Since we are in the dead of winter and have gotten over three feet of snow in the past couple weeks we decided to watch Frozen. (Well, I kind of made Elisa watch Frozen.) Plus it was on Instant Watch, so there was nothing to lose.
The first half hour is just three friends (Parker, Dan, and Lynch) on a ski trip. Frustrated after late start and a day spent being slowed down by Dan's girlfriend they convince the ski lift operator to let them do one final run as the park is closing down. When he gets called away and leaves someone else to shut down the lift there is a little miscommunication about who is still out there and the ski left ends up getting shut off with our gang still dangling 30 feet in the air.
So it's a pretty basic set up, actually. The idea probably crosses most people's mind during that long, slow ascent up the mountain on ski trips. Well, Adam Green actually made a movie about it. And the movie works because the terror and suspense feels very realistic. What the heck are you supposed to do if you are stuck on a chairlift in the freezing cold after they shut the lights off?
Well, after a couple hours Dan decides to jump. ("You thinking what I'm thinking? Aim for the bushes!") It does not go well. His legs are badly broken, he can't move, and now he is going to possibly bleed to death before he can freeze to death. ("I’m in an extraordinarily large amount of pain. The bone has gone through the skin. I fear it might be gangrenous. The wound is beginning to smell a little like almonds... which is not good. Please? No one? Sorry. I’ll try the other leg. Ahhhhhh!")
So now their situation has gotten much, much worse. Adam actually takes it surprisingly well even though he is fucked beyond belief and probably going to die. Before he has the chance to freeze or bleed out, some hungry wolves come by and rip him to pieces. The end.
But that still leaves Parker and Lynch up in the chair. They wait a day, hoping that someone will come by to tend the grounds even though the part won't re-open until the weekend. Eventually, Lynch decides he will try to climb across the cable and down the tower. He actually makes it down safe but the wolves give chase and help never comes for Parker. The next day when the chair conveniently falls half-way down she is able to make an easier jump and hobble down the mountains. The wolves decide they would rather have leftover Lynch and don't bother to eat her. She staggers out to the highway and gets rescued by a passing car.
OK, so it was a good and effective horror film that maintained a lot of suspense. It definately freaked me out and left us shook up and in need of an Office episode before we could go to sleep, so I guess that is good praise for a horror movie.
The real question going into this was "Can they get 90 interesting minutes out of this material?" The premise is good, but it sounds like a short story idea. Stuck, panic, freeze, take futile action, get hurt and make things worse, slow death, the end. How many boring, character developing conversations were going to get thrown in? Well, there were some moments that dragged but for the most part it was well-paced. I thought they kind of ignored issues of dehydration and starvation (I don't recall anyone having to eat snow to stay hydrated, even though three days passed). And when Parker wet her pants I thought there would be more sever consequences from the freezing cold but the scene was mostly played for shame and emberassment.
Finally, the wolves were too random and evil. I think the movie would have been better if the dumb ass kids die or escape based on their own actions, but having wolf assassins come by and wipe out anyone who makes it to the ground was a little deux ex machina.
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