Earlier this year, a friend of mine wanted me to sit through the horror movie Hatchet written and directed by Adam Green. She had worked as the publicist for the movie and told me how popular the movie was. After sitting through 90 minutes of laughable acting (when Kane Hodder -- the former Jason Vorhees -- is giving the most nuanced performance in the film, that's saying something), derivative plot, REALLY bad special effects and over the top gore, she asked what I thought. I didn't want to be rude so I tried to find something positive to say and the best I could come up with "Well....the director kept the camera in focus most of the time".
Thus, it's understandable that she was not really looking forward to hearing my comments about his followup movie Frozen. Because she was also involved as the publicist for this movie, I can understand that she was afraid that I was going to trash this movie as much as I did Hatchet and I did for the trailer for the sequel Hatchet II. But, I was very happy to point out to her that my reaction to this movie was much different. While it did have some flaws, overall, I found it to be a very disciplined and well directed motion picture and one that shows that Adam Green does in deed have potential.
Frozen is, basically, a winter version of Deep Water (the wonderful film about a couple who get stranded in the middle of shark-infested waters with no hope in sight). In this film, 3 kids (Emma Bell as the cute, perky blonde, Kevin Zegers as her boyfriend and Shawn Ashmore as the wise-ass best friend) go on a skiing trip. They spend most of the day on the bunny slope because of Emma and convince the lift operator to allow them one last trip up to the top of the hill before the resort closes for the week.
Unfortunately, due to a series of misunderstandings, the resort shuts down while they're still in the lift approximately 50 feet in the air. As a result, they are stuck in a lift, freezing to death and it turns out that there are wolves wondering around ready to feast on them should they decide to come down from the lift.
The movie plays less like a horror movie (there's only a few scenes of actual violence) and more like a "dread" movie. From the moment they get stuck in the lift, the movie quickly develops a sense of helplessness as the characters make various attempts to save themselves and find the situation getting worse with each attempt. Throughout the film, the characters remain plausible and react in ways that most people would, first joking, then angry before moving onto shock and despair. Because of the believability, it keeps the story interesting.
What is most impressive is that Adam Green chose to avoid the senseless violence that he used in Hatchet and kept the most violent acts off screen. During one particularly violent scene, we see just the very beginning of it (so we know what is about to happen) and then the camera focuses on the reactions of the helpless onlookers. By doing it this way, he allows the audience to imagine the horrific acts and lends the film a tension that wouldn't have existed had he centered the camera on the attack itself. It's an idea that I wish more directors would think of using.
What is most surprising to me is how little of a release this movie was given. I remember seeing an ad for it last year (and was looking forward to it because it looked original and had the possibility of being good) but, for reasons that my friend told me about but escape me now, it was only released on 106 screens and was given almost zero publicity. That is a shame because, like Trick 'R Treat (another film from a new director that is much better than you would expect), this is a film that could find an audience if given a chance. Hopefully it will on DVD. I know that I for one will have no problem giving it a recommendation and it makes me look forward to the next film that Adam Green wants to do (as long as it's not Hatchet III).
Grade: B+
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