Chilled to the bone -- the icy grip of Frozen

Definitely check out writer-director Adam Green's Frozen, one of most interesting low budget horror films I've seen in quite a while. Well, horror may not be the fairest label to use, as it's more suspense film, but what we're really talking about is the awesome sub-genre of survival-horror.

It's a great concept -- three college age friends go snowboarding and decide to take one last run down the mountain, only to find themselves stranded and alone in a chairlift, high above the ground. It's night and below zero and to make matters worse, it's Sunday and the ski resort is closed for the next four days.

Green sets up an impossible predicament for these characters that's hellishly simple and effective. Be advised: the movie has a pretty awkward start. The setup scenes don't deliver a lot of character and you're getting skeptical. But keep watching. Because once that chairlift stops, Green doesn't let up for a second. As the peril escalates, the characters reveal more of themselves under extreme duress, faced with the growing realization that their prospects for survival are worse than slim.

Similar in concept to Open Water, the movie has several affectionate Spielberg & Lucas references. Adam Green is clearly someone who loves his old school horror movies. What's truly fantastic about Frozen is the economy and the reality. It's such a simple, vivid concept: three people trapped on a chairlift. But the filmmakers go out of their way to make their situation feel as immediate and real as possible. There is no green-screen or studio work here -- the entire film was shot on location up in a chairlift, largely in the middle of the night. It captures a visceral sense of place an immediacy in an incredibly effective way. Like the main character in 127 Hours, the characters in Frozen haven't told anybody where they are, and that fear of being forgotten by the world and left to die is compelling and grim.

You won't find any spoilers here, but I'll just say that there are some unexpected elements in Frozen that are depicted as effectively as I've ever seen by the cast members in question.

Frozen is a low budget thriller with horror roots. You have to be willing to suspend a little disbelief and embrace a little pulp. But if you have a fondness for effective, inventive horror, Frozen will scare you and then some. Adam Green is somebody to watch.