Why does it seem like when Christmas wraps up, people are done watching movies with snow on the screen? Winter goes on until the end of March. Why not watch some snowy films that aren’t about people discovering the true meaning of the holidays? If you want to be transported to a winter wonderland, there’s no finer place than the frozen upper peninsula of Michigan. Frostbiter: Wrath of the Wendigo was a low budget horror film from that region that took years to make followed by a few years to find a distributor. Now after 40 years, this chilling movie has found itself on Blu-ray.
In the middle of winter, Gary (The Stooges’ Ron Asheton) and his drinking buddy arrive on an island ready to hunt. They’ve got their guns ready and their bottle of booze cracked. They are more loaded than their weapons. They don’t believe “no hunting” signs or fences. They won’t be held back. When they encounter a mysterious cabin with skulls on posts, Gary is a bit spooked. An old mummy looking guy comes out of the cabin and mentions that he’s the guardian keeping the evil Wendigo. Gary freaks out and shoots the guy thinking he’s some sort of serial killer. Very quickly the hunters learn that the Wendigo is real and their guns are worthless against this demonic force. Little Sandy (Conceiving Ada‘s Lori Baker) is woken up from her bed by the ghost of the Mummy Guy. He tells her that she’s now the guardian of the Wendigo. Her first job is to go to the remote island and get it back under control. She hops a small plane in the middle of the night only to discover the evil has taken wing and is attacking her flight. Is she ever going to get there? Will the hunters all get bagged? Are we doomed? And what’s up with the chili?
Frostbiter: Wrath of the Wendigo is a remarkable achievement in indie film. During the late ’80s, the crew was able to create great special effects with a budget that wasn’t close to the craft service budget on Hollywood studio production. The effects are entertaining including the strange monster that comes out of a pot of chili. The effects are better than most of the CGI monster movies that ran on SyFy. This is a film that struggle for years to find a distributor before landing a VHS deal with Troma in 1995. It was hard to take it too serious at that time. The movie is low budget goofiness. But the effects are rather impressive. Many of the behind-the-camera people associated with the film went on to major film careers. Now Frostbiter has a chance to dazzle with a Blu-ray transfer. The dazzle also includes Ron Asheton’s hilarious performance as the hunter who shoots first and deals with the evil demons last. This makes sense since he is the man who gave us that wicked bass riff on “Search And Destroy.” He and Iggy Pop should have made a buddy cop film. The upped resolution will make you feel the extreme Michigan cold coming off the screen. Frostbiter: Wrath of the Wendigo is a proper film to watch while frost still accumulates on your car windows.
The video is 1:33:1 full frame. The transfer was scanned & restored in 2K from its 16mm original camera negative. The film looks good for something made on 16mm in the ’80s with lots of optical moments. The audio is DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo. You’ll hear the rock soundtrack and the Wendigo snarls. The movie is subtitled.
New Commentary track with co-writer / director Tom Chaney, moderated by Michael Felsher. He explains how he’d buy film and shoot on weekends. Chaney gives credit to all the people who helped make the movie real. Troma changed the title to Frostbiter instead of Wendigo. He explains how his movie is connected to Michael Moore’s Roger & Me.
Wendigo Make a Movie (25:38) catches up with co-writer / director Tom Chaney. He was a senior in college when he wrote the script. During high school, he met up with Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell when they made Book of the Dead. He worked on indie films. He used his money to shoot footage over the course of four to five years. He had a small crew that contributed their time for free. He discusses how they did the special effects on a shoestring. We learn how he got The Stooges’ Ron Asheton as the star. He teaches at a film school in Troy, Michigan and still makes movies guerilla style. He gives the tale of how there is a Frostbiter film festival in Iceland. He’s honored the film is coming out on Blu-ray for all the people who dedicated their time to the production.
The Many Hats of a Wendigo (14:39) is an interview with producer David Thiry about all the things he did over the years to make the film. There’s talk of the freezing cold. They disclosed how they set an actor on fire. They also didn’t use the right glass for a scene where they busted a window.
What Were We Thinking? (18:59) gets actor Alan Madlane in front of the camera once more. He was an Ann Arbor actor and met Ron Ashton after a play. Ron got him a part in Frostbiter. He wasn’t happy that he wasn’t getting paid for a 10-day shoot in the frozen part of winter.
Frankenstein’s Wendigo (13:11) gets detail oriented with stop motion animator Dave Hettmer. He was with a local special effects shop. He was a software engineer working on a motion control system. He worked with Chaney at the job and was offered the stop motion gig in Frostbiter. He was able to push his education on the film.
A Friend in Need (7:40) sits down with actor John Bussard. He played a hunter and had forgotten the character’s names. He knew director Chaney when they worked at McDonald’s in high school. He had to skip out of working at Red Lobster to film his role. The manager gave him the night off. He didn’t know that he was going to be set on fire.
Sound of the Wendigo (11:34) is an interview with sound editor / actor Paul Harris. They talk about how he was brought into acting in the news footage that got the running time up.
Archival featurette with actor Ron Asheton (6:33) has him talk about how hard he played the guitar. Scott Asheton is on the sofa. It’s more about his time with the Stooges and a video for a song from Frostbiter. I think the song is called “Bitchin’ Babes.” This was before the Stooges reunited with Mike Watt on bass. This is as entertaining as the film. This was shot in 1991.
Original ‘Wendigo’ promo video (2:46) is out to make the film a bit of a fairytale.
Original ‘Frostbiter’ video trailer (1:00) is extra flashy with gore clips from the film.
Behind-the-scenes footage (6:34) shows off the cabin surrounded by skulls. It looks so cold.
Footage from the Michigan Premiere (9:12) has the marquee and an excited crowd eager to see Ron Asheton pull up in a limo. They have a lot of folks in the second limo. The theater looks beautiful and has an organist. It was a fancy evening.
Archival Troma introduction & promo video (2:24) has a very young Lloyd Kaufman pitching the film to mom and pop video stores. You could buy one VHS for $69.95 or 2 tapes for $99.95. The tape came out when Trainspotting had been released in 1996 as Lloyd ties Iggy Pop and Ron Asheton together.
Behind-the-scenes still gallery (7:31) are photos from the special effects department and covers all the aspects of making this film so it looks bigger than $60,000.
Vinegar Syndrome presents Frostbiter: Wrath of Wendigo. Directed by Tom Chaney. Screenplay by Tom Chaney. Starring Ron Asheton, Lori Baker, Devlin Burton, Patrick Butler, Tom Franks, Alan Madlane & John Bussard. Rating: Unrated. Running Time: 83 minutes. Release Date: January 31, 2023.
