Frozen (I) (2010)

Three skiers are stranded on a chairlift and forced to make life-or-death choices that prove more perilous than staying put and freezing to death

Director:

Adam Green

Writer:

Adam Green

Stars:

Emma Bell, Shawn Ashmore, Kevin Zegers

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Emma Bell	...	Parker O'Neil
Shawn Ashmore	...	Joe Lynch
Kevin Zegers	...	Dan Walker
Ed Ackerman	...	Jason
Rileah Vanderbilt	...	Shannon
Kane Hodder	...	Cody
Adam Johnson	...	Rifkin
Chris York	...	Ryan
Peder Melhuse	...	Driver

Storyline

At Mount Holliston, snowboarders Dan Walker, his girlfriend Parker O'Neil and his best friend Joe Lynch don't have enough money to buy lift tickets. Parker bribes Jason, a lift-worker, with one hundred dollars. When the system is nearing closure, they force Jason to let them have one last pass. However, Jason needs to resolve a problem and his colleague misunderstands his instructions and stops the lift. The trio of skier and snowboarders gets stranded on the chairlift near the top of the mountain. When they see that the lights of the ski resort had been turned off, they need to make a choice: leave the chairlift or freeze to death.

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Plot Keywords:

chairlift | death | best friend | ski resort | mountain | 

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Taglines:

With 30 million skiers and snowboarders in the US and over 5000 chairlifts in operation, its only a matter of time before someone gets left behind.

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some disturbing images and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [jp]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 March 2010 (Kazakhstan)

Also Known As:

Bajo cero

Filming Locations:

Snowbasin, Utah, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$131,395 (USA) (5 February 2010)

Gross:

$246,177 (USA) (26 March 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

A Bigger Boat, ArieScope Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Will Barratt:  The Director of Photography cameos as "Sullivan" the employee who runs by pretending not to hear "Rifkin".

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Goofs

The snowstorm during the first night on the lift is depicted as being heavy enough to bury the equipment the protagonists threw down to the ground, but subsequent establishing shots of the ski resort show the mountain covered in tracks in the snow left behind by skiers and boarders previously.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Joe Lynch: I don't see her.
Dan Walker: The shift changes. Just give it a couple of minutes.
Parker O'Neil: Are you sure about this?
Dan Walker: Yeah yeah, works all the time. Besides, this lady loves Lynch. Loves him.

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Connections

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: From Paris with Love/Dear John/Frozen (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Talented Socialites"
Written by Chris Zerby
Performed by Helicopter Helicopter
Courtesy of Initial Records

User Reviews

Top-notch survival horror

A college student goes on a weekend ski/snowboard outing with his girlfriend and his jealous buddy. It was supposed to be just the guys, but Parker came along, much to buddy Lynch's dismay. She is still learning, and as a result of this, the trio spends most of the day on a bunny slope. After some complaining from Lynch, they decide to go on a quick run down the mountain before the day is through, but there's bad weather moving in. They manage to convince the lift operator to let them go, but through a series of unfortunate circumstances, the lift is stopped midway up the mountain leaving them stuck as the place shuts down for the week. With bad weather, the freezing cold and a large drop between them and the ground, the chances for survival are looking slim. And that's not taking the pack of hungry wolves into account.

I caught this at the Parks Mall AMC back in February and thought it was fantastic. It's from the Open Water/Black Water/The Canyon school of survival horror. All of those films are intense portraits of people stuck in some form of wilderness nightmare with little hope of escape, but Frozen may just be my pick for best of the bunch. At one point early on into the trio's predicament, I discovered that I had unknowingly squeezed my hands together so tightly that they had fallen asleep, so it's safe to say that the tension got to me. The characters also really grew on me as the film wore on, and I actually felt really bad for them. This is Emma Bell's first film, and I was quite impressed with her performance. While she has a spotty moment or two, for a first-timer, I'd say she knocked it out of the park. Her standout scene takes place when she's relaying her fears about what might happen to her puppy if she dies on the lift, and if he'd think she abandoned him.

Kudos to Adam Green for shooting this film on location. There are no green-screens or studio sets to be found here. Green and company found an actual lift to go out and shoot on. Equal amounts of kudos must go to the actors, as they were the ones up on the lift braving the elements for the authenticity a film of this type needs. Their hard work and tolerance paid off, as I often felt like I was right there on the lift with the characters. The chilly atmosphere vividly leaps off the screen, the bleak nature of the situation in which these three find themselves never in doubt. This film also hit a little closer to home for me, as I spent a week of skiing, etc. in Winter Park, CO not two months prior to watching this at the theater. With that fresh in my mind, I was left with an even stronger feeling of "What if?".

Also effective is the sparingly used score, usually played over visuals of the abandoned ski park. There are some gruesome bits, particularly the hand scene from the trailer and a discovery towards the film's end, but most of the tension comes from the predicament itself and some of the debasing things the characters have to do. Needing to take a leak while stuck on a ski lift may not be a big deal if you're a guy, but Parker's options aren't so easy.

I didn't think much of Adam Green's Hatchet. Frozen, on the other hand, is worth raving about.