the
docket was Marvin Kren's Austrian environmental horror flick, The Station.
A discovery inside a melting glacier in
the German Alps could spell doom for the members of a nearby research
team.
This was another strong horror effort
from Kren, as he brought forth the same economized energy he gave us
in his 2010 debut, Rammbock.
John Carpenter's The Thing was a clear
influence here. I highly appreciated the emphasis on practical
effects, which Kren used for pretty much everything he physically
could. Also like The Thing, Kren clearly gave his design team the
freedom to run wild. Similar to the alien in The Thing, the
ecological terror of The Station assimilates the organisms it comes
in contact with, leaving endless possibilities. I have no doubt that
if the production had had more time & money, we would've seen
many more creations than the six or seven that appear onscreen.
The ensemble assembled for The Station
was also very strong, especially Brigette Kren as Health Minister
Bodicek, who yes, also happened to be the director's mother! She was
a breath of fresh air in this movie. Her character is one you may
least expect to take charge of the dire situation in the film, but
she does so effortlessly. I also have to mention that, again like The
Thing, this film has some of the best dog acting I've seen for quite
some time.
Minister Bodicek (Brigette Kren) taking care of business. |
I also really liked the colour palette
of The Station. It has the drab greys and browns you'd see from a
mountain climate, but Kren often found ways to splash in some reds,
which really popped onscreen. It certainly fit in with the film's
original title above – which I much prefer – Blutgletscher or “Blood
Glacier”.
Although The Station ends on a wildly
absurd note, it's kind of easy just to laugh it off and focus on all
that came before it. That's not something I was able to do for the
similarly themed The Last Winter from a half-dozen years ago, so that
speaks highly of the quality of Kren's film.
Director Marvin Kren & his star (and mother) Brigette Kren. |
Even though there was really nowhere to
go but up from the night before, The Station was a solid Midnight
entry.
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