Ep. 35: Iced

We're back! We took a break while Ryan focused on another project, but now we've returned for more incredibly strange cinema, starting with a rare ski-slasher, in which a bunch of horny couples gather for a timeshare presentation at a winter villa and are slowly picked off one by one by a mysterious killer!Iced is a film that until last year was stuck in VHS purgatory, released once and only once and considered to be a somewhat lost film until its new Vinegar Syndrome release. It also features a strange, dreamlike aesthetic on account of being shot on film but edited to tape, combining both mediums to (intentionally?) create a surreal, dreamlike experience.On this episode we'll break down how this film is a precursor to modern horror film The Ritual and also summons pivotal scenes from Herman Melville's Moby Dick. We'll also explore how the real horror might not be the killer but rather the timeshare contract that the couples are being presented with during their hard-sell weekend away. As skiers ourselves, we also discuss the quality of the actual skiing in the film and what it means to have 'integrity as a skier'.This film is a fever dream. It sells itself as a slasher but it's an hour and a half of dream logic and jumbled timelines, mixing visions of the past, present, and future indiscriminately. In our Thoughts From Letterboxd segment we contend with reviewers who think the whole affair is quite boring (on account of its minimal actual slashing), but we hope to make the case that this is must-see cinema for lovers of the bizarre.IcedDirected by Jeff Kwinty1989, United StatesIncredibly Strange Video is produced and edited by Ryan Quinn and Cassie Kay. Follow us on Bluesky @isvpodcast.bsky.social for updates on the newest episodes!Theme music:The End by EVACreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0All excerpts from the films discussed are used for educational and critical purposes only.No generative AI is used in the production of this show. Keep the world human.