Low-budget direct-to-DVD indie horror movie Cold Storage is unexpectedly rewarding. Independently made in 2005 for around 1 million, it won DVD distribution in 2010 with a May release. Watch it soon because it deserves appreciation. (The director made 2 previous micro-budget features that had some exposure on cable, which I haven't looked up, and this looks like the height of his movie making career so far.) -Minor spoilers ahead- Cold Storage begins when a pretty blonde lady, Melissa, leaves her philandering but contrite husband. Her wish to start over draws her towards a nearby rural town, where a summer theater acting gig awaits.
Melissa's journey takes her down a dark wet country road. She's thinking about her new start, when something flies out of the night and shatters the windshield, and everything goes spinning. Seconds later, her car is a wreck and she lies paralyzed and helpless on the lonely road, a heartbeat from death.
By chance, a driver in a creepy old car happens on the gruesome scene. Instead of leaping to help, he ominously backs in with unknown intentions. He's a mentally challenged hillbilly, who tenderly takes Melissa's barely breathing body to the passenger seat, and tows her car to hide it where nobody should ever find it.
From this point, the first half of the movie becomes the story of Clive Mercer, the child-minded loner who has always hidden in his desolate shack on the outskirts of town. It drags a bit with only one active character, before it branches out when Melissa's husband and sister resolve differences to team up and find her. The movie seems headed for boringville at first, but Clive's scenes really help it cook later on, because they win genuine pity for his loneliness (a minor feat of cool writing). He becomes a sympathetic monster while he gives a horrible kind of love to his special secret friend. Despite his disgusting role, he's not the nastiest character in the story when it unfolds with more than it seemed to hold at first. It's also cool that the character who might slay the monster is hardly better: it's the town's cloddishly dumb, mustachioed and bejowled sheriff. He can barely be bothered to search for a missing lady, because he's dumb and doesn't care for city slickers. In one notable scene, he slurps egg yolks through a soda straw in a way that's grosser than the worst gore in this movie.
The movie's best asset is the way it relies so little on action, cheap scares, or effects (not that it's afraid to go for a few hilarious gross-outs), and branches out through it's characters in a humorously off-kilter way. Even incidental characters with just a few lines help reveal a small town full of stories, such as the faded glamor queen who runs a thrift shop where Clive dares to buy something odd for his special secret friend. The movie draws from well known genre sources and combines them with it's own personality. It doesn't sit in one genre (horror, suspense, black comedy), it does things it's own way (even when it's clunky), and it mines entertainment from taboo. You can tell it has personality by the way the titular situation is only a very brief part of the plot (in other words, maybe too unique to easily market.) Unlike crappier horror movies, it's a book you can't judge by it's cover, and it's probably 73 times better than other much more financially successful ones.
I'm not saying it's a flawless classic, but it makes me hope the creators make more and better (some of the actors have already had success with recognizable TV parts). It's worth the attention of people who appreciate underrated, creatively creepy movies. Netflix has it, and you should give it a try.
Melissa's journey takes her down a dark wet country road. She's thinking about her new start, when something flies out of the night and shatters the windshield, and everything goes spinning. Seconds later, her car is a wreck and she lies paralyzed and helpless on the lonely road, a heartbeat from death.
By chance, a driver in a creepy old car happens on the gruesome scene. Instead of leaping to help, he ominously backs in with unknown intentions. He's a mentally challenged hillbilly, who tenderly takes Melissa's barely breathing body to the passenger seat, and tows her car to hide it where nobody should ever find it.
From this point, the first half of the movie becomes the story of Clive Mercer, the child-minded loner who has always hidden in his desolate shack on the outskirts of town. It drags a bit with only one active character, before it branches out when Melissa's husband and sister resolve differences to team up and find her. The movie seems headed for boringville at first, but Clive's scenes really help it cook later on, because they win genuine pity for his loneliness (a minor feat of cool writing). He becomes a sympathetic monster while he gives a horrible kind of love to his special secret friend. Despite his disgusting role, he's not the nastiest character in the story when it unfolds with more than it seemed to hold at first. It's also cool that the character who might slay the monster is hardly better: it's the town's cloddishly dumb, mustachioed and bejowled sheriff. He can barely be bothered to search for a missing lady, because he's dumb and doesn't care for city slickers. In one notable scene, he slurps egg yolks through a soda straw in a way that's grosser than the worst gore in this movie.
The movie's best asset is the way it relies so little on action, cheap scares, or effects (not that it's afraid to go for a few hilarious gross-outs), and branches out through it's characters in a humorously off-kilter way. Even incidental characters with just a few lines help reveal a small town full of stories, such as the faded glamor queen who runs a thrift shop where Clive dares to buy something odd for his special secret friend. The movie draws from well known genre sources and combines them with it's own personality. It doesn't sit in one genre (horror, suspense, black comedy), it does things it's own way (even when it's clunky), and it mines entertainment from taboo. You can tell it has personality by the way the titular situation is only a very brief part of the plot (in other words, maybe too unique to easily market.) Unlike crappier horror movies, it's a book you can't judge by it's cover, and it's probably 73 times better than other much more financially successful ones.
I'm not saying it's a flawless classic, but it makes me hope the creators make more and better (some of the actors have already had success with recognizable TV parts). It's worth the attention of people who appreciate underrated, creatively creepy movies. Netflix has it, and you should give it a try.