Frozen (2010)

Frozen (2010)
Directed by: Adam Green
Written by: Adam Green
Starring: Emma Bell, Kevin Zegers, Shawn Ashmore

FROZEN

Yes, this is the one Hughes has been banging on about for over a year, and i will admit to being especially looking forward to it. The director is also responsible for the quite excellent Hatchet and the mangled mess that is Spiral. Could he come back from Spiral and prove himself a worthy director, and does this wet the appetite for Hatchet 2?? Read on……

2010 has been a great year for horror and we have been spoiled with some of the finest of each genre. Easily the best zombie horror since (Rec) was (Rec) 2, naturally, we had the best military/sci fi headfuck with the Objective, the superb throwback to the 70’s and 80’s horror with House of the Devil, and no doubt Paranormal Activity 2 will be at the top of the hauntings list! So, where does Frozen fit in? Well, this is “survival horror”, but not survival against vicious kids or spooks, this is pure and simple survival against mother nature. Does it work? Hell fuckin yes!!! Has Adam Green proved himself a worthy director? Hell fuckin yes!!!!! Is this this years Open Water, damn straight!!! Does it even come close to the brilliance of Open Water? Well, give me a Y, give me a E, give me a great big fuckin S!!!!! Needless to say, i thoroughly enjoyed this little stroke of genius, although i will have to let my nerves rest a bit before viewing it again!

3 friends are on a skiing trip, usually its just the 2 lads, but this year one of them brings along his girlfriend, much to the annoyance of his best friend. We spend a good twenty minutes getting to know our characters, and you know me, i love character build up, it makes the whole thing more personal and ultimately more devastating when things go wrong. The 3 friends are actually very very well played and you will instantly like all 3. The tensions between the 2 best friends are played out expertly and totally believable. Being best friends tho, they don’t allow it to ruin things, and in a rather heartwarming scene, the girlfriend walk over the their dinner table whilst the friend is in mid complaint about her being there. He quickly turns it around, and apologises and its actually quite touching. These guys are gonna stick together no matter what.

Not having enough money to go up the ski-lift, they bribe the guy running the lift into letting them up. On the first go up the mountain, it would seem the girlfriend (Parker, played with utter brilliance by Emma Bell) is a little nervous around heights, oh and she smokes, much to the annoyance of Joe (Shawn Ashmore). Later on, after Joe has been complaining, they decide to go up on the mountain one last time and ask the guy they bribed earlier to let them up before he closes up for the next 5 days. The man agrees, but a number of events causes him to leave his post, he tells the next guy to wait for the 3 people to come back down before switching off the ski-lift. Problem is, 3 other people come back down, while Parker, Joe and Dan are still on the ski-lift. Its turned off, its night, and its getting cold…

There’s your set up, 3 people sat on a ski-lift halfway between nowhere. Its too high to jump and to climb across the wires holding the lifts would be madness, it would cut your hands to shreds. Problem is, a storm is coming, and the park has turned off all the lights and is closed up for the next 5 days. Its one hell of a predicament, and i did wonder how Green would keep up the tension for the next hour. I tell you know, not for a second does this film get easy, not for a second does it let up pulling on your emotions and having you literally on the edge of your seat. Green has come a massively long way since the cheap but inventive Hatchet, and here he has matured into a masterful director. He gets the absolute best from his 3 leading actors, and the story is he did actually have them sat in the freezing cold to film this! Not once did i find a scene unrealistic or stupid. The guys are in a desperate situation, and this calls for desperate solutions. To go much into what happens would completely ruin the element of surprise and sheer terror that so expertly unfolds. Not for a second does this become boring and repetitive. Some scenes where the characters literally break down are so well done they almost brought me to tears, seriously!

I cannot recommend this film enough, and i so wish i could go into detail about what actually happens but i musn’t. All i will say is Hughes has a knack of spotting them, as for everyone else, i insist you watch this, i really do. It is THAT good! I can honestly say that this will be in my top 5 horrors of the year when i do my usual xmas rundown. Brilliant brilliant stuff but be warned, this film gets unbearably tense in places, it is not an easy watch, and some scenes just may make you bring up your dinner  Go get it and witness the new face of horror at quite simply the top of his game

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[pt-filmtitle]Frozen[/pt-filmtitle]