Frozen

Starring: Emma Bell, Shawn Ashmore, Kevin Zegers

Synopsis:

One Sunday, best buds Joe and Dan, and Dan’s girlfriend Parker, travel to a weekend ski resort for some fun. Rather than paying for the exorbitant ski-lift passes, they manage to bribe the operator to let them on. However, having decided to have one last run, the trio find themselves the last to come down off the mountain. Then, the ski-lift is shut down, with them suspended in mid-air. No one Knows that they are there, and the resort doesn’t re-open until Friday...

Frozen is part of a relatively new strain of horror movie, in which a small group of people find themselves in a precarious position, pitted against nature and the elements. Open Water was one of the first of this style of movie, and soon there will be more in the shape of The Reef and Altitude.

The set-up is nice and simple. The resort is only open at the weekends, our protagonists have blagged their way in so there is no official record of them being there. All the ski-passes are counted out and back in again, so they don’t appear on the tally. Suspended above the snow-bound mountain, the trio bicker and reconcile and try to figure out how to get out of their position.

The decisions they make are the sort of ones that any one of us would come up with. These are rational intelligent people who don’t fall into the usual kill-fodder group. They decide to test the drop to the ground – it doesn’t look too far from their perspective, the snow should help to break the fall a little – but it has devastatingly tragic consequences. Not only is the guy now lying beneath the other two in abject agony with two broken legs, but a pack of wolves have picked up the scent and are starting to circle in.

Considering Adam Green made his reputation on the “back to the ‘80s” gory slasher, Hatchet, Frozen is in contrast an exercise in restraint. When the wolves close in for the kill, we witness the horror through the eyes and ears of the other two. Rather than being a moment of grizzly titillation, this is stark horror. Whilst they are relatively safe, they can’t run away. Nor can they help. They are forced to bear witness to their friend’s demise.

The acting is excellent. Ashmore has carved a decent niche as a genre actor and gets to act the hero in a decent escape attempt. Emma Bell is great too – her monologue when she realises her dog is trapped in her apartment is devastating. Kevin Zeggers gets the most heart-rending scene though. By all accounts the making of this film was exhausting, and the cast didn’t have to put much effort into looking so cold and tired, but it works.

Verdict:

Anyone who’d written off Adam Green as a one-trick pony better check again, as he has delivered an excellent nature-horror movie. Whilst not particularly gory, Frozen is pretty intense, with a believable “what if?” hook. Make sure you pay for your ski-passes boys and girls...

7 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)

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