With the recent news of skiers having to be rescued from stalled chair lifts at two resorts, coupled with the frigid temperatures we’ve been getting this week, why not watch a movie called “Frozen,” where three college-age kids get left on a ski lift to either A) Freeze to death, or B) Make some painful decisions in order to survive.
Released last February, to a limited release, “Frozen” is a movie that totally puts you in the mood...to not ever want to go skiing or snowboarding again. If you were ever hesitant about jumping on a chair lift before, “Frozen” will be sure to keep you off them for good, or at least make you think twice about getting in that last run.
To summarize what little plot there is to “Frozen,” we have best buds Joe (Shawn Ashmore — best known as Iceman in the X-Men movie reboots — how ironic) and Dan (Kevin Zegers, Damian from “Gossip Girl”), along with Dan’s girlfriend, Parker (Emma Bell, most recently seen on “The Walking Dead”), who decides to tag along.
Instead of buying lift tickets like everyone else, they decide to bribe the lift operator with cash money and a little flirtation on Parker’s part. It works. They have their fun and before the night is over, they once again work their persuasion magic and get the lift operator to allow them one last run (such a reliant operator that guy is).
Through a series of miscommunications, Joe, Dan and Parker get stuck on the lift by themselves, in the dark — with no one to save them for a week, as the mountain is only open Friday through Sunday. Oh no! What ever will they do?!
Catch my mocking tone? Karma… that’s all I can say.
Being the smart nuggets these three are, rather than freeze to death, they decide to do something about it. Dan jumps off the lift, feet first, and snaps both his legs at the ankles (not a good scene to watch for the squeamish). Meanwhile, Parker starts to develop frostbite on her face, and Joe is just chill, hanging out, not really doing much to help his best friend out.
As you can guess, Dan dies (I won’t say how, but some would say it’s quite predictable, given his situation). Joe and Parker hang out for another day or so, making light of their situation and discussing memories of Dan, all the while thinking of plans to get down. Sooner or later, one of the two dies (Again, I won’t say how — I don’t want to spoil such a great movie for ya’ll) and the lone member survives after a treacherous journey to safety.
As much as I trash such a movie, it was pretty intense to watch. For one, it’s a single-setting movie. It’s as if we’re stuck on the chairlift with them, trying to come up with our own solutions. That’s what makes it scary — the realism of the situation. And although one too many of their decisions may not have been well thought out, I’m sure if I were freezing to death, knowing that no help would make its way up the mountain, I might go to extremes and make stupid mistakes myself — just saying, you never know.
And despite an ending that I felt was unfulfilling, a story line that could have been a bit more developed and a need for slightly better acting, “Frozen” held my attention, made me cringe during certain scenes and also had me yelling at the screen — all the makings for a decent, scary movie — and much more believable than some crazy dream stalker who loves to don fedora hats and sport red-and-green-striped sweaters, am I right?
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