Frozen

"Frozen" is a suspense thriller that's better than it deserves to be, but still not as good as it should be. Jason (Kevin Zegers) and Parker (Emma Bell) are a soon-to-be-engaged couple on a weekend ski trip with Jason's best-friend-since-childhood Lynch (Shawn Ashmore). The trio get stuck on a closing Sunday night ski-lift ride that leaves them hanging forty-five feet above the ground in the midst of a fierce snow storm and below freezing temperatures. It's a simple yet imaginative device that bumps and grinds with palpable suspense and campy horror. The dialogue hits snags of sophomoric screenwriting tics that put a buzz-kill on the otherwise gripping tension on display. Less-than-polished performances from its young actors, work inadvertently to the film's advantage because we witness fresh discoveries of character levels in an intrinsically heightened natural atmosphere. The film's brilliant opening sequence--a series of close-up shots of the ski-lift's cables and gears--goes a long way to expressing the Hitchcock-style that writer/director Adam Green aspires to achieve. If only he had matched his material's verbal and thematic expression to his poetic eye.

Rated R. 93 mins. (B-) (Three Stars)