Three college students—best friends Joe Lynch (Shawn Ashmore) and Dan Walker (Kevin Zegers), and Dan's girlfriend Parker O'Neil (Emma Bell)—bribe the ski lift operator to let them ride for free and get stuck on the lift 50 feet above the ground after the resort closes down for the week. Their survival depends on them working together to figure out a way to get down from the lift and go for help.
Frozen is based on a screenplay written by American film-maker Adam Green, who also directed the movie.
Although the film was shot in Utah, the fictional Mount Holliston was located somewhere in New England, evidenced when Joe assures Dan that the wolves in New England are "pussies" and again when Dan mentions going to two other ski resorts—Okemo and Killington—both of which are actual resorts in Vermont.
Ski lift ticket prices vary depending upon the size and popularity of the resort, the age of the skiers, and the day of the week. At Okemo, for example, a full day lift ticket for an adult (ages 19-64) costs $74 on a weekday and $81 on the weekend. Even a half-day ticket on a Sunday afternoon would cost $61 per person ($183 for the three of them), which is why they bribe the lift operator to let them ride for $100.
They can be. According to the writer/director, he talked to people at ski resorts. They demonstrated sliding down the wire with a steel cable, and the cable split in half. The reason is that the lift cables are basically a wound bundle of smaller wound bundles of even smaller wound bundles of wire. The twisting and turning and friction of the pulleys over time causes little breaks in the outermost strands and they pop, leaving little wires sticking up all over the place. The cable still has more than enough integrity to be safe, but those little wires are sharp.
Joe makes it to the ground by hanging from the ski lift cable and inching his way to a support pole two chairs back. He climbs down the ladder and is promptly set upon by a pack of wolves that he chases off with his ski pole. He then begins to slide down the mountain on Parker's snowboard, the wolves in pursuit. Parker remains in the lift chair and tries to refrain from moving around because the bolts holding the chair to the cable have started to loosen. After waiting through the night, Parker realizes that help is not forthcoming and prepares to jump to the ground. Suddenly, the bolts let go and her chair plummets halfway to the ground, held only by a supporting cable. Unfortunately, the supporting cable begins to fray and finally snaps, sending her plunging to the ground. The chair then falls on top of her leg, injuring her foot. Unable to walk, Parker starts crawling down the mountain. Along the way, she passes a partially-eaten body. A feasting wolf turns to her and growls but lets her pass. When she reaches the road and tries to hail a passing car, she collapses in the snow, and the car passes by. She crawls out onto the road, and the next car to pass notices her. The driver carries her into his car and heads for the nearest hospital 10 minutes away. In the final scene, Parker sits wordlessly in the seat, her head pressed against the passenger window.
It was Joe Lynch's body, evidenced by his boots. However, some viewers suggest that it might be the body of the missing person shown (about 15 minutes into the movie) on a poster hanging on the coffee urn in the cafeteria. According to director Adam Green, the man on the poster is simply his usual camera operator BJ McDonnell, who couldn't shoot Frozen because he was already working on another movie. The missing person poster was meant only as an inside joke and was not meant to suggest the body belonged to anyone other than Joe.
The most likely explanation is that they didn't see Parker as food, only as a potential threat to the body on which they were currently feasting. Because Parker moved on, the threat was removed, and the wolves were satisfied to let her pass.
Another reason could be that when they attacked Dan and Joe, they had fresh, bleeding wounds and the scent attracted them. When Parker was making her way down none of her wounds were bleeding due to her having severe frostbite. That, combined with not seeing her as a threat to their food, could explain why they didn't attack her.
There is an easter egg in Adam Green's Hatchet II (2010) (2010), giving some insight as to what happened to Parker after she made it off the mountain at the end of the movie. A news cast is briefly shown where Parker is shown at a press conference, saying she will never go skiing again, and that she filed a law suit with the Ski hill they were trapped on.
The will to survive is strong, and there are hundreds of movies that attest to this. Viewers who have seen Frozen have recommended the following movies as particularly interesting. Similar to Frozen, in which people must face snow, cold weather, and the wilderness, are Alive (1993) (1993) in which a rugby team is stranded in the Andes Mountains after a plane crash, Vertical Limit (2000) (2000) in which a climber must rescue his sister trapped on one of the world's highest mountains, and The Edge (1997) (1997) in which a plane crash leaves three men stranded in a dangerous wilderness. Survival in the desert is required in Flight of the Phoenix (2004) (2004) in which a plane crashes in the Mongolian desert, A Far Off Place (1993) (1993) in which two people must cross the Kalahari desert, Prey (2007) (2007) where a woman and her two children get trapped in a jeep on a safari when their guide gets eaten by a lion. and the aptly named Thirst (2010) (2008). In Open Water (2003) (2003), Open Water 2: Adrift (2006) (2006), and Dead Calm (1989) (1989) people are pitted against the sea. In 127 Hours (2010) (2010), a climber becomes trapped under a boulder while in the mountains near Moab, Utah. In The Canyon (2009) (2009), a honeymooning couple get lost in the Grand Canyon. Other movies about people surviving in more unusual places include The Steam Experiment (2009) (2009) in which people are trapped in a sauna, Black Water (2007) (2007) and Rogue (2007) (2007) in which people are pitted against man-eating crocodiles in Australia, Cube (1997) (1997) in which seven strangers are trapped in an endless maze containing deadly traps, Burning Bright (2010) (2010) in which a woman and her autistic little brother are trapped in a house with a ravenous tiger during a hurricane, Stephen King's Cujo (1983) (1993) in which a mother and son are trapped in a broken down car by a rabid dog outside, The Hole (2001) (2001) in which four teens become trapped in an underground chamber without food or water, Hunger (2009) (2009) in which strangers find themselves trapped without food, Buried (2010) (2010) in which a man wakes to find that he is buried alive inside a coffin, and 247°F (2011) (2011) where friends get locked in a sauna.
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- How long is Frozen?1 hour and 33 minutes
- When was Frozen released?January 24, 2010
- What is the IMDb rating of Frozen?6.2 out of 10
- Who stars in Frozen?
- Who wrote Frozen?
- Who directed Frozen?
- Who was the composer for Frozen?
- Who was the producer of Frozen?Cory Neal and Peter Block
- Who was the executive producer of Frozen?
- Who was the cinematographer for Frozen?
- Who was the editor of Frozen?
- Who are the characters in Frozen?Parker O'Neil, Joe Lynch, Dan Walker, Jason, Shannon, Cody, Rifkin, Ryan, Driver, and Sullivan
- What is the plot of Frozen?Three skiers stranded on a chairlift are forced to make life-or-death choices, which prove more perilous than staying put and freezing to death.
- How much did Frozen earn at the worldwide box office?$3.84 million
- How much did Frozen earn at the US box office?$246,000
- What is Frozen rated?R
- What genre is Frozen?Adventure and Thriller
- How many awards has Frozen won?2 awards
- How many awards has Frozen been nominated for?7 nominations
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