MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Mr. Frost’ a Lukewarm Chiller

“Mr. Frost” (selected theaters) is a minor genre piece with major names--Jeff Goldblum, Alan Bates and Kathy Baker. Although this thriller of the supernatural is not nearly thrilling enough to warrant a trip to the theater, it’s worth renting for admirers of its stars when it becomes available at the video stores early next year.

Written by Philippe Setbon and Brad Lynch and directed by Setbon, “Mr. Frost” is simplicity itself, a struggle of wills between a brilliant mass murderer (Goldblum) and his strong, open-minded psychiatrist (Baker). Bates, the policeman who arrested Goldblum, is convinced that Goldblum is the devil incarnate, and there’s no denying Goldblum wastes no time wreaking havoc at a posh asylum.

It’s too bad that the film isn’t remotely as witty as Goldblum, who has lots of fun playing an insinuating, sexy tempter who calmly tries to explain that he’s not mad, just plain evil. Indeed, what pleasure there is in watching this very standard item, vague and a bit flat as so many international co-productions can be, is derived from watching a fine cast doing a thoroughly professional job of trying to make something out of nothing.

A Franco-English production handsomely photographed by Dominique Brenguier, it has an extraordinary lineup of players in addition to its stars, including a sinister Vincent Schiavelli, “Three Men and a Cradle’s” Roland Giraud in his English-speaking debut (as the rigid chief of the mental institution) and the veterans Jean-Pierre Cassel, Daniel Gelin and Henri Serre (who was Jim to Oskar Werner’s Jules).