Customer Reviews

Frozen [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(63)
3 star:		(40)
2 star:		(20)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

We've seen so many thrillers in which the threat comes from something unnatural, be it a ghost, a zombie, or a masked serial killer that cannot himself be killed. This is partly why "Frozen" is such a refreshing experience - nature itself is the threat. Human beings are capable of withstanding a great deal, but there's always a breaking point, and this movie does a pretty good job of searching for it. It begs the question: What would you do if you found yourself in a similar situation? Is there anything that could be done? Or is it merely a matter of waiting to die? For something that very easily could have been a mindless shock fest, "Frozen" is instead an effective story where suspense builds from a fairly plausible situation.

As far as the plot is concerned, there isn't all that much to describe. In fact, it can all be summed up in one sentence: At a mountain resort, three college kids struggle to survive when they're left stranded on a ski lift. Everything depends on how the plot advances, and this includes character development, which is surprisingly strong. Dan (Kevin Zegers) and Lynch (Shawn Ashmore) have been friends since the first grade. Because of Dan's new girlfriend, Parker (Emma Bell), Lynch now feels that their friendship is in jeopardy; their skiing trips have traditionally been a Guys Only thing, and yet here she is, tagging along. For the first twenty minutes or so, Lynch repeatedly tells Parker, as nicely as possible, that she's in the way.

Hoping to get in one last hill before the ski lift closes for the night, the three smooth-talk their way onto the ski lift. Unfortunately, there are two lift operators, and the second one doesn't realize that the three skiers who have just descended are not the same three currently ascending the mountain. The lift is subsequently switched off. Dangling above a snowy slope on a bleak winter night, Dan, Lynch, and Parker remember, with horrific clarity, that the resort will remain closed for an entire week.

You can probably imagine what they now must face. Obviously, the cold, which quickly leads to frostbite in spite of their warm clothing. There's also the heat of the midday sun, which will probably lead to sunburn. And that howling off in the distance? I can assure you that it isn't coming from rescue dogs. So what can Dan, Lynch, and Parker do? Shout for help? Try to pull themselves across the sharp wire carrying the suspended chairs? Jump off and hope they don't break their legs? Throw their ski equipment to get someone's attention? Lose control altogether? Take your pick. No matter what they decide to do, it sure as hell won't be easy.

Had the characters not been properly developed, there would be no conceivable way to successfully make this last for just over ninety minutes. Writer/director Adam Green, who had previously directed the slasher homage "Hatchet," goes in the right direction by giving each of the three leads some well worded dialogue, most of which focuses on memories and primal emotional outbursts. There are some good moments between Parker and Lynch, who eventually understand that hating one another will get them nowhere. One of the best scenes shows Parker tearfully panicking over the fate of her new puppy, who was left alone in her apartment. Stupid, you say? What would you think about if you were in her place? Exactly.

If there is a weakness to "Frozen," it's that some of the suspense is wasted on scenes of overbearing makeup effects, which I can't describe for fear of spoiling the plot. What I will say is that movies like this work so much better when it relies on psychological horror; the idea of falling off, of freezing, of being attacked, of losing your balance, etc. is always more effective than seeing it. Of course, there would be no resolution if nothing physical happened, so maybe it's a moot point. Regardless, I felt the human scenes were stronger than the action scenes, where the characters were reduced to little more than infernal screamers.

The long and short of it is that "Frozen" is better than I thought it was going to be. In an age when horror movies are about little more than young people dying elaborate deaths, I realized that I actually cared about these skiers and what was happening to them. While it occasionally falls victim to conventional thriller tactics, it still tries for something more, getting under your skin not through visuals so much as through the overall situation. The idea of being left alone in a hostile environment with no resources is genuinely frightening. The idea of zombies eating your brains? Fun, maybe, but certainly not frightening. There's no chance of that happening in real life, despite Max Brooks' evidence to the contrary.

A dubiously labeled "horror" film--"Frozen" is actually a surprisingly strong film about survival. If you were disappointed by "The Blair Witch Project" (a harrowing film about being lost, not about witches) or "Open Water" (a film more reliant on the drama of helplessness than on shark scares), then you will probably see little point to "Frozen." If, however, the very real frights of those films unsettled you--this film should tap into the same sensibilities and be right up your alley. An incredibly tense tale of three friends who are stranded on a ski lift, "Frozen" explores very real and powerful feelings of isolation and desperation as the trio comes to terms with their situation. Realizing that to survive is to act is only the first hurdle. Unfortunately, it seems as if nature itself is conspiring against the kids.

"Frozen" is a surprisingly sophisticated drama despite its very simple premise. The terror is understated and real (not at all what I was expecting from the director of the middling horror/comedy "Hatchet"). Kevin Zegers, Shawn Ashmore, and Emma Bell do a fantastic job bringing this unpleasant experience to life. From joking bravado, to quiet desperation, to regret and recriminations, to acceptance and action--you really feel tapped into the emotions and fear of the protagonists. That's why "Frozen" is so disturbing and so great. The middle third of the film is so intense and memorable, it will definitely stick with me as one of the most horrifyingly bleak things I've seen this year! And while the film does strive for a "scary" payoff with a bigger action sequence at the finale, the palpable sense of danger of the film's quieter moments is never equaled.

I truly think it is a disservice to market "Frozen" strictly in the horror category. It is most definitely a character driven drama. The horror of the premise is real and not manufactured for maximum scares. Great characterizations, effective performances and a slow-build tension distinguish "Frozen" as a harrowing and heartbreaking journey of human emotions. I hope that people will come to discover and appreciate "Frozen." It is my choice for one of the biggest sleepers of the year--I'm absolutely stunned by how well it achieves what it set out to do. A serious recommendation that extends beyond horror to all mainstream audiences! 4 1/2 stars. KGHarris, 9/10.

As it's been mentioned already, this is movie is exactly like Open Water, but on land and with wolves instead of sharks. The movie could have worked as a land adaption of Open Water, but it starts off in the most off-putting way possible -- it has the typical, cliche obnoxious 20-something character types that NO ONE ever cares about and therefore makes you almost want to root for their demise. This is yet another movie I had to edit via the FF on the remote because there's just so much boring, uninteresting dialog from characters that are stereotypes.

The film does strike a chord for me though, because I grew up snow skiing and occasionally the lift will stop to accommodate someone having a hard time getting on or off, and almost every time that happens, I can't help but think of the "What if there's no way off but to jump" scenario. Although I can't ever recall worrying about wolves waiting for me on the ground.

And come on, out of the 3 of them, none of them had their cell phone with them?

Three teens are stranded and forgotten on a ski lift with no hope of a rescue in less than a weeks time. The winter weather is brutally cold. A pack of hungry wolves circles below.

Skiers will never be able to climb onto a ski lift again without thinking about this movie. I'm glad I'm not a skier. I'd take up swimming in the Caribbean instead.

The camera captures the isolation and danger. The actors portray the fear, the hopelessness and the desperation.

If there was any foul language in this movie, I don't remember it. No sex scenes or nudity either. There is some gore, but it isn't just for the sake of throwing gore into a movie. The sound effects were chilling and horrifying enough. Your imagination will provide the visual. It's a visual you won't likely forget anytime soon.

Though parts of the movie dragged while the teens conversed about their lives, it helped to get to know them. I cared about each one of them.

Frozen, starring Emma Bell (of The Walking Dead), Kevin Zegers (of Dawn of the Dead) and Shawn Ashmore (of the Ruins, and X-men), is a 93 minute surprisingly tense and tragic film. Directed and written by Adam Green who also did Hatchet.

It's a simple set up. 3 friends, Parker and Dan (boyfriend and Girlfriend) and Joe, who is Dan's best friend go snowboarding/skiing on Mt. Holliston in New England. Parker can't snowboard, but Dan is so sweet he spends the entire day with her on the Bunny slope for beginners; Joe on the other hand is frustrated that he can't ski down the big run and blames Parker for how lame this weekend has turned out to be. Classic third wheel syndrome. Dan manages to convince Parker to bribe the lift worker to let them ride all day for way less than the lift tickets actually cost. At the end of the day when they decide, after Joe complains at every opportunity, they grab their gear and head for the lift again. Only to find that its shutting down, Parker bats her pretty eyes and they are on it, but they are the last ones. The lift guy, and his coworker exchange words and an oversight happens and the lift is shut down for the night, actually for the whole week, which is worse!

So these three, are stuck at the highest point on the lift, in the freezing cold. No lights, no food or water, and with faces exposed to the elements it doesn't take long for frostbite to eat away at flesh. It's the typical "how are we going to get out of this" scenario, but of course with the extra added bonus of freezing to death, razor sharp wire to cross, a jump that comes with probable broken bones, and wild animals.

I really liked this movie, I love simply shot, decently acted isolation horror films like this. It depended a lot on the interaction of these three, and I wasn't disappointed. It used Gore in the right places, and tenderness at others, it was funny and heart wrenching as well. Completely worth a look, doesn't get 5 stars from me, but I still really enjoyed it.

What struck me most about this movie were how simplistic the plot and inane the dialogue are: perhaps, when the big endorsement for a film is from "Ain't It Cool News," one might sense a disaster about to hit your plasma screen, and on that, this movie delivers.

The screenwriter even admits that he thought up the plot in 20 seconds. You can find that in the bonus material (yeah, I even waded through about half of that, which is even MORE inane than the movie). I bet that conceiving the dialogue must have taken him a whole 20 minutes, though writing it out must have taken longer, but it was something he accomplished while producing another movie (hint hint): if you want to watch 3 (then 2) people sitting on a chair lift chattering ad nauseam about the most trite subjects, well, then this is your movie. Want minute detail about how one character spends her Christmases watching the same movie over and over until the TV station shuts down? Do you wish to compare the stink of your used dental floss to that of the male lead? Etc.

What the screenwriter also seems to have forgotten, or maybe not have ever learned, is that to feel empathy or sympathy for characters facing near-certain death, one needs first to establish their "likability" for the audience. But these are utterly unsympathetic characters, other than their being human beings, who are college-aged but act from the outset (character development) as if they're adolescents with a social development not beyond age 14, not to mention their being potheads, thieves, and lazy opportunists. They make utterly STUPID and foolish choices that land them in the predicament that they're in -- it's not a stretch at all to say that they brought their plights upon themselves, for it's the logical outcome of their reckless, stupid, selfish actions.

Furthermore, this movie really isn't scary or thrilling -- it just alternates between being boring and gross. If that "moves" you, then this is your movie, and I've thus given it one more star for such folks than it really deserves.

If you want to watch a FANTASTIC mountain thriller, though in the climbing genre rather than sitting-on-a-chair-lift genre, try North Face.

The plot is quite simple, three young people are stranded on a ski lift on Sunday evening and face a multi-day ordeal in freezing temperatures. This is a horror movie but very familiar, natural sources of the horror: extreme cold, great height, and hungry wolves. No lunatics with chain saws, no superhuman mutant psychopaths in ski masks, simply Mother Nature at her worst. In most such movies, the young victims can be counted on to make all sorts of idiotic mistakes and illogical moves, but in this one the beleaguered trio behave much like "normal" people (i.e. you and I) would in this situation. Another plus is that the film does not exploit bloody violence, nudity and gratuitous sex, foul language, or any other of the cliches inevitably found in movies of this genre. I found the female lead, Emma Bell, to be attractive, wholesome, humorous, and quite likable. Indeed, the viewer quickly becomes involved in the plot and with all three actors, sharing in their suffering, sacrifice, and (minor) triumphs.

The plot is reminiscent of Open Water and relies heavily upon close ups of the three stars, their dialog, and interaction. This requires a good script, capable actors, and a completely realistic environment, which is provided (in spades) by filming at night, in freezing temperatures on a snowy mountain in Utah.
I think about half of the suffering evident in the actor's faces and voices was real and not "acting" at all. This must have been quite an ordeal to produce, and in my opinion it was worth it, because the viewer shares completely in every realistic, harrowing, agonizing second. I recommend this movie to all who are tired of the same old recycled, cliched teenager-in-danger garbage. This is a good production, worthy of your time and money.

***mild spoilers***

I would give you a synopsis but in theory you've made it this far so you know the gist: two guys and a girl worm their way onto a ski lift as the park is closing for "one last ride" and the park then closes for the week with them still on the lift, suspended high in the air during a storm.

When I saw the previews for this movie earlier in the year I wanted to see it since I enjoyed Open Water and I saw this movie as one in similar plot to that. I'm allergic to cold temperatures (no, I am not kidding, I am) so this is my own personal hell and would be a living nightmare for me. Sadly unlike Open Water I didn't feel like I was on the edge of my seat the entire movie nor did I ever really believe they were in danger.

My major gripe is that NONE of them ever look that terribly cold. I don't know who the heck dropped this ball but it was the first of many. If you are in fact SO cold that the idea of waiting until morning is so unbearable that you contemplate jumping to your possible death for the slim chance that you can find help then I would hope that you would zip up your coat the entire way and maybe even toss the hood over your head too for good measure. It also appeared that not only was the outside jackets mostly unzipped but also the lining as well..?!!? I get that would have been hard to film actors who had their faces covered but at least when they slept they could have burrowed in. Call me crazy but I may even cuddle with those beside me - even if I didn't like them - for that whole body heat thing. When sleeping you also tend to curl into a ball when you are cold to conserve body heat - especially curling your extremities in. You don't naturally stretch out and make the vulnerable extremities more susceptible to the elements. I think if they had done these things - even if it didn't change the rest of the movie - I think I would have been more involved in the story and would have had a higher opinion of it.

The storyline itself is somewhat bumbling and awkward. The nail biting scenes are all too quick and the web between is filled with awkward conversation that doesn't make much sense. Granted, I can't imagine anyone in that situation would be a great conversationalist however it was severely lacking.

There is quite a few "holy cow I can't look at this" scenes and for the gore fans that will be straight up your alley. It's more cringe worthy than real gore but it will make you take a breath in and probably look away. I wouldn't recommend this for the weak stomached.

My final gripe is that the back cover pretty much gives away most of the movie - which is a complete buzzkill. Why do all of this build up if the entire time you are waiting for the pictured scene on the back to happen - which is within about 5 minutes from the end of the film.

It isn't the worst thriller I have ever seen but isn't the best by far.

Sometimes there are movies that are good. Sometimes there are movies that are bad. Sometimes however there are movies that are so bad, they become good. Frozen is one of those films. It went from horribly dull and slow moving to hilarious in very unintentional ways. This movie is definitely one of those you "MST3K" through in order because even though it is meant to be a thriller, the would-be scary or shocking parts are done in such a way you can't help but laugh at the awfulness.

The first thirty minutes of the film is just standing around talking. It's meant to give the main triad of characters personality and back story so you care about them when they are trapped on the ski lift of doom. It fails and because you know the characters are going to be trapped on the skilift for most of the movie, it's hard to care about anyone else that comes up in the film. The writer and director seem to know this and so these characters are given such little personality than it really just feels like walk-on actors reading lines rather than characters in a film.

Once on the ski-lift things get better and then they plummet drastically down into campy b-movie awfulness. I did have a single "Oh ^&%^&*!" moment in the film as it did a great job of showing what happens when a person plummets from rather high up. This however is the work of some nice special effects and camera work than any acting talent or emotive reponse to the characters.

From there it all goes downhill thanks to the Wolf pack. Yes my friends, a pack of wolves are the would-be force of nature here. By the end of the film though, you're outwardly routing for the wolves since none of the main characters are likeable and it's hilarious that these wolves are not only acting completely outside everything that is known about the species but also because the film shows them to be smarter than the three kids trapped on the lift, right up to the point where you expect them to stand on their hind legs and get in a huddle in an attempt to figure out how to climb up to the lift. It's that bad.

The two worst/best scenes in the movie are when the wolves eat their first human and he's screaming "Don't let her watch! Don't let her watch!" Now, not only is the acting here so poorly that you have to laugh at the reactions and intonations of all three characters, but since any predatory species goes for the neck as soon as the prey is downed, what little suspension of disbelief this film has is utterly lost here. The other awesome scene is where another main character fends off a wolf with a ski pole and then snowboards down the mountain with the pack of wolves in hot pursuit. Now this is hilariously bad on so many levels, I don't know where to begin. Whether it's the wolves waiting for him to climb down the lift (which is not something they do. These are wolves, not buzzards, and it just adds to the "smartest wolves ever" motif that runs through the film, but even after one of the wolves is stabbed and they can tell this human will put up a fight, they chase after him on his snowboard. All I could think about was, "Can your heart withstand the bone-chilling terror of the SNOWBOARD CHASE SCENE?" Of course later on you get to see who wins between the wolves and the other main male character and well...the end result is hilarious and impossible there as well.

Finally the movie has the wolves totally not interested in the female character. Sexist wolves? They only like male meat? It's so hilariously bad to see their reaction to her that once again, it's hard not to laugh. Frozen is just such a bad film on so many levels, but at least it's bad in a campy, corny, cheesy sort of way that lets you laugh at it from beginning to end. The comedy is unintentional, but oh my, is it there.

The setup for "Frozen" was fairly straight forward. Three friends were winding down from a day of skiing on the slopes. They decided to make one last run. Through a series of miscommunications, the chairlift they were riding was shut down while they were still in the air. The resort went dark, everyone went home, and the three skiers were forgotten. To make matters worse, it was Sunday night and the ski resort wasn't scheduled to open again for five days. As this story unfolded, I found myself imagining how I would respond if it happened to me. What would I do? Would I remain calm and try to wait for help to arrive, or would I panic and try something desperate like jumping? My reaction surprised me, as I imagined myself jumping even though this went against my sense of reason! Perhaps this was the main reason I liked "Frozen." It tapped into two of my biggest phobias (the fear of heights and the fear of being trapped) and it forced me to think about how I would respond. I almost quit watching it after the first half hour because it was too intense! Some people have challenged the believability of "Frozen." Could this story really happen? I'll leave that question for others to debate. I, however, enjoyed "Frozen" because it showed how easy it could be to throw reason to the wind when you are in a desperate circumstance.