The Frozen

Mediocre acting... but a decent plot twist, some interesting scares, and beautiful winter scenery helps keep this movie decent.

This movie starts off bad and gets worse. Terrible acting and equally bad dialogue are the two things I remember this movie for, poor storyline is the third. It is a low budget film granted, but that is no excuse. A poor plot , bad acting and no connection with the two main characters, in fact I found the male lead character extremely annoying and lost count of how many times the phrases,"seriously" and "give me a second" were used. The eventual twist at the end of the film could be guessed well before it is revealed. The only good comment I can make about this movie is that there were occasionally some stunning shots of snow covered landscapes.

The Frozen starts off promisingly, with an intriguing and watchable female lead and a better than decent male lead. Their interpersonal dynamics are ridden with ambiguous tension and the situation, a snowmobile accident that leaves them stranded, is grist for the mill of suspense, thrills and maybe horror. This goes on for two thirds of the film. Thereafter, the movie gradually reveals itself to be none of these, neither thrilling, suspenseful nor scary. It begins to drag. Badly. Nothing happens. Nothing keeps happening. The woman wanders, discovers a wedding ring intended for her, lights a fire, and on and on. But nothing engages, nothing moves forward and nothing comes together. This goes on -or off- for a good (actually bad) twenty minutes.

Then comes the finale. A trite, amateurish, bad film student's conception of a "cool" resolution. In fact, what we are treated to is a caricature of a prototypical Twilight Zone conceit. it's the one you were convinced no one would ever try again for its embarrassing familiarity and pretension.

I don't think you'll like this film.

Right off I knew that there was conflict between the woman and her man. She was distant and the man was trying to energize the situation somehow. The reason for the conflict is revealed a few minutes into the movie and ties in later especially at the end. The scenery was not spectacular although I live near the mountains so I might be spoiled. However, the setting was just right for this kind of movie It did not need to be spectacular; it needed to fit the plot and. I believe it did. The female lead is not a likable person and this works well with the plot as things change. There is a French or Swiss movie I saw several years ago and I believe writer of The Frozen has seen this movie. They are similar but sufficiently different. I liked them both which proved to me that variations on a theme can be successful. Don't expect to be horrified or bloody freaked out. It won't happen. Go with the flow and you might find yourself satisfied at the conclusion. The acting worked for me. Obviously, others do not agree with my assessment but hey, that's life.

I am partially deaf so I watch movies with the captioning. Therefore, my experience is likely different from those who can hear well. I miss the vocal nuances and pick up on other physical queues.

There are probably going to be some reviews bashing the simplicity of this film, but amazingly enough that is what I found most intriguing about it. For a simple ultra-low budget this is the best I've seen in a while. The synopsis is simple. Guy talks his girl into heading up to the snowy mountains in a bold (if not ignorantly risky) attempt to get some alone time. Survival becomes a factor after a foretelling crash, and then of course there is the menacing bad guy to contend with. The director is knowledgeable of the area and the expertise shows in the scenery takes. Great camera work and some effort put into good angles. The musical score helped out quite a bit, at least for me. Good tension rifts and effectively moody when needed. I was most amused by the first half of the film. The focus is the interaction between the guy bending over backwards in optimism to cater to the ever-skeptic and ego-crushing girlfriend. Sounds cheesy I know, but my opinion is that for some reason this worked.. I'm sure some couples are going to relate.. and then the added bonus of them ripping around on an RMK sled while dripping with naivety. They did pack quite well at least. I think I was more nervous and tense for them than they were. If you've ever personally crossed that moment in the outdoors where you just aren't quite sure if you are going to make it back to the truck... even if just briefly, then you know what I mean. Anyway, some nice details that make sense in a survival struggle were present.

I'm not saying there weren't flaws. There we're. Both in tech details for what was being portrayed and in the story itself. For instance, snowmobiles are heavy and tricky to ride in a couple plus feet of mountain powder. Not something for a novice. It would have been fun to show the realism of getting one unstuck.. lol. Also 3/4 of the way into the film my plausibility meter was gagging with the bad guy, but that one worked itself out.. just have to be a little patient.

All in all I was entertained by this cheap trip into the woods. Not everyone will be, but if you dabble in the outdoors with your spouse, it might have a better effect.