Review: Frozen

Kevin Zegers, Shawn Ashmore, Emma Bell. Written and directed by Adam Green. Rated R (some disturbing images and language). 94 minutes. Anchor Bay Entertainment.

It’s so easy to get jaded with today’s crop of ultra-violent torture pictures and effects-laden shockers that it takes brilliant little movie like Frozen—a macabre piece of minimalism with likable young actors and a director who knows exactly how to rattle your primal fears for a sustained 94 minutes—to make you remember exactly what makes a good thriller: people you like, in serious danger.

Frozen, about a trio of college friends on a weekend ski trip inadvertently stranded on the ski lift, knows what it is doing and does so with brutal efficiency. To say Frozen is nerve-wracking is an understatement—prepare to have every last one jangled.

College buddies and childhood friends Dan (Kevin Zegers) and Joe (Shawn Ashmore) have their weekend bonding trip interrupted by Parker (Emma Bell), Dan’s cloying girlfriend, who possesses few skills on the slopes but uses her wiles to get them discounts up the lift. With effective economy, Green and his talented actors set up a simple roundelay of bickering and lived-in believability between alpha-male, offbeat dude and girl stuck in the middle. Not deep, but enough context to make us care about what follows.

Despite a growing storm, the group convinces the lift operator to send them up the darkened mountain one last time before the resort closes down…for a week. A misunderstanding snowballs into them being left hanging high above ground and far uphill, alone, in the dark.

As the hours wear on, they are faced with what can only be described as an extreme nightmare of blizzards, frostbite, hungry wolves and the threat of eminent death. Problem-solver Dan tries to save the day by jumping to the icy ground below for help—promptly breaking both legs. And then things go from bad to much, much worse.

Green doesn’t shy away from the awful physical realities of the situation. Dan’s broken legs are seen in graphic close-up. A body is mangled beyond recognition, strewn across bloody snow. Skin literally peels off a frostbitten cheek. And then there’s the messy matter of a hand frozen solid to a metal bar, stripping off chunks of flesh.

If this sounds gratuitous, it isn’t, and the film has a respect for its audience and cleverness in approach that is welcome, including one well-directed scene where two characters choose not to look down at a frenzy happening below. Instead of dwelling on the grisliness, Green holds tight on the reactions of those above, and our imaginations run wild.

Like Open Water, Frozen excels at focusing on the deterioration of the psyche under duress from initially irritated reactions at being merely cold (the characters talk trivialities to pass the time) to the onset of hysteria in the face of imminent death. And there’s a sad moment where one character gives up a remaining shred of dignity by urinating on the seat. During this nightmare Green manages to write actual back stories and histories that are believable and well-told (only a shrill passage about a starving pet rings false).

Forget about some of the logic behind the trio’s actions (could they maybe shimmy down each other and get closer to the ground?), don’t dwell on the improbability of a bloodthirsty wolf pack marauding a crowded resort and forget the contrivances that strand them up there in the first place.

Because what counts here is that Green and crew take a simple premise—survive the elements—to believable physical and psychological extremes. There wasn’t a moment in the film when I didn’t wonder what I would do if I were hanging up there too.

Unlike most modern horror films which employ irony, Frozen gives us no such safe distance to release the tension. Employing zero trickery (the wolf encounters are frighteningly realistic), he creates an atmosphere of rising dread that preys on our own innate fears of being cold, stranded and stalked.

Frozen thrills with its cruel predicament, superb lensing (including one expert shot where lights dim behind the three as the slope goes dark) which employs wonderfully creative ways of shooting a static lift and panic ratcheted up convincingly courtesy of its young stars.

The best thing I can say about Frozen is gets the job done by placing you right into its grueling head trip, not letting go or cheating. I’ve seen it twice and its aftershocks haunt.

Dan - Kevin Zegers
Joe - Shawn Ashmore
Parker - Emma Bell

- Lee Shoquist