Frozen places three teenage kids at a snowboarding range somewhere out in the wilderness. They venture up for one last run down the mountain, just before nightfall when the camp is closing down. The workers at the range miscalculate the folks going up and down and leave the poor teenage trio suspended in the open air approx 50 feet above the ground (rough guesstimate on distance there). With the camp shut down for a week the three have to find a way to get free of their situation before the weather kills them off from exposure. There’s worse things out there besides the weather though…
Frozen is very much like the movie Open Water. The parallels are really striking. The isolated, helpless folks fending off the elements and the animals. The way the movie is structured is similar also. Having said all that, i do think Frozen has a better ending than Open Water. The movies main three actors, Emma Bell, Shawn Ashmore, Kevin Zegers put in strong solid performances however and it’s just as well considering how much screen time they have. All the other peripheral actors are decent enough also, kudos all round.
There is some strong tension that’s built up throughout the movie, especially when the frantic desperation of their situation starts to kick in. It’s a reasonably believable scenario which only adds to the tension of the whole thing. I guess if you thought Open Water was scary, you’ll find this scary. For those who haven’t seen Open Water, off the top of my head I’m hard pressed to think of another movie to compare it too.
Gore wise things are fairly light, most of the gruesomeness is left to your own imagination, i would be hard pressed to say gore was this movies strong suit, although what’s there is done decently.
So i guess if you dig this kind of survival movie you will enjoy Frozen. It’s tense, suspenseful although with it being stuck in the one locale most of the time it does get a bit… Well… boring at times. Maybe if they had gorified it up somewhat it would have been better, but that’s my opinion i guess. All in all not bad, but nothing exceptional.
Movie Details
Director: Adam Green
Writer: Adam Green
Actors: Emma Bell, Kane Hodder, Rileah Vanderbilt, Ed Ackerman
Release Year: 2010