A badly decomposed body turns up in the Alaskan wilderness, and police Sgt. Jack Holcombe (Nicolas Cage) is assigned to the case. Though he has already handed in his two-week notice (he accepted a job in the private sector), Holcombe becomes obsessed with tracking down the killer, and is soon convinced that Robert Hansen (John Cusack) - a well-respected husband, father, and businessman - is actually a monster who is raping and murdering young girls.
The case against Hansen is strengthened with the discovery of Cindy Paulson (Vanessa Hudgens), a teenage prostitute and the only girl to survive her encounter with him. But will Cindy agree to testify before this alleged serial killer strikes again?
Despite being inspired by actual events, The Frozen Ground features some familiar cinematic tropes, from the relationship that develops between Jack and Cindy (to gain her trust, Jack tells Cindy about his sister, who was killed years earlier by a drunk driver) to the way the film evolves into a police procedural, with Jack and his fellow officers searching frantically for concrete evidence to put Hansen away for good. In addition, there’s a late sequence set on the mean streets of Anchorage, where both Jack and Hansen are frantically searching for Cindy, that, though admittedly tense, felt as if it might have been lifted straight out of an episode of Law and Order.
Still despite writer / director Scott Walker’s familiar approach to the material, The Frozen Ground remains a highly effective thriller thanks in large part to its all-star cast. Cage is solid as the detective determined to bring a killer to justice, and John Cusack shifts between warm, loving family man and cold-blooded killer with the greatest of ease, delivering a performance that’s guaranteed to give you nightmares; the extended scene in which he kidnaps Debbie Peters (Gia Mantegne) and murders her in a secluded area proves to be the film’s most chilling sequence.
Rising above them all, however, is Vanessa Hudgens as Cindy, a girl who has spent most of her life on the streets and was lucky enough to escape from Hansel before he could finish her off. The movie opens moments after Cindy slipped away from her abductor, and in this scene as well as all the others, Hudgens shows incredible range, convincingly portraying a confused young woman whose survival instincts are in direct conflict with her desire to see Hansen locked away for good (a few times throughout the movie, Cindy returns to the “safety” of her pimp Clate, played by rapper 50 Cent). It is a tremendous performance, and those scenes in which her Cindy is featured - whether it be dancing for cash at a strip club or helping Jack with his investigation - are the best in the entire film.
That’s not to suggest that The Frozen Ground is nothing more than a showcase for its talented cast; even those moments that feel formulaic work as intended (director Walker and his crew generate plenty of genuine tension throughout), and the cold, barren Alaskan landscape proves the perfect setting for this dark, disturbing tale. So, while The Frozen Ground may not be the most original film ever produced, it still manages, more often than not, to drag us to the edge of our seats.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
No, check that… it’s several survival stories wrapped into one, with each new twist, each new danger as thrilling as the last.
John Ottway (Liam Neeson) works as a marksman for an Alaskan-based oil company, utilizing his skills as a hunter and sharpshooter to ensure that no wolves attack the drillers in the field.
When a plane carrying him and other oil workers crashes in the snowy wilderness, Ottway gathers up the survivors - including Diaz (Frank Grillo), Talget (Dermot Mulroney), Flannery (Joe Anderson), Hendrick (Dallas Roberts), and Burke (Nonso Anozie) - and convinces them to build a fire before they all freeze to death.
Believing that no help is coming for them, Ottway tells the group they have to make their way south. But the trek won’t be an easy one; along with the ice and cold, the survivors are being stalked by a ferocious pack of wolves, which seems intent on picking them off one at a time!
The Grey is a movie that rarely stops to take a breath, challenging viewers to keep up as its characters face one deadly threat after another, never quite sure what new peril is waiting around the bend. The plane crash, which is as nerve-racking as they come, sets the stage perfectly, with very few surviving this initial ordeal (there’s a particularly moving scene in which Ottway explains to a badly-injured colleague, played by James Badge Dale, that he is going to die, then stays with the man, comforting him in his final moments). The harsh conditions come into play as well, with blizzards, sub-zero temperatures, and not a hint of civilization on the horizon.
The real threat, however, are the wolves, which are attacking the survivors not for food, but to protect their territory. At times the wolf attacks are both sudden and fierce, yet the scenes in which the creatures are out of sight, howling in the distance, are just as terrifying. Even when we don’t see them, we know these wolves are there, and the survivors cannot let their guard down for a second.
Neeson is superb as Ottway, the only man strong enough to lead these workers to safety while at the same time dealing with a heartbreak of his own (in early scenes, Ottway is penning a letter to his lost love, played in flashbacks by Anne Openshaw), and Mulroney, Grillo, and the others are solid in support, with director Carnahan infusing each and every character with a distinct personality (Mulroney’s Talget relates a sweet story about his young daughter, who he hopes to see again one day).
Yet it’s the battle between man and wolf that makes The Grey an unforgettable motion picture, and I am forever changed by the experience of watching it. Much like that early scene in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s The Revenant made me fear bears, The Grey now has me scared shitless of wolves!
Rating: 9 out of 10
A college student (Emily Blunt) is looking for a ride home for the holidays, and on the college’s bulleting board spots a leaflet offering a lift to anyone heading to Delaware. She decides to take a chance and answer the ad, and eventually discovers that the driver (Ashton Holmes) offering the ride is in her same Philosophy class.
With a snowstorm approaching, the two hit the road, and after a brief stop at a small gas station / convenience store, the driver veers off the highway onto a back road, promising the student that it’s a shortcut. But a near-accident leaves them stranded in a snow bank, and as the student is busy trying to figure out why the driver knows so much about her personal life, the two realize they are trapped in a bizarre supernatural world, where ghostly visions and the spirit of a corrupt highway patrolman (Martin Donovan), who died 50 years ago along this same stretch of road, make the sub-zero temperatures seem even colder.
Produced by (among others) Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney, Wind Chill starts off as a psychological thriller, with Emily Blunt’s bitchy-as-hell college student (she’s really unlikable early on) fearing that she may have hitched a ride with a stalker (he somehow knew that she wears glasses, which she has never done in public).
This storyline, which never really picks up any steam, eventually gives way to supernatural elements, and it’s at this point Wind Chill offers up a few decent scares; the student’s run-in with a guy she spots walking through the snow is especially creepy. But while the psychological cat-and-mouse game between the student and the driver (nobody has a name in this movie) is left underexplored, the ghosts and specters roaming the woods are given a bit too much screen time, and as a result they eventually lose their effectiveness (even the big reveal at the end, when we witness a flashback to the tragedy that kicked off these ethereal events, proved to be a story twist we’ve seen before).
Wind Chill isn’t without its strong points. The performances are good (especially Blunt, who we don’t like at first but eventually warm up to); the central mystery of the haunted woods is, for a while, intriguing; and as mentioned above there are moments scattered throughout that will have your heart pounding. Unfortunately, it’s all too familiar, and even at a scant 90 minutes Wind Chill feels too long, wearing out its welcome well before the end credits roll.
Rating: 5 out of 10
For 2006’s The Last Winter, Fessenden served as director, co-writer, editor, and even plays a small role (as Foster, an ill-fated executive). Set in the Arctic Circle, The Last Winter is a smartly written, expertly acted horror film that also manages to say a little something about the effects of global warming.
The North Corporation, an American oil company, has sent a team into the Arctic Circle to research the possibility of drilling in the area.
The team’s leader, Ed Pollack (Ron Perlman), is anxious to get things rolling, but is opposed by environmentalist James Hoffman (James LeGros), who believes the rising temperatures may be releasing “sour gas” (which contains hydrogen sulfide) into the air. Hoffman is concerned that this gas might cause hallucinations to crop up among the team, and could even lead to insanity. His fears are strengthened when Maxwell (Zach Gilford), the youngest of the group, disappears for an entire day, then returns saying he “saw something” in the snow.
Still, despite Hoffman’s warnings, Pollack pushes forward, and demands that the environmentalist allow them to move heavy equipment into the area. But Maxwell won’t be the only one to see strange things in the snow, leaving Hoffman and the others to eventually wonder if any of them will get out of this barren wasteland alive.
Ron Perlman delivers a bravura performance as Pollack, the boisterous leader who wants nothing more than to start drilling, and it’s to the actor’s credit that, even when we don’t agree with his actions, we understand his motivations and even kinda like him (when he first arrives, Pollack gets everyone outside to play an impromptu game of football). LeGros is also quite good as Hoffman, the voice of reason, and the scenes in which his character and Pollack butt heads are among the film’s most compelling.
Rounding out the excellent cast are Zach Gilford as the troubled Maxwell; Connie Britton as Abby, Pollack’s former flame who is now romantically involved with Hoffman (causing even greater friction between the two men); Kevin Corrigan as Motor, the substance-abusing mechanic; Jamie Harrold as Elliot, Hoffman’s nosebleed-prone assistant; and Pato Hoffmann as Lee, a native Alaskan who believes the troubles are being caused by a Wendigo, an evil spirit that possesses humans and causes them to act out violently.
Along with the performances, The Last Winter is beautifully shot, capturing the stark, frozen landscape in a way that only adds to the overall tension, and there are even supernatural elements introduced in the form of ghostly animals that appear from time to time, stampeding across the snow. Though we’re never quite sure if these spirits are real or simply hallucinations, the scenes in which they are featured are among the most compelling in the entire film.
Throw in a pretty convincing plane crash, some decent make-up effects (one deceased team member loses his eyes to some hungry ravens), and a final 10 minutes you won’t soon forget, and you have a horror film that does more than simply deliver a message on global warming.
Rating: 8 out of 10