The greatest movie ever!

Lack of good storyline.

A lot of fun.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

The Ice House at first appears to be your typical English murder mystery. Gradually some differences emerge:1. the pace is quite slow, much closer to a real investigation.2. your sympathies are with the suspects. You can see why they are sick of co-operating with such loutish police asking the same questions over and over, making all manner of accusations. The police are smirking, rude, bullying, homophobic.3. You don't know for sure if the various murders actually happened, and if so, who was murdered. This multiplies the number of possibilities exponentially.4. The townspeople are revolting. Based on rumours they are sure who the culprits are and are keen on vigilante justice. They are brutish and stupid, far scarier than any murderer.5. Daniel Craig (of later James Bond fame) plays the second in charge inspector. He is an alcoholic. He undisciplined. He is even handsomer than he was as Bond, and somewhat scary in his volatility. The chief inspector is a despicable character who ignores evidence and abuses his power.It is quite a subtle film, except for the final scene when Craig gives the townspeople a dressing down they will never forget. This movie requires patience and lots of thinking. It about characters, not plot.

The Ice House is a 1997 British mystery starring Daniel Craig, Corin Redgrave, Kitty Aldridge, Frances Barber, and Penny Downie. Three women living together and hated by the town come under suspicion when a body is found in their ice house. Ten years earlier, the husband of one of them, Phoebe (Downie) had disappeared, and at that time, she had been suspected of killing him by DCI Walsh (Redgrave). The other two women, Anne (Aldridge) and Diana (Barber) are lesbians. The town disapproves of them.Daniel Craig plays DS Andy McLoughlin, who is also working on the investigation of identifying the man in the ice house. His boss is convinced it's the husband. But there is more to the case and to the home situation, as Andy learns; all the while, he's falling for Anne.Very good mystery that really keeps you guessing. The lonely house provides a great atmosphere, and the characters are all well defined and well-acted. Daniel Craig is always good, and after seeing him on stage, I'm even more impressed with him. As a man with a troubled marriage, coming up against his boss, and getting personally involved with the case, he does a wonderful job. He and Kitty Aldridge have excellent chemistry.Highly recommended.

"The Ice House" was I think the first, and easily the best, of the crime thrillers that shot author Minette Walters to bestseller status in Britain. Defined by strong characterisation and a sharp, well paced story, it has weathered well. The film made of the book is easily as good if not better, capitalising on strong acting, particularly Daniel Craig in the ascendant as an unlikely, wonderfully flawed hero. The excellent supporting cast fleshes out the background and helps draw you in to a believable world. Essentially the film contains all the elements I love in entertainment: well-defined human characters interacting with intelligent dialogue; crime, drama, a thread of romance shaded with darkness. A cracking film, well worth a watch. You never know – might even convert some of those Craig-as-Bond haters

'The Ice House' is a truly remarkable venture, both in terms of plot and of characterization. As far as the slowly unfolding plot is concerned, the film is second to hardly any of the British (TV) mysteries of recent years such as Inspector Morse etc. The main characters are portrayed in a convincing yet cinematically appropriate way. Right from the very beginning the film psychologically probes the dark sides of human nature keeping the viewer in tight suspense right to the very end. Worth seeing !