Frozen (2010) Review – Ice Cold Survival Horror Thrills

Welcome to Knockout Horror. It’s day 26 of our 31 Days of Halloween review marathon and today I wanted to go back to a movie that really came out of the blue back in 2010 – Adam Green’s Frozen (2010). Now, I’m not saying that this is a perfect survival horror movie by any stretch, but it is far more enjoyable than you might think. Let’s take a look.

A Ridiculous Yet Weirdly Feasible Plot

Before we start, yes, this movie does have the same title as the 2013 Disney movie. If you are expecting me to make a pun about that then I am sorry to disappoint you, you will just have to let it go.

Frozen sees three friends, Joe (Shawn Ashmore), Parker (Emma Bell), and Dan (Kevin Zegers), spending the day together skiing. What starts as goofy fun quickly descends into an absolute nightmare when the group find themselves trapped on a ski lift after the resort closes.

I’ll be honest, that plot doesn’t sound like the most obvious outline for a horror story, does it? I don’t think many people view ski lifts as being a potential hazard outside of somehow falling off of one (which, incidentally, does happen fairly often).

I mean, surely there are safeguards to prevent this very thing from happening, right?

While that might be very true, the predicament that the group find themselves in here comes about as the result of a number of unfortunate coincidences. The friends didn’t actually have tickets to ski at this resort. Parker bribed the chair lift attendant to let them on so nobody, other than him, actually knows that they are there.

It’s Sunday so the resort is now closed until the following weekend, the group are pretty high up, and there is nobody around for miles. “But what about cellphones?”, I hear you ask… Well, they left them in their lockers back at the resort because this trip is a deliberate attempt to disconnect from the hustle and bustle.

So despite how frankly ridiculous this plot actually sounds, writer and director Adam Green has pretty much every angle covered. You know what makes it even scarier? It has actually happened numerous times before. Even as recently as 2024 when a woman was trapped for 15 hours in Lake Tahoe. She screamed all night until she lost her voice, but nobody could hear her.

It’s a genuinely fun survival horror

We’ve established that the concept here isn’t that ridiculous at all, but where does the horror come in? They just have to try and stay warm and wait for rescue, right?

“The longer the night goes on and the more willing they are to take risks, the more harrowing the situation gets. Things continually go from bad to worse.”

Well, aside from the aforementioned problem of the resort being closed for the next 5 days, they are horribly cold. So cold, in fact, that they are almost immediately beginning to suffer from frostbite. They have no food, no water, and absolutely no way to get down.

Frozen plays out as a very deliberately paced, one location survival horror that cycles between periods of desperate character conversation, attempts to get help, and risky choices to try and escape their predicament.

It sounds rather boring but it’s actually a lot of fun. Character conversations range from simple angst regarding their situation and interactions designed to expand on their personalities. Sometimes they are quite funny, other times they are quite dramatic.

The longer the night goes on and the more willing they are to take risks, the more harrowing the situation gets. Things continually go from bad to worse.

It’s surprisingly compelling stuff and the turmoil the characters face while deciding what to do to get out of the situation ups the tension dramatically.

Actually pretty realistic

Frozen is not what you would call scary, but this is one of those stories that really forces you to wonder what you would do in that situation. Whenever you can place yourself in the character’s shoes, it’s easier to become invested.

“This chair lift feels absolutely freezing and the characters look like they are suffering tremendously.”

There’s nothing too outlandish here, either. This isn’t a supernatural tale and it is very grounded in reality which makes it more believable. Adam Green even put his stars through sheer hell filming the movie on a real ski lift to maintain authenticity. Poor bastards!

The characters are enormously flawed and incredibly ill equipped to deal with this scenario. They have absolutely no idea what to do and, as a result, they consistently make the wrong decisions. Their plight feels legitimately hopeless and that’s something that really helps movies like this feel a lot more tense.

Green has done a really nice job of actually capturing the sub-zero temperatures, too. This chair lift feels absolutely freezing and the characters look like they are suffering tremendously.

Minor little pieces of body-horror nastiness will almost certainly make you squirm and wince. There’s certain scenes that are really quite nasty and you can almost feel how painfully some of the cold related wounds would burn and sting.

Imperfect horror fun

This movie represents something that we really don’t see much nowadays. It’s a great example of that middle-class of horror that could really surprise you. A movie with a low budget, a unique concept, and a willing cast that somehow ends up punching well above its weight.

“Anyone who gets frustrated by stupid horror logic will probably have a field day, here.”

It feels like the genre either trends towards being good or bad, as of late. The middle-class of horror is far less prominent and movies like this are few and far between.

With that being said, there are a lot of problems. The characters are horribly unlikable, for the most part. They spend a ton of time bickering and generally not doing anything to make the audience warm to them. It’s one of those situations where you end up wondering why they are even spending time together at all.

Their banter can actually be quite funny, though. Parker has one of my favourite lines in horror when Joe tells her he has to pee – “Ew, Lynch. If you pull your junk out in front of me, I might puke”. I crack up hard at the way Emma Bell delivers this line while almost crying.

As I mentioned earlier, these characters are ill-equipped to deal with this situation and they do just about the worst thing at every possible opportunity. Anyone who gets frustrated by stupid horror logic will probably have a field day, here.

Certain things happen that are not at all grounded in realism which does detract from the enjoyment quite a bit. There’s major plot points involving wolves that are so farcical and beyond belief that they actually risk ruining the movie entirely. Removing it would have been a net gain, in my opinion.

I found the score to be far too overbearing, as well. There’s certain moments where it absolutely dominates and just ruins the ambience. It feels ill fitting for this type of movie, too. It’s probably worth mentioning that the whole concept can get pretty repetitive after a while. It gives up its big moments early and that leaves the final third sagging a little.

With that being said, Frozen is a very fun survival horror that’s a great option if you just want an easy going popcorn horror that doesn’t demand much from the audience.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.