Thursday 30 December 2010

Ultra Cool Snow Movie!!!!!!



You don't always need to get a big budget or a great cast, crew or script to get an entertaining movie. Sometimes all you need is a great premise. Saw, Buried, Adrift, Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity prove that if your central idea is strong enough and you have enough imagination to fully explore the premise you can get a strong movie out of it. Hell, look at the late 80's and early 90's...Die Hard is one of cinema's great movies and that's a "hostage drama in a skyscraper" that explores a primal concept and asks it's audience, "So then, how do they get out of that?". Simplistic brilliance.

Frozen is another simple but great premise. Three teens get the last chair-lift of the day in a weekend ski resort, and through various mis-communications by the staff get stuck there, with it becoming increasingly obvious that they won't be discovered for a week (by which time they would have all frozen to death.) In true high concept fashion the screenplay explores absolutely every obstacle that faulty machinery, the weather, the wildlife and the 60 foot high location can throw at them. And frankly that's all you need for a suspense filled 90 minutes.

The cast are solid with The Walking Dead's Emma Bell being the most non-decrepit participating actor. Better are Wrong Turn's Kevin Zegars as her cocky boyfriend and X-Men's Shawn Ashmore as his quick-to-anger best mate. The direction and dialogue is nothing special either, both handled by Adam Green, but it gets us from A to B with competence and efficiency. Well worth checking out, you'll be gripped by Frozen from start to finish with two questions to occupy your time; will they survive and, if so, who? Sometimes that's all you need.

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