I did expect something worse than what I got with Ice Road Terror, though that is not saying much. It is a pretty rubbish and ridiculous movie, but I do think with stuff like Titanic II, Mega Piranha, Alien vs. Hunter, Almighty Thor, Super Tanker, Quantum Apocalypse, 2010: Moby Dick, Battle of Los Angeles and The Apocalypse that SyFy have done much worse.
Although the bad outweigh the good, there are some assets that are halfway decent, some nice scenery, a likable enough performance from Brea Grant and the cabin sequence, which tries hard to give the characters some credibility.
On the other hand, Ice Road Terror is a rather scrappy looking film, scenery aside. The editing is hackneyed and doesn't make much sense going from one scene to another, and the monster graphics while not as bad as other efforts from SyFy look very cheap. Not to mention the CGI, especially with the truck sliding and skidding over the hole in the ice, which look very half-baked.
The script is terrible, with very cheesy and repetitive dialogue further disadvantaged by wooden line delivery, and the story is predictable with one too many ridiculous scenes such as how the monster actually managed to get on top of the truck and the idea of a monster having a 7th sense. Pacing is another issue, nothing much engages making the film seem dull, and some of the more action-y parts have a rushed feel to them. The characters are bland, despite the cabin sequence's best efforts, any character development is too brief and too late, while the monster is lacking almost completely in menace.
When it comes to the acting, I liked Grant, but didn't care at all for anybody else. Again, I've seen worse, but the acting generally comes across as forced to me. All in all, I've seen worse, but a few decent things aren't enough to save Ice Road Terror from being rubbish. 3/10 Bethany Cox
