The Refrigerator is a 1991 American comedy horror film starring Julia McNeal, Dave Simonds and Angel Caban. It was written and directed by Nicholas Jacobs.
Plot teaser:
A couple drive drunkenly across the streets of New York to their squalid apartment. They get home and have brief sex in the kitchen. When the wife walks into the kitchen, the refrigerator opens up and sucks the girl in.
Steve and Eileen Batemen are a young couple in Ohio. They are moving to Avenue D in New York, and move into the same apartment with the killer refrigerator. Steve takes a new job, while Eileen is trying to become a performer. Eileen pretends to be awarding an award while in the apartment, then walks all over Broadway.
When Steve and Eileen go to sleep, they start having nightmares about the refrigerator, Steve is seeing mini people inside the refrigerator (supposed victims). Eileen has a nightmare that she is seeing unborn babies.
Steve is soon driven to insanity by the refrigerator, leaving Eileen to cope with her and her acting career on her own. A plumber named Juan comes to the apartment one night, warning Eileen her refrigerator is from hell and the devil controls it…
New York in 1991. A poor person’s hell and a yuppie dream…
Reviews:
“The Refrigerator works best, surprisingly, as straight-up horror mixed with comedy, and not the other way around. Much of it is played for laughs, certainly, but the refrigerator is an authentically menacing, even eerie presence throughout, and the special effects are quite impressive considering the low budget.” Adam Groves, The Fright Site
” …the fridge scenes and the kills are all pretty fun, it has some wonderfully atmospheric shots and the dialogue is often super-hilarious (“I am the waffle maker!”).” Maynard’s Horror Movie Diary
“While the basic premise of The Refrigerator – take a couple of dream yuppies and plop them into a world of madness and horror – is satirical and wry, the final results aren’t very satisfying. The main failure of the film is that none of the separate entities work on their own – the funny scenes generally aren’t funny and the scary parts, while original in idea, aren’t scary, only overly gory.” TV Guide
Choice dialogue:
“The appliance’s may be old but they have a lot of character”.
