On Ice (Chiller, 1985)

Miles Creighton was cryogenically frozen due to an incurable disease. Ten years later his chamber malfunctions. Miles is resuscitated, much to the joy of his mother.

But while his family is elated, the Priest his mother trusts worries that this is something that should never have been done.

Miles behaves in a creepy fashion at first, seeming distant and uncaring. He also seems to have some disturbed interests in his sister. Meanwhile, he starts to integrate back into the family business. As people begin to wonder if something is wrong with Miles, they have mysterious accidents (well, not to the audience). Miles is cold both to the touch and soul. Is this Miles? Or has something else returned in his body.

This is not a terrible concept, and there are all sorts of ways the film could have gone. It does raise the question of whether Miles was actually dead, or what became of his spirit. But this is done in a bland and basic way. There is no solid exploration of the meaning of life and death, and the spiritual dimension brought by the character of Reverend Penny (Paul Sorvini) is a very surface level Christianity.

Really the film leans towards being rather boring on top of a shallow exploration of the meanings of life death, life beyond death and the attempts to subvert mortality.