Frozen (2010)

"If you rub your face it's going to come off." - Shawn Ashmore

I may seem at times to be a complex guy but I like simple. Simple movies with simple plots and characters with focused motivations. That is what 'Frozen' is. Three characters are trapped on a ski lift after taking 'one last run' at the end of the day. The lift shuts down and they are trapped 30 ft above the snow through the length of a cold night.

Then it gets bad.

First of all if you want to create sympathy, don't have the three characters start the movie by trying to scam a free lift ride. That is like being two kissing camp councillors in a 'Friday the 13th' movie. You are just asking for misery. The situation that leaves them stranded on the mountain is also pretty reckless behavior on the lift operator's behalf.



Now the second I saw the trailer I figured they could just jump from the chairlift. I had no idea why they would stay up there all night. I needed to see what would happen. It would have bothered me if I didn't.

A lot of the dialogue seems improvised and that is annoying in it's obviousness. I could see the 'issues' between these three develop way before they actually became a problem.

The two guys (Shawn Ashmore, Kevin Zegers) are old friends and the girl (Emma Bell) is keeping the two of them from spending time together like they used to. Shaun Ashmore feels like a 'third wheel'. Add the stress of freezing to death on a lift chair and everything falls apart pretty quick.

If I was there I would have jumped the minute I realized that the lift chair wasn't going anywhere - when the lights on the hill got turned off for the night. Better to test the snow than end up eating the fingers of the person next to me. There is even a pine tree below them. That would slow the fall, wouldn't it?

Then again, freezing to death is suppose to be a good way to go. Just fall asleep and you drift away - just like the Little Match Girl (the absolute WORST story Hans Christian Anderson ever wrote and I ever was forced to read).


Opps...I guess the ski hill is only open on the weekends and it's Sunday night when the three got trapped. I guess they are going to be wolf food. And before you say, "Cal, how are the wolves going to get to them?" I will remind you of that town in Spain where the people make human towers. I am sure the wolves get Internet where they live and they have seen the footage on the 'Cave of Cool'.

This movie had some great 'freak out' moments. Just when I think things can't get any worse, naturally they do. I could handle most things except all the screaming. Enough with the screaming.

Suffice it to say that the poster is correct. This movie will keep you off the ski lift like 'Jaws' kept you out of the water and 'Psycho' kept you from taking a shower.

It's a nifty little piece of weather porn and it's not for the squeamish or people who don't like the cold. You have been warned.

7/10