Janek is a technician who works at a research station in the Austrian Alps. Small teams of scientists come to the station to study global warming. It seems that Janek does not get along well with the current team, as he prefers to keep to himself. One day Janek and the scientists discover a glacier covered in a strange red liquid that has odd effects on the surrounding wildlife. The scientists become excited as they realize that it takes root in the stomach and combines the DNA of the host animal with whatever it has ingested, often resulting in the creation of a hybrid creature that will, inevitably, burst from the animal’s interiors and wreak havoc on anyone that crosses their paths. But Janek is more wary of the liquid and the potential dangers it poses. His caution is soon proven to be warranted, as the group begins to fall prey to the hybrids created by the liquid. A supervisory visit by the climate minister is scheduled, and Janek is horrified when he finds that a former girlfriend of his is among the newcomers.
Cast
Gerhard Liebmann as Janek
Edita Malovcic as Tanja
Brigitte Kren as Ministerin Bodicek
Santos as Tinni
Hille Beseler as Birte
Peter Knaack as Falk
Felix Römer as Harald
Wolfgang Pampel as Bert Krakauer
Murathan Muslu as Luca
Michael Fuith as Urs
Adina Vetter as Irene
Coco Huemer as Geli
Reception
Critical reception for Blood Glacier has been mixed and the movie currently holds a rating of 46% on Rotten Tomatoes and 43 on Metacritic. Many reviewers made negative comparisons to John Carpenter's The Thing, with IndieWire stating that "this low budget chiller is unable to capture the same kind of awe and terror that made "The Thing" so powerful, although its attempt to be more character-based and emphasis on practical effects is somewhat admirable." Praise for the movie tended to center upon the movie's status as an eco-horror film, as multiple reviewers praised it for not being a "preachy diatribe" and for its monsters. The A.V. Club noted that while the film was very similar to other movies in the same genre, this worked in Blood Glacier's favor as it was "a movie viewers have seen dozens of times before, and will see again, with slight variations, because it embodies a fundamental quality of B-horror entertainment."
