Chill

Funereally paced but sufficiently creepy to attract shudder-film fans, Chill is loosely adapted from H.P. Lovecraft’s often-anthologized short storyCool Air. An aspiring writer (Thomas Calabro) goes to work for a former scientist (Shaun Kurtz) who suffers from a rare disease that forces him to live in freezing temperatures. It turns out that the scientist keeps himself alive with skin grafts harvested from unwilling donors. Ashley Laurence and James Russo co-star as a shop owner and her ex-lover, respectively. The movie has been well mounted and boasts some nifty special effects.

Shelf Talk: Although Lovecraft isn’t widely read anymore, his name still has some cachet with horror aficionados, to whom most promotional efforts should be targeted. Chill can be touted as a new offering from the author of Re-Animator, which is still a cult favorite. The film took Best Independent Film honors at last year’s U.K. Festival of Fantastic Films and won two Gold Awards (for makeup effects and outstanding achievement) at the recent WorldFest in Houston, which should give it cred with horror fans and gorehounds.