“I don’t wanna die” “You’re already dead”
At a diamond mine in Alaska the crew drilling through the permafrost ends up unearthing a prehistoric dinosaur type monster. The monster kills and eats his way through the camp.
In the meantime two truckers Jack Simmons (Ty Olsson) and Neil Conroy (Dylan Neal) are in a contest to deliver a couple truckloads of explosives to the aforementioned diamond mine. Along with them is an environmentalist Rachel Harris (Brea Grant). She is also on her way to the camp to inspect it. The three people and two trucks arrive at the diamond mine camp with no problem. When they get to the camp they find it appears to be deserted. Eventually they find there are only a couple survivors. Karl Kruger (Malcolm Stewart) and Tanner (David Lyle).
They high-tail it out of there with the prehistoric monster not far behind. The monster manages to catch up and not only dispense Tanner but destroy one of the trucks. Jack and Rachel manage to transfer to Neil's truck and, for a moment put some distance between them and the monster.
"Ice Road Terror" was released in 2011 and was directed by Terry Ingram. If there is one thing I’ve learned watching monster movies for years it’s that the monster on the cover art for the movie never ever looks like the monster in the actual movie. Here is no exception. (And the monster on the back is not the same one as the monster on the front) Although it appears that the “Terror” is a T-Rex it is actually more like a giant lizard with big teeth.
I don’t care. It’s a giant monster. If you’ve ever seen “It came from Outer Space” the monster there was a just a giant eye with cotton batting and shredded garbage bags hanging from it. At least this monster has teeth. Granted the CGI is not top notch, but we are not watching the latest box office hit. This is “B” movie SYFY channel fodder at its best, or worst whatever you prefer. I love it either way.
When I watch a “B” horror or science fiction movie I expect to see any combination of bad acting, underdeveloped characters, lame dialogue, ineffective plots or cheezy special effects. This movie did not disappoint. I got some of that and I got a giant prehistoric style monster with lots of teeth. Points for the teeth.
It may not be a T-Rex but it does have attitude. Considering they are in a remote area of Alaska where there are fewer people, there is also a reasonable body count. There’s lots of blood and gore. There is no skimping on that. As for the plot, It's just your average monster waking from a prehistoric sleep to wreak mayhem on the world. Yes, it’s not Harryhausen. There’s only one of him.