There are no spoilers in the OP other than the basic plot synopsis, but boxed spoilers will and should be used after that.
I’ve seen 4 movies* in the past few days, and the one I liked the best was the one that cost the least and has the most simple concept.
Here’s the basic plot from IMDB: “Three skiers are stranded on a chairlift and forced to make life-or-death choices that prove more perilous than staying put and freezing to death.”
There are trailers and clips on IMDB and elsewhere, but I’m not going to link to them because they are full of spoilers. I knew NOTHING when I went in other than that it was a low-budget film that just played at Sundance and it had some minor buzz, plus the plot outline above. That’s it. I hadn’t read any reviews, I hadn’t seen a clip, I hadn’t seen the trailer, I hadn’t even seen a still image from the movie, and I’m so glad. If I’d seen the trailer I would have been thinking, oh, I wonder when this or that or the other thing will happen because I know it’s coming. ARGH, I can’t imagine!
Seriously, if the concept sounds intriguing and you think there’s even the slightest chance that you will see this movie, DON’T WATCH THE TRAILER!!! It will take away from your enjoyment. Whoever made the trailer ought to be shot, or eaten by wolves.
It’s gut-wrenchingly tense, so if those kinds of movies (think, Open Water for one) leave you sweating, it’s not for you. On the other hand, if you really only like blood and guts splatter thriller/horror films, you’ll probably find this really boring. If you work for the skiing industry, you might be paid to squash and crush this movie like a bug. I’m probably just nuts, but In My Personal Opinion, paid operatives are all over IMDB like an ugly rash trying to discredit this movie. Not that everybody will like it and those who don’t are all shills for ski slopes or whatever, but if you read enough reviews, it becomes obvious who are the shills and who are those who just didn’t care for it. The shills seem to be the ones who so adamantly lay out the procedures that keep such a thing from happening.
What’s silly is that, of course, it’s just a movie. Of course the scenario could never happen in real life, but the movie does a good job of explaining away all the Things That Went Wrong to allow it to happen in the film. It’s a thriller. If all the Procedures That Are In Place To Keep ____ From Happening were applied to all movies, there wouldn’t be any thriller movies. Frozen is not going to affect the ski industry but maybe they’re scared it’ll become a cult hit. It won’t, at least not at the theaters. It’ll have a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it theatrical run, then come out on DVD in a couple of months.
It’s not a great film, and the characters can be annoying, though you do come to like the woman, played by Emma Bell, and the characters did and didn’t do things you’d think were basic common sense, but I still thought it was a nifty and effective (and affective, I actually had tears at a couple of points) little thriller.
In Chicago it’s playing at River East 21. I have no idea how long it’ll be there.