Summary
A thrilling, fast paced action-comedy that gets you gasping, groaning and laughing in succession, time and again.
Rating: 4 out of 5
An improbable premise sets up an improbable adventure for two low-grade employees at a self-storage complex when an alien virus escapes its casing and begins spreading through the compound. The complex just happens to be in an abandoned government facility that stored and left behind some of these deadly artifacts deep underground.
The story sets up a disaster in the making, in every sense of the word. If not for the deft hand of director Jonny Campbell, writer David Koepp (who also wrote the novel it’s based on) and the excellent cast, this movie could easily have failed. But it doesn’t.
Campbell brings with him a history of experience in action, horror and science fiction, having worked on such acclaimed series as Spooks, Westworld, Dracula, Dr Who, and In the Flesh. Combined with Koepp’s witty and wise script, this winning combo has delivered a light-hearted but edge-of-your-seat rollercoaster of pure popcorn delight. Koepp himself is a name to know, coming with writing credits that include the Mission Impossible, Indiana Jones, Jurassic World, Spider-Man and Jack Ryan franchises.
The cast is led by Joe Keery of Stranger Things fame and Georgina Campbell (Barbarian) as the resourceful workers who discover the leak and quickly discover that night shift is no sleepover. They’re joined by film stalwart Liam Neeson as the former government agent who survived the original encounter with the virus, and legendary Vanessa Redgrave in a marvellous minor role.
Running just over an hour and a half, it doesn’t take long for the action to kick off after establishing the size and monotony of the isolated facility. A few subplots intertwine to bring more victims to the premises, but none slow down the pace or distract from the action. Witty one-liners and some visual gags provide just the right amount of laughs to enhance the entertainment, while the gore element and shocks opt primarily for vomiting and violent deaths over the more traditional brain-eating undead. It does get gross. A few “ewwws!” escaped from the audience during the height of the action!
Cold Storage looks like a B-grade zombie flick on the surface but it’s so much more than that, with big names behind it and a few in front of the camera too. Even the less experienced lead, Joe Keery, holds his own amongst these names. The film is visually impressive thanks to Tony Slater Ling’s cinematography, it’s a lot of fun and ultimately, it cracks along at a ripping pace. Sure, intellect is not needed for this one, but who doesn’t enjoy some popcorn at the movies?
Reviewed by Rod Lewis
Distributor: Studio Canal
Cold Storage opens in cinemas on 12 March 2026
