The Thaw (film)

The Thaw is a 2009 American science fiction horror thriller film directed by Mark A. Lewis starring Val Kilmer, Martha MacIsaac, and Aaron Ashmore.

The film begins with a video documentary by Dr. David Kruipen (Val Kilmer), a research scientist in the Canadian Arctic. This is followed by a flashback to when David, his assistant Jane (Anne Marie DeLuise) and two other researchers tranquilize a polar bear, then discover the frozen remains of a wooly mammoth.

They transport the polar bear to their research station. David calls his daughter Evelyn (Martha MacIsaac) and pleads with her to visit the research station. Their relationship has been strained since the recent death of her mother. Meanwhile, a group of students, Ling (Steph Song), Federico (Kyle Schmid) and Atom (Aaron Ashmore), are selected to join David's research team; Evelyn decides to come.

Days later, David's research team begins feeling the effects of a strange illness, and David tells helicopter pilot Bart not to bring his daughter Evelyn to the station. However, Evelyn insists, leaving Bart no choice but to bring her to the station along with the students. In the meantime, Jane shoots and apparently kills David and another researcher. The students discover the body of the polar bear, and Bart is bitten by a bug while touching it.

Evelyn is awakened in the middle of the night by an ATV approaching the station. When she goes to investigate, Jane falls from the helicopter. Jane has destroyed the helicopter's control panel, eliminating any immediate chance of escape. Ling wakes up with many bug bites on her face and torso, and Jane dies in Evelyn's arms. Realizing Ling is sick, Federico calls in a helicopter to rescue Ling.

Attempting to find David, Evelyn and Atom discover eggs in the brain of the mammoth. Assuming her father has been infected, Evelyn and Atom deduce that something has made the group sick. Evelyn decides to cancel the rescue helicopter and quarantine the group until a better-prepared team can rescue them. Federico, discovering he too is infected, goes berserk and destroys the radio.