the audience applauded

Memorable, crazy movie

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

"May contain spoilers?"I watched this movie just to see how bad it was going to be from a technical stance. The answer is, it could almost not have been worse. I am not going to bore you with why, I listed some credentials instead below. I mean I don't think they talked to anyone who even has a basic knowledge of electricity, let alone a refrigeration technician. Nikola Telsa was rotfl during filming I'm sure. Credentials: I have an associates degree in HVACR, a certificate in commercial refrigeration, a certificate in air conditioning, a universal EPA license, a dual endorsed Texas state ACR contractors license, a whole lot of continuing education, and 13 years working on nothing but commercial HVACR in mainly restaurants.

The initial premise is good. Man wakes up trapped in Meat locker, not sure how he gets there and said plot unfolds. The film itself try to follow the mold of the genre, but quickly collapses with plot holes, meandering dialogue and poor continuity. The arrival of the 3 Russians really signals the end of the film for me. The crazy one with the gun, the beauty with the tragic accent, the bodyguard with the acting skills of a hamster and the lead himself, bantering inanely trying to save his life.The conclusion is predicable, the acting in general stilted and unless you get this movie free, then just re-watch several of the other films available in this genre, then you won't feel you've lost 90 Min's of your life.

In this confusing mess of a movie, Dylan McDermott stars as Robert Saunders (why he's even in this film is the first good question to ask). At the beginning of the film Robert finds his hands and feet bound, and that he's locked into a meat freezer, where the average survival time is 3-4 hours before hypothermia kicks in.He's soon visited by two Russian mobsters, and we slowly learn that $8 million of the Russian mob's money is missing, and they think Robert knows where it is. What's amazing is that no matter how perilous and dire Robert's situation gets, he's always able to come up with a Cagney or Bogart-like wise-crack, like you'd see in a 1940's B-movie. Since this is kept up the entire film, it can quite annoying after a while.Various characters will enter and depart from the freezer, including an undercover NYPD Narcotics Detective (Peter Facinelli), who's clinging to life under a box of meat. Also, another NYPD Detective (David McNally) who manages to get a call through to Robert but mysteriously doesn't seem in any hurry to help him.Of course, we must have a beautiful Russian woman come onto the scene, as that would be Alisa (Yuliya Snigir) who apparently was the "mule" that brought the $8 million up from Miami and is also the girlfriend of the son of the Russian mob boss Oleg.As the story continues, the various twists and surprises get more and more ridiculous and convoluted. I would suggest that you don't try and figure them out or your brain cells may freeze-up from "Freezer".

I chuckled at another IMDb reviewers title because it is sort of true. They referred to this film as a "lukewarm" freezer. Freezer has some potential certainly, and it is entertaining at times, twisted and well acted. I am personally constantly impressed when a film maker can make a movie even remotely interesting set entirely in one location. This film is set in the now tried and true genre of Buried, Brake, Saw (to a lesser extent) and Phone Booth. One locale, minimal cast, twists and turns and plenty of thrills. Freezer is fortunate to have a decent sized star at the front of the cast who turns in a very good performance. He is definitely the one to watch in this. Still the story is decent, if not just a little more complex than it needs to be and perhaps tries a little too hard. One of the best things about this type of genre is the "big reveal" at the end. Most times it is the opportunity to truly shock the audience like Buried or Saw truly did in my opinion. The big reveal at the end of Freezer is average at best and just feels really anti-climatic. It isn't that I saw it coming, its just that it felt forced and like they ran out of ideas so its a bit of a let down.I very much enjoy Dylan McDermott. I think he's a versatile intense actor who has great charisma on screen. I think he saves this film from being completely mediocre. McDermott shows an intensity and really does put everything into the performance. His tough exterior and wise cracks and dark humour works extremely well in this situation and he is definitely the highlight of the film. Yuliya Snigir is average in her role as the mysterious woman overseeing McDermott's torture. Snigir is often campy in her display of emotions and she overacts many of the scenes. There is very little chemistry between her and McDermott and she doesn't impress much in the role. The supporting cast are all decent though predictable. Andrey Ivchenko and Pascal Petardi fit their roles well as Russian meat-head mobsters who look angry and yell. Peter Facinelli is also decent in an unfortunately small role as a Detective in a similar situation as McDermott.The film is good, the story is good, the performances are good but it definitely doesn't go beyond just good. It tries very hard but unfortunately that came come across as more desperation to be entertaining than creative. Director Mikael Salomon has had one major theatrical credit essentially and since then has been an avid director in Television ever since. There is nothing wrong with that, he's been involved in some strong Television credits but Freezer feels like it wants to be a TV episode rather than a full film. Its just a tad cumbersome and meanders through some of the details and even uses the same violent shock scene twice which doesn't bode well for a movie that is all in one locale. When all is said and done Freezer will entertain you but I understand those that found it disappointing. However, McDermott fans can be rest assured he does a great job. 7/10