FROZEN

Over-hype is never a good thing. People’s expectations are unrealistically heightened due to stellar reviews and positive word-of-mouth and, often times, come away feeling disappointed and cheated. Nothing quite embodies the term “over-hype” better than Adam Green’s Frozen, a painfully dull horror film that quite possibly may be the worst film I’ve seen in a decade (admittedly, I watch some real “gems”, so THAT’S saying something…)!

I’m not kidding…

A trio of close friends sweet talk their way onto a ski lift, only to be accidentally stranded mid-air for days while the resort is closed – and a pack of vicious, hungry wolves circles below. Think Open Water in the air and you’ve got Frozen.

The story premise sounds engaging but, unfortunately, nothing in the movie is. The story is contrived and lacks any real thrills or scares, the straightforward screenplay throws no curveballs or surprises at the viewer, the characters aren’t that particularly interesting and the acting (given the fact that most of the scenes are played for dramatic effect) is sub-par. Worst of all, the film is extremely boring – limping along its 93 minute running time (which, by the way, feels waaaaaaay to long) to its lackluster ending.  From beginning to end, Frozen is just bad.  

In recent years, director Adam Green has made quite a name for himself by co-directing the moody 2007 film, Spiral, and the inexplicably popular Hatchet series (again, a good, but slightly overrated effort). Ironically, Frozen may be earning him his best press to date, yet remains his weakest movie by far.

A slew of excellent reviews and a successful run at Sundance leave me simply scratching my head at what I watched. Either as a mislabeled horror movie, a thriller, or a human survival drama, make no mistake – Frozen will leave you cold.

My Rating - 1 out of 10