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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:	2010
Country of origin:	USA
Director:	Adam Green
Genre:	Timid chills
Starring:	Emma Bell, Shawn Ashmore, Kevin Zegers
Rating:	3/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1323045/
Tagline:	No one knows you're up there
Favourite line:	"The sarlacc pit. From "Return of the Jedi". Uh, hello. Being slowly digested over a 1000 years - worst death ever."

A chiller, but not in every sense of the word.

The plot:
Three pretty young things – two buddies, one girlfriend – are on a two week holiday in the mountains. Looking for excitement, the boys find it a little irritating that they have to slow the pace to teach the damsel how to fucking ski.
Frustrated, they decide to head up to the slopes just as night is falling, and persuade the ski-lift operator to let them go, even though they are shutting down for the day.
Riding the ski-lift alone, suddenly the mechanism grinds to a halt and they are left, alone, dangling, twenty metres from the ground and, unbeknownst to them, the ski operator got all distracted an’ tha’ and has forgotten all about them.
Realising their predicament, one of their number decides to take the plunge, and jumps, succeeding only in inflicting compound fractures to both of his legs, bones all jutty-jutty and bloody-bloody, sticking through his skin.
And, as if that weren’t bad enough, the local wolves have the smell of blood in their nostrils, and human flesh is by no means off the menu.

So, it’s Open Water on a mountain.
Buried on a ski-lift.
By turns suspenseful, irritating, frightening and funny (though it’s not meant to be) this is horror-lite. Apparently it garnered quite the reputation for the leg snapping scene but, come on kids, fucking grow up. You’ll see nastier stuff in action movies on occasion and, besides, this is only a fifteen, ffs.
Bonus marks awarded for the inclusion of man-eating wolves – a firm favourite down here at Smell the Cult HQ – but marks deducted for a rather plodding pace – it lags quite badly in places, and it’s barely ninety minutes long – and characterisations that never truly convince.
A decent, one-line pitch of a movie– this is high concept horror, good and proper, though the term horror is applied very loosely – that partially succeeds, but I wouldn’t go out of your way, kids.
’Sorerite, I suppose.