Cold Meat

This little indie movie does a decent job of combining certain popular psych thriller / horror tropes. The only two I'll list for fear of giving too much away are the use of isolated settings - in this case the first trope is Colorado Rockies just outside a tiny town during a blizzard. The second trope is the indomitable human will to survive the most unforgiving situations.

With that, enter main character David - an apparently mild mannered smallish 30 something guy just trying to get home in the early hours of a massive snow storm. Then enter pretty waitress in the only diner for miles that is trying to serve pie to David because the kitchen is otherwise closed. Then enter drunk and large boyfriend of said waitress who decides to smack her around in front of smallish David.

From the diner, we will eventually get back on those mountain roads, into an ever worsening and rather unpredictable storm. A storm that will prove to be the backdrop and indeed a growling character in itself as the two main characters fight to survive.

My main criticism of the movie will be the last 20 minutes. Without saying more substantively, I believe Directors missed an opportunity to make a much better and more horrifying movie. Instead we were left with a sudden and flat ending.

The acting was solid. The sets and cinematography are quite well done. But as often happens in B-land, the movie sputtered out.

This is a real thriller, but few people will be interested in just listening to the usual dialogues during the main action. The film was shot and directed well, but no more (in my opinion, of course) I liked the acting, but I wasn't interested... The main twist of the story, which will present a really unexpected surprise, is already read at the end of the first scene, while it is not obvious and well disguised. The monster itself is presented in the film only in order to diversify the narrative and enliven a slightly boring chronicle of events. The parallel between the villain and the monster seems invisible, but I was hoping to see the majestic philosophy of the struggle between good and evil. In this context, plot twists are necessary that would reveal unexpected motives, however, unfortunately, their absence makes everything too straightforward - the hunter and the victim become prey for an even more cruel beast under the influence of unforeseen circumstances.

I'm a sucker for low budget, few characters, isolation films. They can be hit or miss but I appreciated this one. I suggest going in blind and roll with it. It has its faults, a few minor things I would have changed/added but the acting was good, dialog was well written, and had some good use of timeline creativity. I don't want to say anymore more because not really knowing was a key pro for me. It's more of an watch alone for horror fans. I wouldn't play it for a friend movie night. It's no blockbuster but overall I was kept interested.

Also, props to the Downton Abbey actor, he has more range than I would have given him credit for.

First things first: if you've seen the trailer and that's why you're here, forget it. The trailer is hella misleading.

Secondly, yeah this a a pretty wordy/talky movie, there's few to no Big Action Scenes or Big Chase Scenes. The dialogue IS pretty decent, though.

Thirdly, yeah there are some continuity issues in the editing, but that's no big surprise for a first-timer, and unless you're REALLY picky it doesn't ruin the movie.

All that being said this is absolutely worth a watch, even if it could have benefited from being a little bit longer in the runtime and maybe, just maybe, using the chloroform more realistically? Anyway, I had no idea what I was getting into with this movie, only that it was recommended by a YouTuber I tend to get great recs from, and I was absolutely impressed. Especially considering it's a first-time effort from the director.

Basically that's it...

What a fantastic, totally suspenseful, and extremely well executed idea. As my title suggests, THIS is what can be done with very little and just some intelligent writing, smart direction, and outstanding acting.

Not giving anything away, but the core of the story is so good that quite honestly even without the tangential Supernatural aspect, it STILL would have been a great film. But, it does add a nice touch to the way things work out.

I haven't seen a movie done this well with pretty much only two characters and one VERY limited location that was so damn suspenseful and effective. That is a testament to the skill involved in putting together and pulling off something that is this powerful. YES, it is overall fairly simple, YES there is not a lot of 'Action' and stuff that many people need to keep their attention. BUT... what there is in my lowly and wretched opinion is an excellent demonstration of what can be done with a LOT of talent and not much else. This kind of quality I feel is quite rare these days.

I must also again stress how bloody GREAT the acting is. Particularly the fellow, but both do their job very well indeed. The expressiveness of the guy's eyes is just amazing. The way he conveys so many different moods and attitudes, just with his eyes, and in a VERY believable and effective way.

This movie is definitely better than the tepid 5.x rating is has now, oh yes... This kind of quality, whether you like this kind of story or not, is clearly evident. That is why I rated this film a strong and well deserved '8'

If you like movies with a simple setting, but with good, strong suspense, and you don't mind your Horror strongly character driven, you should indeed really appreciate this story as much as I did.