A wealthy industrialist arranges for his body to be kept on ice in a high-tech cryonic chamber. When the instructions are not followed properly, he emerges from the frozen crypt as an empty, soulless creature with an appetite for destruction.
Direction
Craven elevating cheap material with genuine dread
Acting
Beatrice Straight's shattered mother anchors the absurdity
Practical Effects
Gloriously dated cryo-chamber that hisses and steams
Director
Wes Craven
Michael Beck
Miles Creighton
Beatrice Straight
Marion Creighton
Laura Johnson
Leigh Kenyon
Dick O'Neill
Clarence Beeson
Alan Fudge
Dr. Stricklin
Craig Richard Nelson
Dr. Collier
Paul Sorvino
Reverend Penny
Jill Schoelen
Stacey
Anne Seymour
Mrs. Bunch
Russ Marin
Dr. Sample
Jerry Lacy
Jerry Burley
Ned Wertimer
Mr. Hanna
Mimi Craven
Nurse Cooper
Brian Libby
Orderly
Joseph Whipp
Detective
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This aired on CBS in 1985 as a failed series pilot; Craven recycled the 'electricity possession' concept three years later in Shocker.
Cryonics fever peaked in the mid-80s after the Ted Williams rumors and Alcor scandals — this exploited genuine unease about rich people buying immortality.
US
