Cold Ground (2017) User Reviews

Utterly, utterly dull found footage movie

[shaunr-71896 · 4/10 · 6 March 2018]

Here we have a movie that so desperately wants to be something akin to Blair Witch you can almost taste it.

What you get instead is an interminably dull movie that mostly consists of shots of scenery and the backs of peoples heads as they trudge through the snow. Then trudge through the snow some more. Then, for a change, they trudge through the snow.

And when our antagonist does show up FIFTY MINUTES into this eighty-five minute movie, it's a blurry mess that leaves you squinting desperately at the screen for SOME sort of payoff for your patience. Let me just tell you, before you waste your time like I did, there isn't one.

Avoiding spoilers, I will warn you that the last 8 minutes of this movie consist of five minutes of shaky cam staring at walls and two minutes of running before an insulting abrupt ending.

Just....don't waste your time. You want a decent movie about people getting lost in the woods and terrible things happening to them? Go watch The Ritual. This ain't worth your time.

Entertaining enough, but not without problems

[methis · 4/10 · 21 December 2018]

French found-footage yetisquatchfoot flick. Maybe 50% English dialogue, 50% French (with English subtitles on the version I saw.) A cut above most of the dreck Amazon Prime offers for free. Not bad for what it is, but the imdb rating seems suspiciously high to me. Fairly engaging once it gets going. Subjective peeves: When characters who are discussing disease theories are supposed to be scientists, they ought to know the difference between a virus and bacteria (sadly, the ignorance of this difference amongst the general population is one of the reasons we have more and more antibiotic-resistant bacteria.) They also should know that alcohol is not one's "best friend" in extreme cold, as it actually lowers body temperature. And if it's so damned cold where they are that they're concerned with hypothermia and frostbite, why does the female lead spend the majority of the time with no head covering and only a thin pair of knitted gloves? These may be trivial issues to some viewers, but they definitely lower my rating.

Started well then descended into nonsense

[jjgurd · 4/10 · 7 December 2018]

I really liked the style and pace until the film rolled out the cliches, like people wandering off in the dark in the woods when there's a viscous predator loose.

To cap it all off the cameraman begs his wife to cut off his injured foot to save his leg but when she removes his sock, it's not even bruised! That's when I realised the film had lost the plot, figuratively and literally.

Not werewolves, not Bigfoot. They're...

[tobridges · 20 October 2020]

....

....

...giant mutated bats. The clue is in the cave when she stumbles upon a bunch of normal bats. That's when you realize the monsters themselves have extremely bat-like features (the pointy ears, the Dracula fangs, etc). Then there's the scene where the woman's being chased through the woods, where we see one of the creatures flare its arms like wings. And while they don't fly, their sudden jump onto their victims can be described as a "swoop" of sorts.

Oh, also the screeching, which is a much louder version of the noise bats make.

So apparently the idea is that they originated in the caves and through the bacteria/virus (hahaha) or the uranium mining or something, they evolved into those monsters.

That being said, the movie was pretty bad for all the reasons articulated by the other reviewers.

Boring

[jessicawedwards · 3/10 · 23 January 2019]

As a lover of found footage, I found this to be one of the most dull and uneventful ones. The 'monster', was pretty obviously a guy in a cheap werewolf costume. Pretty disappointing! Very surprised at the high ratings.

Not a great movie, but not worse than most either!

[t-rexx-568-196825 · 7/10 · 31 August 2018]

I find most other evaluations on this site unfairly bad. Granted, "Cold Ground" is not breaking any new grounds. Nothing original in it. Actors are average, filming is just OK, picture quality is voluntarily made bad, the plot has its share of loose dead-ends and unchartered paths...

But overall, I found it quite pleasant to watch. Why? For the setting, first and foremost. Coldness seems to creep out of the movie and get directly in the viewer's body. Also, it's entirely shot in nature. No CGI, no studio, just genuine snow, mountains, caves... Then, the suspense and its lot of jump scares kind of worked for me, for once... Also, characters were fairly well crafted altogether, quite a feat in itself, considering that they speak so rarely.

So, all in all, it wasn't that bad. I must say I wasn't expecting anything from the movie to start with and I have noticed that, most of the time, with no forward expectations, good surprises are more likely to come around the corner... I guess it was the case for me here.

Walking in the Snow: the Movie

[timothygartin · 3/10 · 10 January 2022]

People walk in the snow. A bird. People walk in the snow. A rabbit. People walk in the snow. Trees. People walk in the snow. Dead stuff. People sleep in tents in the snow. Repeat for two hours.

An enjoyable indie movie

[andrealeonti · 7/10 · 10 June 2020]

If you're into indie movie and if you can give a look to low budget indipendent movies, give Cold Ground a try. Even if with some flaws, Cold Ground is a pretty well built movie which can set up some tension.

I can guarantee that it's more genuine than many mainstream horror or mockumentary.

If you can keep in mind its "indie-ness", you'll enjoy Cold Ground!

Big hope...

[aramt-07935 · 5/10 · 18 May 2019]

Absolutely love found footage films... this one,by any means is not the worst one,but not too good either.I would say,mediocre,for an evening,when nothing else to watch.

All around good movie

[LesGrossmanFyourownFACE · 7/10 · 9 March 2018]

Yes this movie did have its flaws and did move slower than necessary, the story, filming, and acting kept me interested throughout. It was of above average quality all around which makes it odd that it had such bad reviews (with agreement on the review about animal cruelty having absolutely nothing to do with the movie and should probably be removed...). While the negative reviews are puzzling, the aggregate score of the movie is a good indicator. Not a waste of time, but not a must see either.

Boring Found Footage

[LoremIpsum321 · 2/10 · 24 December 2018]

Like Most Found Footage, this one is boring soI can't fathom the 6.2 rating.

Half the movie or so it's just heading to a camp, then the crew starts getting decimated, just not in an exciting way.

The Actors are doing an OK job, the snowy landscape is alright, too. Yet, that's no justification to watch it, it's boring! :/

Unexpected Found Footage Gem

[melk0815 · 8/10 · 29 November 2022]

It's rarity for me to review a movie but I thought this deserved some credit where credit's due. I was very pleasantly surprised. It has a Blair Witch feel to it but with less long stretches of B roll. It was nice not to suffer through an hour and twenty minutes of boring footage that drags on forever until the last ten minutes, where they usually throw in every bit of cringe action/horror they can. The story was great. The acting was actually quite good. I found myself actually rooting for the characters.

This is definitely worth a watch, especially if you're a die hard found footage fan. It won't disappoint.

Better than average found footage film

[vmalast · 7/10 · 20 December 2018]

I'm not really a fan of FF films. I thought Blair Witch was incredibly over hyped and not even remotely frightening. This film kept my attention. The actor's dialogue and actions were appropriate in the given situations. There also wasn't the constant shaking camera and incessant screaming and whining as in most FF films. I would have liked to get a better view of the creature although, I'm not going to complain. I'd recommend this film.

Complete garbage

[bianca_igf · 1/10 · 15 January 2019]

What started as the usual found footage B waste of time, went on to be a total wreck. Seriously, how stupid did these "film makers" think the audience is, putting up "scientists" who nonstop talk about a bacteria being a virus. As if this wasn't enough, they put a bobcat in the Alps. As if that still wasn't enough, the plotholes are massive: they put up surgically skinned animals, talk about a virus-bacteria (!!!!), then throw stories with locals claiming to have seen UFOs and lights in the sky, then a clue that there's an abandoned Uranium mine, and in the end, there's in fact only a bunch of werewolves. Don't waste your time on this garbage, the director and writers must have been brain damaged when they made this joke. Ah, also. The fun part now: I went to the official facebook page of this trash and complained. Their take? Deleting my comment and blocking me. This is what this failure "director" does in his spare time. Dear "director" : I hope you end up a hobo, because your work sucks.

Cold Ground = Mediocrity Defined

[badscene · 5/10 · 3 March 2019]

Medicore bigfoot found footage horror film.

Is it bad? Not glaringly, no. It's a stylish, 70's set period piece, complete with added camera grain and all. The acting isn't bad either, though the characters are flat, one dimensional, and not nearly interesting enough to save a cliched and plotless, walk - camp - scream - repeat, routine genre outing with no aspirations.

This is your typical, "stranded in the woods with unknown terror after an expedition to investigate (insert phenomenon here) goes awry" shaky cam film.

If you love the sub-genre, this one has its merits. The acting, writing and style are superior to most of the garbage oversaturating the low budget horror market these days. The cinematography is nice and the filmmakers do nail the 70's aesthetic they're going for for the most part. I'm sure for the sasquatch subgenre, its even among the best, though I've still yet to see "Exists."

It's also highly overrated on IMDB, with a higher score than the intelligent and highly original "As Above So Below" which is kind of unfathomable to me.

Cold Ground is 100% average. It has no aspirations, it does nothing original, and it has nothing to say. It is pure "Found Footage" by numbers, but competently made, which I suppose in this climate of 1000 found footage horror films a year makes it worthy of watching. Take what you want from that, but in a world of only quality horror films, this would have a much lower rating.

Love FF and this one is good

[killercharm · 7/10 · 19 August 2020]

It gives me a sort of tug of the heart strings - the demise, that is, of these dear folk who, except for the French, money-worshiping peegs, JUST KIDDING, were just trying to do the best damn job they know how. As the multinational team of folk climb a mountain at the French/German border, or thereabouts, they learn each other, the mountain, the weather, and the history, which does not include the recent history of animal mutilations.

Awful

[Gunnar_R_Ingibjargarson · 4/10 · 1 March 2018]

A France found-footage film, just as aweful as it sound. Poor script and direction.

not bad

[bigshow02745 · 6/10 · 22 February 2019]

Don't quit on it because of the subtitles, it switches to English quickly. I like the grainy grindhouse quality of the film. Movie is worth a watch.

Why did they cut off his foot!

[jenputman · 1/10 · 14 February 2019]

I dont understand why they cut off his foot! 5 seconds before that I was commenting on how clean and not jerky his footage was for someone with a jacked up ankle. Could have left him and went for help. The ending is VERY disappointing. I've decided the creator was a vamp-were-yeti. Also why is she walking in the cave looking at the ceiling. Ugh this movie frustrates me.

Nothing special, but one of the better entries in the found footage sub-genre

[Condemned-Soul · 7/10 · 4 February 2021]

I have a soft spot for found-footage films, particularly those that don't contain annoying characters and dumb decision-making is kept to a minimum. As is the case with 'Cold Ground', an unnerving horror film set in the forest-covered mountain ranges of the French-Swiss border.

It's 1976, and this is the footage recovered from two journalists who went with a small team to investigate cases of cattle mutilation, but stumbled across something monstrous instead...

Where 'Cold Ground' succeeds so well is with its visual style. It does an impressive job of not only transporting us into this chilly, snow-smothered place miles from sanctuary, but by convincing us that this is the late 70s. Maybe it's a simple method of utilising a specific filter for the camera, but either way the film looks fantastic and I admired its staunchness for authenticity.

It follows the routine of similar films of its kind as we follow the group, listen to their backstories, and get teased with scary tales of the location's faux history before they settle in for the night and face a real scare or two... but it works. Come nighttime, eerie sounds augment the suspense, and though it's very basic in execution, it remains true that less is more in a horror film. A twig snapping or an unnatural howl is far creepier than a screen full of monster.

Inevitably things go downwards rapidly for the cast as whatever's out there becomes bolder and more hostile, but 'Cold Ground' proves enjoyable enough even when it occasionally threatens to undo all the hard work it accomplished of getting under your skin. Overall, this is a solid entry into the found-footage subgenre that I was glad to stumble across.

7/10

found footage, animal mutilation

[the_doofy · 1/10 · 17 December 2017]

I don't mind the found footage if its done well, the dialogue is very hard to hear at times, as the movie is done as a real found footage, they should have done more to make the dialogue more comprehensible. There are three people working sound, so no excuses.

I thought for awhile they were not going to be killing animals, and right about then they had animal mutilation, so I walked away from the movie.

It is pretty bland all in all, which for me is fine, but I think young viewers will not like it at all

the end credits have no animal rights approval in them

Terrifying!

[jaswards · 10/10 · 10 February 2019]

In the style of Blair Witch. Starts off slow but ends up terrifying! If your looking for a good scare, Watch it!!

"The Blair Witch Project" set in a snowy mountain setting...

[gordonart-480-395403 · 6/10 · 2 January 2019]

In all honestly, the best 17 seconds of this film takes place early in the film when the cameraman boyfriend films his girlfriend's voluptuous naked bottom lying on their bed - the best I've ever seen in film. After this, it's pretty much an hour of a camera crew climbing up a mountain to get to the weather station that has gone silent. An hour of climbing... a bit boring, to say the least. There are all kids of gaffes throughout, such as why don't the creatures eat them on the way up the mountain, instead of the way down? When the remaining survivor (our gorgeous fat-bottom heroine that I believe I am in love with) falls out of a cave to the snowy ground below, the camera stops - just like how the camera stops when the heroine from the Blair Witch Project succumbs to her own death. I actually liked "Cold Ground" more than "The Blair Witch Project", since it could have been such a better movie, but there are enough gaffes and obvious rip-offs from the former film to make this just a 6/10. In the end, I wanted our heroine to survive (would have been an original ending as compared to the Blair Witch Project) just so that I'd know her beautiful bottom would end up safe and sound. You can imagine my disappointment...

A waste of time

[greg-29535 · 1/10 · 8 February 2019]

Boring and nonsensical, why won't people stop making found footage movies? Or at least make a good one. This one piled stupid idea onto stupid idea. Any positive review you see comes from a friend or family member of someone involved with making this turd.

What a terrible movie

[jamesmscrosslin · 1/10 · 3 February 2019]

I can only assume that a publicity company paid for every single of these positive reviews. This movie makes zero sense from beginning to end. Poor writing, bad plot, zero pacing, laughable reveal. We laughed out loud at the reveal. Not a single part of this movie was suspenseful or clever, and you should not waste your time.