While I seldom flat-out reject a film based on personal bias, I can't say I went into "Frozen" with great expectations. Even more so than the blaringly outspoken Eli Roth, the would-be "cult auteur" visage of writer/director/pilferer Adam Green (he of the wretched slasher throwback "Hatchet") comes across as representative of all the smug douchebags whose most (and sometimes only) original move was ripping off the horror films they were weaned on without throwing much creativity into the mix. Listening to the characters of "Frozen" exchange their initial lines portended an onslaught of spoiled-brat attitude that didn't bode well for its premise: three college types (played by Emma Bell, Kevin Zegers, and Shawn Ashmore) who become stranded high above a mountain in a ski lift, and their subsequent battle to survive. Once the time-killing setup has been dispensed with and we are looming high above earth with our defenseless trio, however, "Frozen" starts to build a dread that, while not completely terrifying, is at least gripping enough for its duration. The cinematography develops a sense of vertigo early on, and Green's script quite admirably avoids the urge to cut away from the lone setting (no flashbacks playing during the dialog, for instance), stranding the audience with the characters (who develop into near-three-dimensional people whose fates we care about) in a seemingly no-exit scenario.
Review of Frozen
