A frostbitten psychological thriller, “Frozen,†written and directed by Adam Green, is a chilling film that will leave you paralyzed in your seat as you wait to see what happens next.
What starts off as a fun weekend get away for Dan Walker (Kevin Zegers), Parker O’Neil (Emma Bell) and Joe Lynch (Shawn Ashmore) ends in a tragedy unlike any other.
After a day of bunny hill runs, the three are eager for one last dash off the more advanced slope before the resort closes for the week. Midway to their destination, the chairlift comes to a stagnant halt. Within minutes, the park’s lights shut-off, night has fallen and their impatience grows into terror as they realize the chairlift operator forgot them. To make matters worse it begins to hail striking the skiers like needles.
Taking their minds off the dilemma, they discuss what would be the worst way to die; eaten by a shark, burning alive or the star-lack pit from Return of the Jedi. This poor dialogue of foreshadowing makes it clear that not everyone is going to make it down alive.
However, don’t be fooled by the first 20 minutes, which depicts your typical teen movie scenario of best friend caught between his new girl and best bud. This film is definitely not about a sticky love triangle or the triumph of friendship. Survival is the bottom line.
The acting is somewhat cheesy in the beginning, but once you get past the quintessential opening, things get real. Real horrific that is, and the acting goes up several notches.
It’s difficult to choose which is worse, experiencing insufferable conditions of frostbite, and hyperthermia or the bloodthirsty wolves which lurk beneath them.
The viewer’s connection with the victims are established quite quickly as you realize this could actually happen. The anticipation of their endurance will have you gasping and questioning what would you do in this situation.
Shot at one constant angle of the chairlift and the occasional switch to the ground showing the immense distance between them and the snow blanketed ground efficiently works to build suspense and extreme fear. You literally feel like you are dangling in midair with frost covered purple skin, wondering when the cold will overcome you or if your survival instincts will put you in an even worse predicament making you puppy chow.
How much can occur in one angle shot, snow and no solid ground?
Enough to have you recalling the shivering scenes long after it’s over. The film, in fact feels a bit short-lived. A few of the attempts at survival could have been developed a little more.
Their attempts may be flawed and dumb at first thought, but the inquiry remains; what would you do?
The film is fascinating for the reason that their is no masked villain or armed killer. Just man verses nature. The characters don’t have any special fighting powers or super strength to get them out of this nightmare they called a mini-vacation. The mundaneness of the individuals and the decisions they made are realistic and invoke strong emotions of sympathy and anxiety.
Tackling the elements of horrendous weather, a hungry pack of wolves and their own phobias is more than anyone could handle and makes for an exhilarating movie premise. Whoever described hell as a dark fiery inferno clearly hasn’t seen “Frozen.†Frigid temperatures and powdery snow can burn just as much.
Leave a Reply