Plot
Three skiers are stranded on a chairlift and forced to make life-or-death choices that prove more perilous than staying put and freezing to death
Release Year: 2010
Rating: 6.3/10 (23,978 voted)
Critic's Score: 43/100
Director:
Adam Green
Stars: Shawn Ashmore, Emma Bell, Kevin Zegers
Storyline At Mount Holliston, snowboarders Dan Walker, his girlfriend Parker O'Neil and his best friend Joe Lynch don't have enough money to buy lift tickets. Parker bribes Jason, a lift-worker, with one hundred dollars. When the system is nearing closure, they force Jason to let them have one last pass. However, Jason needs to resolve a problem and his colleague misunderstands his instructions and stops the lift. The trio of skier and snowboarders gets stranded on the chairlift near the top of the mountain. When they see that the lights of the ski resort had been turned off, they need to make a choice: leave the chairlift or freeze to death.
Cast: Emma Bell
-
Parker O'Neil
Shawn Ashmore
-
Joe Lynch
Kevin Zegers
-
Dan Walker
Ed Ackerman
-
Jason
Rileah Vanderbilt
-
Shannon
Kane Hodder
-
Cody
Adam Johnson
-
Rifkin
Chris York
-
Ryan
Peder Melhuse
-
Driver
Opening Weekend: $131,395
(USA)
(7 February 2010)
(106 Screens)
Gross: $246,177
(USA)
(28 March 2010)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
When the wolf takes down actor Shawn Ashmore, it is actually a boarder collie in that one shot. The German shepherd that was trained to do the stunt mysteriously died two nights before the scene was shot.
Goofs:
Errors in geography:
There are no wolves in New England, where the story takes place.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Joe Lynch:
I don't see her. Dan Walker:
The shift changes. Just give it a couple of minutes. Parker O'Neil:
Are you sure about this? Dan Walker:
Yeah yeah, works all the time. Besides, this lady loves Lynch. Loves him.
User Review
Top-notch survival horror
Rating:
A college student goes on a weekend ski/snowboard outing with his
girlfriend and his jealous buddy. It was supposed to be just the guys,
but Parker came along, much to buddy Lynch's dismay. She is still
learning, and as a result of this, the trio spends most of the day on a
bunny slope. After some complaining from Lynch, they decide to go on a
quick run down the mountain before the day is through, but there's bad
weather moving in. They manage to convince the lift operator to let
them go, but through a series of unfortunate circumstances, the lift is
stopped midway up the mountain leaving them stuck as the place shuts
down for the week. With bad weather, the freezing cold and a large drop
between them and the ground, the chances for survival are looking slim.
And that's not taking the pack of hungry wolves into account.
I caught this at the Parks Mall AMC back in February and thought it was
fantastic. It's from the Open Water/Black Water/The Canyon school of
survival horror. All of those films are intense portraits of people
stuck in some form of wilderness nightmare with little hope of escape,
but Frozen may just be my pick for best of the bunch. At one point
early on into the trio's predicament, I discovered that I had
unknowingly squeezed my hands together so tightly that they had fallen
asleep, so it's safe to say that the tension got to me. The characters
also really grew on me as the film wore on, and I actually felt really
bad for them. This is Emma Bell's first film, and I was quite impressed
with her performance. While she has a spotty moment or two, for a
first-timer, I'd say she knocked it out of the park. Her standout scene
takes place when she's relaying her fears about what might happen to
her puppy if she dies on the lift, and if he'd think she abandoned him.
Kudos to Adam Green for shooting this film on location. There are no
green-screens or studio sets to be found here. Green and company found
an actual lift to go out and shoot on. Equal amounts of kudos must go
to the actors, as they were the ones up on the lift braving the
elements for the authenticity a film of this type needs. Their hard
work and tolerance paid off, as I often felt like I was right there on
the lift with the characters. The chilly atmosphere vividly leaps off
the screen, the bleak nature of the situation in which these three find
themselves never in doubt. This film also hit a little closer to home
for me, as I spent a week of skiing, etc. in Winter Park, CO not two
months prior to watching this at the theater. With that fresh in my
mind, I was left with an even stronger feeling of "What if?".
Also effective is the sparingly used score, usually played over visuals
of the abandoned ski park. There are some gruesome bits, particularly
the hand scene from the trailer and a discovery towards the film's end,
but most of the tension comes from the predicament itself and some of
the debasing things the characters have to do. Needing to take a leak
while stuck on a ski lift may not be a big deal if you're a guy, but
Parker's options aren't so easy.
I didn't think much of Adam Green's Hatchet. Frozen, on the other hand,
is worth raving about.
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