MOVIE REVIEW: The Frozen Ground

Movie: The Frozen Ground
Director: Scott Walker
Writer: Scott Walker
Studio: Grindstone Entertainment Group, Emmett/Furia Films, Cheetah Vision

Horror movies are filled with serial killers to entertain and scare us. With characters like Jason Voorhees and Leatherface being such a big part of pop culture it is easy to forget that real serial killers exist in our world and they are often even more sinister than their movie counterparts. In the early 80s a man named Robert Hansen murdered somewhere between 17 and 21 women (that we know of) around Anchorage, Alaska. This year a film called The Frozen Ground was made about this man and the Alaskan State Trooper that brought him to justice.

 The Frozen Ground is a by numbers serial killer thriller. You get a little bit of the killer doing his dirty work and a lot of a cop trying to figure out how to catch him. The only real difference here is that it is based on a true story and there is a girl that escaped involved. It is an interesting enough movie to keep you watching but it is not anything terribly new or original. You may enjoy it at the time but you probably will not be telling all your friends about it the next day.

The only thing really separating this film from the others like it is the cast. There are a lot of familiar faces here from Dean Norris to 50 Cent. The biggest stars are Nicolas Cage as the State Trooper after Hansen, Vanessa Hudgens (unfortunately) as the escaped victim and John Cusack as the killer. Cage plays his role more subtly and seriously than you would expect out of him, which was refreshing, and Cusack does a fantastic job as the seemingly normal and timid murderer.

For an inexperienced director like Scott Walker this a great start to a career. The desolate Alaskan wilderness is shot in a way that reflects the bleak and hopeless mood of the first hour or so of the film. In contrast, the busy city of Anchorage seems dangerous and dirty much like the people the girl gets mixed up with in the first place.

As far as VOD choices go there are better ones out there but there are also far worse films. With a lackluster plot that makes it hard to really care about the characters it is easy to see why The Frozen Ground did not get a wide theatrical release, despite the big name cast. Still, if you like shows like Law & Order or have a big interest in real life serial killers it would be worth a watch, otherwise I would wait and maybe it will show up on Netflix or a service of the like.

Score: C

Review written by: Justin Proper

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