Frozen (2010)

   

Written & Directed by: Adam Green

Starring:

Emma Bell .... Parker O'Neill
Shawn Ashmore .... Joe Lynch
Kevin Zegers .... Dan Walker
Ed Ackerman .... Jason

Special Appearance:

Kane Hodder .... Cody

Release Dates: Sundance Film Festival: January 24, 2010; Limited Theatrical: February 5, 2010 (USA/Canada); Frightfest: February 26, 2010; Berlin Fantasy Filmfest: August 19, 2010; Fantasy Filmfest: August 22-September 7, 2010 (Germany); Nuremberg Fantasy Filmfest: September 3, 2010; Limited Theatrical: September 24, 2010 (UK); Edmonton International Film Festival: September 26, 2010

 

Rating:

 

Three people named Dan Walker (Kevin Zegers), his girlfriend Parker O'Neill (Emma Bell) and their best friend Joe Lynch (Shawn Ashmore) don;t have enough money to buy cable car tickets to go skiing in Mount Holliston and bribes the employee Jason (Ed Ackerman) one hundred dollars to force Jason to let them pass when the systme is nearing closure for the next five days.
However, Jason needs to resolve a problem and his colleague misunderstands his instructions and stops the cable car, and the trio of snowboarders gets stranded on the chairlift on the top of the mountain.
They all panick wondering what to do as they are hungry and are getting frost bite as well as sacrificing their lives in order to get down including jumping down causing a serious injury and not being able to move at all along with hungry wolves nearby attacking for food. Or one of them tries to climb the cables to get to the next ladder in order to get down which the metal on the cables cuts his hands which seems suicidal as well as their chairlift nearly falling off the cables to top it off. Plus the wolves are waiting for them to attack as well.

 

I eagerly wanted to check this movie out expecting it to be so realistic so let's see where it starts off... It's nicely done with the three main characters Parker, Joe and Dan trying to find a way to sweet talk the employee Jason at the ski lift to let them in as this seemed to look like outsiders trying to find a way to have some fun which seemed to work in well for the story. Also with Parker trying to have a conversation towards Jason in which it was impressive that he was trying to ignore her making him one of those employees who will refuse to be generous but yet it seemed to work well with the constant pleading as well as their discussions on the ski lift discussing health issues with Clarke smoking cigarettes or the other two constantly smoking dope which seems to be well written in and sinking in nicely. Then the chair lift stops but yet this seems a little too easy for the terror to start since there's many more on it in which of course it starts up again.
There's some nice moments like Joe Lynch helping out a nice beautiful lady attach her skiis but that suddenly put's to a halt when her jealous boyfriend acts almost violent towards him since we run into creeps like that in our lives. You just wish that something bad would happen to them in the end.
The suspense really begins to happen when these three try to bribe Jason with money to get a last pass when he refuses telling them it's closing time and they beg constantly which almost looks like they're desperate showing that they are troubled. It seems to grab your attention but at the same time we're all thinking "No don't go else the terror is going to start for you guys!!!" He gives in of course.
Just seeing them on the lift by themselves looks creepy and you know something is gonna go wrong and it does when one of the managers tells him no one is on the lift when he waits for them to return and then it comes to a halt with all the lights shutting off. Right away I had a real sinking feeling that this was bad news indeed. It's terrifying to see how they will react knowing they can't get out and what's worst is that the place is closed down for 5 days which totally left a chill down my spine.
More disturbing moments is when Dan sees if he can jump off the lift and slide his way down knowing that he will be badly injured which is extremely courageous but stupid as I couldn't see myself doing this at all. In fact this seemed very suicidal by what he was going to do. This almost seemed intensely psychological in a Saw type of fashion. Yet afterwards when he does it the results aren't the least bit pretty at all along with not him being able to move at all. Then more shivers went down my spine as we hear wolves howling and Dan panicking after hearing them. Of course he encounters one and it walks away. No one is stupid to believe that it ran off to leave him alone in which it was calling to it's others that dinnertime is here. Now this was very spooky with Dan helpless when they are near him.
There's more freaky moments like when Joe sees if he can climb on the cable to reach to an area where there's a ladder to go down and search for help which got my heart pounding wondering if he will be able to do this without being hurt with the cables cutting through his hands to make things worst their charilift is starting to fall off and I was thinking oh no!!!!
Yet it's nice to see him succeed only to be met by the pack of wolves while he tries to ski down to get help and the time passes to the next day with Parker there all by herself. The story is very mysterious wondering if Joe made it or not with those vicious man eating wolves. It's a real struggle for this poor inncoent young lady wondering if she will get badly injured or slaughtered while finding a way to survive this all.
Bottom line is this can be loved by the same fans as Saw or any psychological horror film. In fact I think this was the best psychological horror flick I've ever watched. Especially the terrors on starving wolvessurrounding these innocent people. A great touch indeed. Even non horror fans may enjoy this. Worth checking out by any means.

The acting is greatly done even if it mainly focused on a cast of three. Emma Bell (Parker O'Neill) certainly brought a good classy attitude into her role acting flirtatious in certain spots as well as having a good outgoing type of behavior. She also does well with her frightened and crying emotions during the terror she has. She shows a good deal of energy to the screen with all of this.
Shawn Ashmore (Joe Lynch) really portrayed a perfect charming nice guy type of behavior who likes to have a good time and brought everything to life with what he does. He seems like the typical guy next door type of party animal. He brought a nice light headed kind of personality.
Kevin Zegers (Dan Walker) has a terrific courageous type of behavior and really brings out alot of intense anger and painful reactions to all that he did in the film. He shows some good characteristics to the screen like the rest of the cast. Two thumbs up for this dude.
Supporting actor Ed Ackerman (Jason) seems to breeze through nicely as an amployee at the ski lift by having a slacking type of behavior as well as behaving closed minded in which he really comes across well this way. I had to mention him since he really stood out in my mind as one of those types that are hard to please and draws all of this in perfectly.

A person's legs are broken badly after falling down from a ski lift with the bones sticking out of his flesh
A girls flesh on her hands are torn off after being frozen on a metal handle bar
A person's corpse are eaten by wolves

The music is crisply done with lots of suspenseful classical composing especially for when the deadly events start to occur or the struggling moments making you cringe with all of this while watching the film. There's also good peaceful music for certain pleasant moments too all put together by Andy Garfield.

Joe Lynch: OK, what asshole couldn't get on the chair right?
Guy on Chairlift #1: What the hell?
Guy on Chairlift #2: Dude!

Joe Lynch: [Parker lights a cigarette and begins smoking] Joe Lynch:
[Sniffing, exaggerated]
Joe Lynch: Hmmm, smell that mountain air. You know what it smells like?... Cancer.

[last lines]
Dan Walker: [echoing voice] You're gonna be okay, baby. You're gonna be okay.