Ice from the Sun (1999)

 

A very artsy sometimes incomprehensible film about battles in the afterlife and whatnot.

There is a really long opening sequence which we'll have to skip for not because it will make zero sense. Moving right along...

Alison (Ramona Midgett) has had it with life.

She watches the horrors unfold on the news and decides enough is enough.

She slits her wrists with a box cutter in the bath - but a voice speaks to her.

The voice tells Alison that she will be used as an assassin to kill an interdimensional wizard

There is this overlong backstory of a wizard named Abalon who had an apprentice named Abraham... on it goes.  While I appreciate the world building, it's a bit much.  Suffice it to say, the apprenctice becomes the master and becomes...

The Presence (D.J. Vivona) - a diabolical interdimensional being who enjoys tormenting souls brought over to his dimension.  He uses hapless humans as his minions to draw in the victims.

An example of just such a hapless human is Buck (Joseph Palermo) the plumber

Buck basically becomes a servant of the Presence, tasked with bringing humans to his world.

And here are Buck's friends - gathered at a dirty apartment to do drugs.

Dana (Angela Zimmerly) is the main girl.  Zimmerly only appeared in one other film, Bizarre Lust of a Sexual Deviant (2001), where she also provided lots of nudity.

Dana's boyfriend Keith (Tommy Biondo)

Pam (Tracey Hein) does some rails

Buck shows up, but he's not acting himself.  Indeed, he starts chanting some gibberish which transports them all to the hellscape inhabited by The Presence.

Buck finds himself in this surreal dimension

And is quickly murdered by the horrific denizens of this realm

Pam frantically calls her father for help

But she realizes she's not actually talking to her dad...

She's in the presence... of The Presence.

The wizard brings up some nasty repressed memories

Pam finds herself a freak in a freakshow

Alison wakes up from being dead in the bathtub and is ready to proceed with her mission.

She runs into Dana - but Dana feels that Alison isn't much help and leaves.

Dana finds herself in an almost empty theater

The stuff of nightmares.  A priest walks in with a female (Shana Ko) and male pet bound with collar and chain - naked and covered in filth.

Dana tries to run, but ends up bound to a chair

The Presence taunts her

We next see Dana naked and unconscious on a gravel road

A redneck rolls up and ties Dana's leg to his truck.

he drags Dana down the road until she's a bloody mess

The redneck then throws salt on her

Dana wakes up and she's alive again 

The Presence puts her under his spell

Only to be beaten to a pulp once again and placed unconscious on this table.

Her boyfriend Keith finds her and is horrified

The Presence offers Keith the surgical tools to heal Dana and then leaves.

Keith doesn't quite know what to do.

Suddenly the tables are turned and Dana is the operator and she goes to work on Keith

Alison finally arrives and completes her mission of destroying The Presence.  She has to remind him that he was once human - and she reminds him that she had the courage to cut her wrists, but he didn't have the balls.

The angels reward Alison and offer her the opportunity to go to heaven or return to earth.

She returns to earth. THE END

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I generally can't stand these arthouse films which are purposefully confusing and feel like pretentious vanity projects.  But this one just hit right - you could tell a lot of though and work went into this. And while there was lots to be confused about, the central story was easily grasped.  Also, much respect for Angela Zimmerly who provides extensive nudity.  I think if this film had just tapped the brakes a bit with all its worldbuilding backstory (I mean who gives a shit about Abraham, Amblin, etc.) and perhaps settled down with all the fast-cuts and crazy lens filters, this would be a choice cult film.

★★★★★★★☆☆☆7/10