Frozen- He said

There are movies and then there are experiences in cinematic form. Frozen is a movie like this, much like Antichrist and Avatar. This movie epitomizes movies as an experience and art form. First of all there will be zero spoilers, or anything that is discussed plot wise has already been given away in the trailers and press junkets. In this movie, director Adam Green manages to create a movie that grips your emotions and captivates you in a way that few have done recently. I feel that this movie has been one of the best ones I’ve seen all year because once again, the experience of seeing it envelops you so much that any flaws that might be present don’t matter. I haven’t read much about this movie except that everyone that saw it at Ain’t It Cool’s Butt-Numb-A-Thon this year loved it and, along with Matthew Vaughn’s Kick Ass, it was one of the outstanding movies of the show.

One of the most striking things about this movie is the title credit with a very striking and bold font over a black background. To me, it is very reminiscent of Antichrist in that abrupt way that it shows the title. The story follows Dan and Joe and Dan’s girlfriend Parker, during an impromptu weekend ski trip. The relationship and connections that are made by these characters are the important factor after everything goes to hell. It’s the details and nuances of the trio’s performance that make this movie. I will say that the conflict between Parker and Joe over Dan is pretty spot on given that I’ve had this argument with my best friend and vice versa. The choice of music at the beginning of the movie was a bit off putting mostly because the great credits give you a feeling you’re about to watch an almost House of the Devil style 80’s horror throwback movie, instead you get straight up dude bro rock. I know it’s a minor complaint but honestly, that it is the only bad thing I have to say about this movie. On the other hand, composer Andrew Garfield does a great atmospheric score that invokes the, dare I say, chilling mood in the latter part of the movie.

As far as the movie it self, it does a fantastic job of portraying nature as the villain in the story. You see takes of the dark night, and you see the moon’s face looking over our protagonists in the most evil way possible. Even the snow covered trees end up looking more like demonic hands coming from the ground, in a way that I’m not sure was intended originally, but ends up adding a nice bit of touch of ambiance to the movie. Antichrist comparison #2: A lot of the lingering nature scenes reminded me of the creepy forest scenes in Antichrist. The calm silence contrasting with the horror in the ski lift. The unforgiving nature of the snow was reminiscent of the acorns falling on Eden, and Her calling nature “Satan’s Church”. With both of these movies I believe nature can be Satan‘s Church, and I’ll be worshipping a mother earth spirit just in case. Both of these movies truly show the unforgiving side of nature, which in my mind is freaking scarier than Freddy or any horror monster. After setting up these characters in a realistic manner, Adam Green puts them through some of the most horrific experiences shown on film, and in between they try to deal with it as best as they can. They have fear, anger, guilt, remorse and even nostalgia, these are all coping methods that you could easily imagine yourself doing. Maybe that’s the appeal of these characters? That you can see yourself in someone of them in a small ways and it makes this all the more intense.

When it is all said and done I felt completely drained after watching this movie. It’s a tiring experience in the best of ways, because you feel like you went along with them for this ride from hell. This is not a bad thing whatsoever, considering that it is the point of the movie to almost feel like you went through what the main trio went through. Once again it reminded me of a Antichrist as a movie that felt like a beautifully shot experience, where the end product is worth more than the sum of its parts. Basically what I’m saying is freaking go see this movie now. You need to experience it in a theater with a crowd, watch it with some fellow genre film buddies, or horror movie types, even people easily freaked out. You won’t be disappointed.