Frozen!

This one's for the skiiers and the snowboarders out there. In Frozen, three friends pay off a lift operator for one last run at the end of the day. This turns out to be a very, very big mistake. The negligent lift operator leaves his post, the park gets shut down, and a storm's rolling in. This leaves our three protagonists stuck 50 feet in the air. As witness to this situation, you're left feeling helpless. You wonder what you would do differently.You wonder if you could've fared better. This is survival horror and it's not for the faint-hearted. The middle act is without a doubt one of the leanest pieces of suspenseful filmmaking in recent years. The relatively thin plot isn't quite enough to deliver a full-fledged horror masterpiece, but this movie is short and utterly worth it to get your blood pumping.

Horror fans have it hard. It's tough to find movies that aren't overtly silly, or just gory for gory's sake; though both can be great if done properly, it's extremely rare. And so wading through the garbage has become par for the course for us horror lovers. This one's the real deal, a labor of love from all involved. Adam Green (acclaimed director of slasher homage Hatchet) shoots practically, meaning there's a refreshingly noticeable lack of CGI. Everything was shot on location, in actual frigid conditions, on an actual ski lift that really was 50 feet off the ground. It shows. Their isolation feels real. The threats are palpable and the terror of the situation is inescapable. Running under 90 minutes, Frozen is a cut above most of 2010's new horror films.

Ordinarily I'd post a trailer here. However, if you plan to watch Frozen, I urge you NOT to watch the trailer. As mentioned, the movie is short and the three-minute preview spoils way too much.