Hot Frosty: The Anti Jack Frost
I have found myself reaching that lovely time in the semester when there simply is no time left. It comes for us all, but rather than be productive I instead choose to use my negative time by consuming media. I will watch just about anything, whether it's considered to be critically acclaimed or a box office bomb, because I believe entertainment can be found in just about any movie, even if I really have to dig for it.
I have decided to put this to the test once again this winter with the release of Netflix’s Hot Frosty. I know you may be thinking: Ari, what’s Hot Frosty? Well aren’t you a well adjusted human being who stays out of the recesses of the internet. Hot Frosty is Netflix’s response to the Hallmark Christmas movie, but it sets itself apart by leaning into how ridiculous these movies can get.
From what I could gather in the trailer, Hot Frosty follows a local business woman who has everything, but hasn’t been so lucky in love. Besides the way she’s described her life being a “mess right now,” we don’t really know much more about her. But after being gifted what I can only assume is a magic scarf, she unintentionally brings a snowman to life after placing it around his neck.
I just want to mention: they kept calling him a snowman, but he was more of a snow sculpture than a snowman. A snowman, to me, suggests three spheres adorned with a corncob pipe and two eyes made out of coal–not a lifelike replication of a man. Snow sculpture aside, the movie has a great cast, and I expect to laugh at least a couple times, whether in the intended spots or not. But I couldn't help but wonder: if it walks like a snowman and gets up to hijinks like a snowman, then why is it reminding me so much of another movie?
And then it hit me, like a snowball to the side of the face. It's a reverse Jack Frost.
You know, 1998’s drama fantasy Jack Frost. Michael Keaton plays the titular character, Jack, a harmonica-playing frontman of the “Jack Frost Band.” Frost constantly puts music before his family, to the point of familiar strain with his wife and son Charlie. By the time he decides to put his family before the harmonica, he gets into a horrible snowstorm and dies in a car crash.
This is a children's movie, by the way. And this all happens early within the first act. But a year after Jack’s passing, Charlie, while grieving, makes a snowman (critically, not a sculpture) in the image of his father. After he plays the harmonica his father gifted him before dying, Jack’s spirit is transferred to the snowman. It’s a touching premise, but I mainly remember this movie because the snowman animation creeped me out when I was six. And for the rest of the winter, I was too scared to touch a harmonica in case it would bring a snowman to life to creep over me.
But the harmonica isn’t the point now; it's the fact that both of these movies center around a sentient snow creature coming to life and bringing joy to the people whose lives have become a mess. Although one featured a man becoming snow while the other featured snow becoming man, both movies are driven by magic. The magic of personal growth and development, and, most importantly, magical items that transfer consciousness. For Hot Frosty, the magical object seems to be a scarf, while Jack Frost’s was a harmonica. Personally, if I found myself living in a situation where a snow creature had to come to life, I would hope for my magical item to be a pashmina or a Gold Tone Mastertone ML-1 Baritone Banjo. But, luckily, I am not in this situation, and I can live without fear of having to take care of a piece of snow or a fully grown human person.
Hot Frosty has not yet graced our screens, but I, for one, am excited to see what it turns out to be and whether or not it will be similar to his 1998 counterpart in giving me nightmares for a week.