FROZEN (USA 2009) ****
Directed by Adam Green

The horror thriller, FROZEN falls into the horror torture category though there are no serial killers or torture scenes in the film.  But the ordeals writer/director Adam Green (HATCHET) forces his unlikely heroes to go through are more gruesome than any torture one can devise.

The premise for FROZEN is simple.  Anyone who has gone downhill skiing can appreciate the fear faced once the chairlift stops up in the air.  IN FROZEN, three teens take the last run up the slope only to be stranded when power is shut off during the last run.  Worst still, it is Sunday night and the resort (being a small one) will not open till the following Sunday.  What they do to survive makes Green’s simple yet rather astonishing thriller.

Green takes his time to let his film unfold (about a third into the movie) before the three are stranded in the chairlift.  What happens before?  Actually nothing much! Green reveals two to be a year-old dating couple Dan (Kevon Zegers) and Parker (Emma Bell).  The third is Dan’s best friend Lynch (Shawn Ashmore), resentful of Parker for ruining a guy’s ski trip.  The banter among the three goes on and on about nothing relevant.  Though one may complain about time wasted in inane conversation, Green, to his credit, captures an accurate picture of ski slackers.  (No skier would be discussing opera or debating the course of justice on a ski outing.)

Once the horror starts, Green piles the suspense on.  The scares are basic – fear of frostbite from the cold; the wolves in the woods and survival by getting out of the chairlift.  If one is stranded in a similar situation, one would most likely try the same stunts as Dan, Parker or Lynch, be it jumping from the chair or skiing downhill; climbing up the cable to the nearest pole.

Green knows how to make his audience cringe in their seats – from Parker wiping off her dead skin from her frostbitten face by accident or Dan jumping to the ground from the chair.

Besides the gruesome nature of the film, Green’s film has moments of tenderness.  At one point, Parker talks affectionately of her past.  The fact that the three main characters are lovable losers helps the film’s likeability.  Actress Emma Bell is a real charmer from her winning puppy-dog smile conning the ski-lift operator at the start to her bawling out in desperation of a way out.

Green has thought of a real life situation and made a top notch genuine scary movie.  He provides all the reasons the skiers would be stranded and the film is believable.  Of course in real life, the ski operator takes the last run before shutting off the power – but not every employee follows all the rules.