By JASON COMERFORD The high point of Adam Green’s 2006 slasher homage Hatchet was a gloriously over-the-top 360-degree camera move around a character getting the top of their head ripped off; you may be as surprised as I was to find that the most resonant moment of Green’s subsequent genre entry Frozen was a quiet conversation about a pet dog. Frozen went more or less direct to video, despite a decent reception at its 2010 Sundance Film Festival premiere and a limited theatrical release from Anchor Bay, but it’s slowly getting the attention it deserved. Green’s Hatchet films are goofy, gooey fun, but Frozen is a marked step up the quality ladder, favoring keenly observed characterizations and careful direction over wall-to-wall gore and cackling, unkillable psychopaths. Collaborating again with Green, composer Andy Garfield took the film’s admirable restraint to heart, contributing a subtle, churning score that skillfully enhances moments of both bittersweet warmth and icy terror. As young skiers Kevin Ziegers, Shawn Ashmore and Emma Bell find themselves trapped on a chairlift with night falling, storms closing in, and wolves circling below, the full extent of both Green and Garfield’s talents emerge, giving all three characters believable motivations and unique reactions to the impossible situation they’re faced with. Many other genre efforts (including Green’s own) cynically set up their characters as disposable slasher bait, but Frozen demonstrates a genuine interest in the people at its center, and generates real tension as they struggle to escape their increasingly perilous dilemma. Garfield doesn’t skimp on the terror, though, and he does the heavy lifting in one of the film’s key scenes, as one of the trio faces a grisly fate from a pack of hungry wolves. “I’m Pretty Afraid” begins with a blast of rattling percussion as the wolves appear, and proceeds to ramp the tension up to unbearable levels, the strings swirling into a horrific cacophony as the inevitable unfolds. Green lets the worst of the scene play out in the viewer’s imagination, choosing tight close-ups and letting Garfield’s music to rise to a horrific shriek – the scream the viewer feels in the back of their own throat. The score is equally effective in later moments of quiet introspection and elegiac beauty, giving the story an added, welcome layer of warmth and texture, but when it’s time to go for the jugular, Garfield doesn’t shrink from the task. Frozen’s score was recently released in a limited edition of 500 from 2M1 Records; digital downloads can also be purchased from Amazon and iTunes. |
Click below to listen to a sample from
Installment Prize: What do you think? Click here to submit a comment Awesome Websites! Composer Interview (Bloody Disgusting)
James Bernard bares his fangs. |
Howlin' Wolf | The
contest period for
this installment will run until noon on
Sunday, October 16. The
constest period for Week 1 installments 1-3 is
now closed and the
drawing for that installment will be held soon
and the winner
announced. Any comments made for this
installment or previous
installments during the second week period
will automatically be
entered in the drawing for Week 2 installments
4-6. Prize information
for the Week 2 installments is coming soon! |
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Jeremy | oh boy do i really
hate these types
of "how the crude" are we going to get out of
this tough spot. though
the musical score brings it all together and
thanks for letting us know
it finally got released... |
|
Calico
Skelly |
I've repeatedly
stated that
slasher films are a waste of time and
energy. If one wants to be horrified one
should watch a psychological
thriller that could or did actually
occur. Like Amityville Horror.
That's
terrifying. Watching someone's head
ripped open in 360 isn't.
That's just crude. |
|
Howlin'
Wolf |
In this series,
the participants
run the show ...after of course Jason gives
his spin -so-
if YOU the
participants in this series don't say it, then
it doesn't get
said. On this rare occasion, I hope you
will indulge and permit
me as the moderator of this series to add an
insight. The
substance and insights of the previous
comments here are interesting - What appeals to
us in horror?
Horror tends to be a dichotomy between the
more realistic and the more
fantastical. It is interesting how
different approaches appeal to
different horror fans. I tend to be the
type who is more
comfortable watching the
not-so-based-in-reality films because it
becomes a sheer adrenalin rush ...or at least
was that prior to
watching a million and one horror films.
I am now somewhat
desensitised to horror due to an
overindulgence throughout the
years. To get my heart pounding these
days requires an
effectively masterful approach or novel
concept. That said, I
still love the genre in all its forms with a
passion.
Interestingly
as mentioned here, I do get easily unnerved
and rattled by films that
feel almost "too real" for my comfort zone
- almost like I am
watching nonfictional characters going through
some horrific event - I
agree that it is "terrifying" ...so I guess
the more reality-based
horror is a somewhat unchartered frontier for
me and an area for which
I am not quite so desensitized.
Regardless, one thing can be said
for certain, the music of horror (both
reality-based and fantastical)
always interests and excites me. On another note, the Week 1 prize winner will be announced VERY SOON. Composer Robert Feigenblatt, who composed THE BUNKER, has agreed to randomly draw our prize winner for Week 1. Also coming soon is the list of prizes to choose from for Week 2, which ends at noon this Sunday. Thanks for the great comments - keep them coming! |
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Basil FSM |
Yeah, I'm not
really into
gore/slasher flicks myself, but if it serves
as more of a plot device
for a psychological thriller (ie The
Thing), I'm more than okay with
it. I guess I don't really like to see gore
when it really has no
meaning or substance to it. I like character
development, a realistic
plot and story, and action to keep me engaged. Frozen looks like that
kind of movie where it's more psychological
than gory... |
|
Jeremy |
i too agree, i am
not a fan all the
time of in your face gore... it ruins the
idea. i believe it is what
made movies like the original halloween so
successful, it was what is
behind the door kind of scare. now films like frozen, the canyon or open
water you have not control of
what is next problem. forced into situations
that you cannot escape,
anyone filmmaker can show you gore, but how
many can make you feel
unsafe in your own surroundings. heck even the
film "speed" you all
know what is going to happen, but you still
feel your heart pump...
well okay maybe it's just me. |
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ScaredyCat | WoW! The movie Frozen to me is super horrifying ...I am totally
scared of heights and getting stuck on a ski
lift sounds awful and then you add hungry
wolves and cold weather ...now that is scary! |
|
Jonathan |
Wow, another movie I got to check out. Preparation for Halloween, I guess. | |
Josh Mitchell | I can get into most different types of horror films. The exceptions are when real animals are butchered on screen (Cannibal Holocaust and Nekromantik), sado/sexual torture porn (Salo'), and reality death stuff (Faces of Death). Other than that, it's all good! :D |
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Howlin' Wolf | This marks the end of the second
week prize period - composer Robert Feigenblatt is drawing the winners for Weeks 1 and 2.
The Week 1 winner has been selected and is David Kessler (congratulations!) The Week 2 winner along with the Weeks 2 and 3 prize selection list will be announced soon! All comments from this point forward will automatically be entered in the third week's drawing. Please continue commenting on all of the installments - the more comments, the more interesting the commentary and analysis! |
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Howlin' Wolf | The prize link above for the second week of installments has been updated. This prize period ended Sunday, October 16 at noon. The winner of the drawing has been selected by composer Robert Feigenblatt and will be announced soon. We will email the winner and also post an announcement here. Congratulations again to David Kessler for being the winner for Week 1 installments. |
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Howlin' Wolf | Congratuations to the Week 2 Installment winner Jonathan! Thanks of course to everyone who has participated so far in 13 CHILLS. Don't forget, we still have 5 more installments to go and two weeks of prizes ...and of course a GRAND PRIZE. |