Director: Adam Green
Starring: Kevin Zegers, Shawn Ashmore, Emma Bell
31 Days of Horror continues with this review by Mike Spring of the excellent DVD Snapshot. Send me your horror reviews.
Official Synopsis:
It remains perhaps the most intense and terrifying film of the year: As Sunday evening falls, three snowboarding friends decide to take one last run down the slope. Halfway up the mountain, their chair lift stops, the lights go out and the resort closes for the week. They are stranded, but the worst is still to come. A storm is approaching. Frostbite is setting in. And on the ground below them, a pack of hungry wolves has gathered to wait. Kevin Zegers (Dawn Of The Dead, Wrong Turn), Shawn Ashmore (X-Men, The Ruins) and Emma Bell star in the relentlessly chilling thriller from writer/director Adam Green (Hatchet) that Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News hails as “a vicious, scary and horrifying experience…Frozen is a howling good time!”
Our Take:
I only have two words to describe Frozen: In. Tense.
In fact, I feel like I could just stop my review there, because that’s all you really need to know about this film. It is one of the most gripping, frightening, suspenseful, intense films I’ve seen in a very long time. It was all I could do to keep watching the film at points; it really just gets you right in the throat and never lets go. There were literally parts of the film where I was flailing my legs in attempt to alleviate the tension; I just had to move, I was so caught up in the terror of the film.
Writer/director Adam Green made his mark on the horror world with Hatchet, a throwback to ’80s slasher films. And as fun as that film is, it doesn’t come close to what he’s achieved with Frozen. To be fair, though it’s billed as a horror film, Frozen is more of a survival thriller. In fact, it’s really more of a terror film; it’s extremely scary, but it’s not what you’d consider a typical horror film. It’s scary in a real world way, because of things that could really happen, not because of some CGI boogie man. But whatever it’s labeled as, it’s simply an amazing film, with an authenticity and reality to it that is astounding. Green brings his flair for dialogue to the forefront here; it is, after all, a story about three college kids stuck on a ski lift for almost the entire film. Luckily, the dialogue keeps the film moving, at least in between nail-biting moments of terror.
Credit also goes to the cast. Family film survivor Kevin Zegers, newcomer Emma Bell and the always-terrific Shawn Ashmore are all in top form here, dealing with everything from humor to pain to terror to emotional breakdowns with aplomb. This film really just works on every level.
Audio & Video:
Amazingly, despite the fact that the film isn’t particularly high budgeted, the Blu-ray is a technical marvel. Frozen was actually shot on a ski resort in Utah, not a soundstage, and the cinematography is wonderful. This transfer captures that real-life aesthetic beautifully. The landscape looks alive; crisp and clear, with some really nice levels of detail. Blacks take on a bluish hue, but that’s clearly intentional on the part of the filmmakers, not a flaw in the transfer.
On top of that, the surround soundtrack is an atmospheric marvel. For the first part of the film, the mountain soundscape is alive with skiers and equipment. Once our main characters get stranded, however, it’s a whole new world of sounds. This soundtrack really captures the atmosphere of the film, handling the transformation from bustling activity to eerie near-silence and yet never feeling empty or lacking. A superb effort.
Special Features (Blu-ray Exclusive):
There are no Blu-ray exclusive features, but with an 85-minute long four-part documentary that’s almost as good as the film itself, who’s complaining?
Special Features (Standard):
* Audio Commentary By Cast And Crew
* Catching Frostbite: The Origins (Part 1)
* Three Below Zero (Part 2)
* Shooting Through It (Part 3)
* Beating The Mountain (Part 4)
* Deleted Scenes
* Trailer
Conclusion:
There’s a Dean Koontz novel called Intensity. I always remember that book because the title is so apt; it’s one of Koontz’s most relentlessly intense thrillers. Frozen could also have been called Intensity, because that’s what it is from start to finish. Trust me when I tell you that after watching this film, you won’t look at other thrillers the same way again.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Overall Picture:
Movie: A+
Video: A
Audio: A
Extra Features: A
