''The Chilling'' (also released as ''Gamma 693'') is a 1989

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

directed by Deland Nuse and starring

Linda Blair Linda Denise Blair (born January 22, 1959) is an American actress and activist. Her portrayal of Regan MacNeil in the horror film ''The Exorcist'' (1973) established her in popular culture and as a scream queen, earning her a Golden Globe Award ...

Dan Haggerty Daniel Francis Haggerty (November 19, 1942 – January 15, 2016) was an American actor who was best known for playing the title role in the film and television series ''The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams''. Early life Haggerty was born in P ...

, and

Troy Donahue Troy Donahue (born Merle Johnson Jr., January 27, 1936 – September 2, 2001) was an American film and television actor, best known for his role as Johnny Hunter in the film '' A Summer Place''. He was a popular sex symbol in the 1950s and ...

Premise

In a

cryogenic In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures. The 13th International Institute of Refrigeration's (IIR) International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington, DC in 1971) endorsed a univers ...

laboratory located in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

a number of rich, or, famous personalities have their frozen dead bodies stored in order to await revival in the future. While the director of the lab is taking advantage of the situation by selling organs taken from the corpses, some of them come back to "life" as zombies.

Cast

Production

The film was shot from January through February 1989 with a few days worth of reshoots in April of that year in and around the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. The script was ghostwritten by Guy Messenger under Jack A. Sunseri's name.

Release

The film was theatrically released in 1989. ''The Chilling'' was re-released

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

on March 11, 1992.

Reception

The film received extremely negative critical response both at the time of its release(s) and retrospectively.

Confusion

The 1979/1981 horror film " Night of the Wehrmacht Zombies/ Night of the Zombies II (...) was released on video in the UK as ''The Chilling'', which meant it was often confused" with this film. What's more, the first film offers the particularity of having ''two'' of its alternative titles in common with Nuse's film (namely ''Gamma 693'' and ''The Chilling,'' for that matter).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chilling 1992 direct-to-video films 1992 horror films 1992 films American direct-to-video films 1990s English-language films Films shot in Oakland, California American independent films Direct-to-video horror films 1990s American films 1990s science fiction horror films 1992 science fiction films English-language science fiction horror films