Writer/director Adam Green has made quite a name for himself among the genre in a mere handful of years. Debuting with the gory throwback slasher Hatchet, then the mind-bending thriller Spiral a year later. He has returned once again with the psychological survival pic Frozen, a film that I wasn't quite sure what to expect from going in. Surprisingly, the movie turned out to be quite a treat, despite the fact that it simply follows three characters and primarily takes place on a ski lift.

The story follows a couple best friends and the third-wheel girlfriend, as they attempt to bribe their way to the ski lift in hopes of venturing to the top and have a little fun in the snow. Fast-forward a bit and the group realize that they've spent too much time relaxing and not enough skiing, so they try to make one last trip up top before the resort closes for the week.

After convincing the lift operator to let them through again, they board it and slowly make their way up once again. However, unexpected circumstances and carelessness from the staff leaves the three stranded on the lift as the resort closes down. With no solution to get it moving again or a proper way to get down, the friends find themselves fending against hunger, the freezing winter air,  and their sanity, at least until the place opens again.. a week from now...

I didn't think I'd like the film, given its minimal story, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's been a while since I saw a flick that actually made me cringe and constantly think about the situation these leads have found themselves in. Once the lift stopped moving, my mind was racing as to how many possibilities they could attempt in hopes of getting down, as if I was in their shoes.

Adam Green pretty much nailed a majority of the solutions pretty well, and gave a somewhat realistic approach towards the attempts the characters make to get down, and how they even got stuck there to begin with (of course I've never been to a ski resort, so I don't know all their safety regulations and policies). Tension rises for both the characters and the viewer once a pack of wolves come into play.

Though the flick takes place in one location and with only a few leads, the movie never really seemed to get boring for me. Sure, there were a couple slow-paced scenes in the middle, but stuff like that added to the development of the characters, helping us really feel more for these people and wishing they'd make it out of the situation unscathed. I have few complaints towards the flick, but I have to admit that there were a couple nerve-wracking and semi-annoying scenes that I felt could've been handled differently.

Frozen is a surprisingly good example of a seemingly simple survival situation made into a harrowing 90-minute story of people going against the odds and attempt to make it out of a dire predicament alive. The film successfully makes the viewer feel as though they're the ones trapped up in the ski lift, adding to the ever-rising tension felt as the movie progresses. Definitely worth a check.