Frozen – Blu-ray Review

The Film:

Bring mittens! That’s what director Adam Green told me prior to seeing the film theatrically this past February, and as comical and promotional as it sounds, it’s also a dark bit of foreshadowing to Frozen. There’s a sense of tension from scene one that keeps a death grip on the audience and doesn’t let go until the credits roll. That’s rare. What, on paper, seems like a simple idea – three friends who get stuck on a ski lift – is much, much tougher to take a few locations and make a great thriller, yet even as rambunctious and fun as Hatchet is, fright fans forget about his subtle psychological thriller Spiral, for which this film resembles in structure. A tense, cold thriller that is as claustrophobic and moody as another snowed covered masterpiece, John Carpenter’s The Thing.

Adam Green keeps everything tight and interesting, yet it’s smart enough to be realistic which is why the film is so good. For the film to work, the audience must be invested into the three characters, and while dialogue and situations seem typical, I’d say you’re not giving the film’s events the thought it deserves. Frozen works because it offers the question of “what would you do?” And the best part about that question is that nobody thinks of it when they’re planning a trip to a ski resort in the cold, dead time of the year known as winter. This seemingly sneaks up on the characters, that as their situation worsens, it becomes a grave realization that somehow, amongst the packing and the sense of what type of fun they’ll have, they just weren’t prepared and now they’re damned.

Frozen is like Open Water, another fine bit of self-contained terror that features people who are accidentally caught by a simple mistake. Quite simply, no studio would have made a film like this. The cast is great, the script is pretty solid, and if anything, it gets a lot of credit for just being original, in a horror movie world of constantly copying the past. Frozen is a nail-biter. Having grown-up in the Heartland, I know a thing or two about cold, brutal winters and I’ll be damned if stuck somewhere in the snow like these characters, but even if an event happened, at least I’m smart enough to remember what Adam Green told me: bring mittens.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Slowly, Anchor Bay has been delivering solid HD transfers, and this film benefits from a strong, detailed effort. Cold colors run throughout the film and they’re just as biting as a winter’s wind. It retains its film quality with sharp, deep blacks and details. The audio in Dolby Digital TrueHD offers a subtle but strong effort too. The winter winds whirl around in the rear speakers, along with some low end bass to send a chill down your spine. It’s a great HD presentation.

Commentaries: Adam Green is featured on two commentary tracks with one being a cast discussion with the film’s stars, and the other with his editor and cinematographer. Both tracks offer a little repetition, but also offer plenty of solid material in stories and film-making tidbits that make them each worth a listen.

All extras are in HD.

Catching Frostbite: The Making of Frozen: This is a fine 11 minute making-of with interviews and set footage that is pretty good. Despite the two commentaries, somehow Green still offers up new topics of how the film came to be.

Three Below Zero: This ten minute piece focuses on the cast, their casting, and working dynamics.

Shooting Through It: This is really good. We get interviews with Cinematographer Will Barratt and Production Designer Bryan McBrien on how they shot the film and made it all realistic. Great stuff for budding film-makers.

Beating the Mountain: Surviving Frozen: Here’s the disc’s best extra: A deep, 55-minute documentary on the making of the film, offering a candid look at the ups and downs of making this film, which at times, was a tough film with the weather and the demands.

Deleted Scenes in SD with Optional Commentary and a Trailer round out the extras. Interestingly, there’s an Easter Egg called Chair 92 which talks a little about a suicide that happened near the filming.

Conclusion: Frozen is great and original. You won’t be going anywhere in the snow after this…

The Film: Rating:

The Blu-ray: Rating: