A pair of employees at a public storage facility have to deal with a zombie-mold outbreak in the goopy and goofy Cold Storage, written by David Koepp and directed by Jonny Campbell.
TW: Animal death, including a cat.
“Teacake,” aka Travis, just wants to spend another easy graveyard shift at a storage facility, sitting back and reading his paperback of Jack Finney’s (Invasion of) The Body Snatchers. It’s too bad he’s got a Return of the Living Dead situation on his hands. Ya see, there’s a long-forgotten government biological construct down in the basement. The cold storage (TITLE!) has failed, and a hellish mold is released, leaving Teacup and Naomi, a new hire on her first night, to take down the mold-zombie mutations of the animals and people in and around the facility with the help of a pair of older, ex-military operatives. Cold Storage, adapted by David Koepp from his own novel and directed by longtime TV director Jonny Campbell, doesn’t completely live up to the potential, but it’s an entertaining, goofy, and goopy comedy-horror romp nonetheless.
There’s so much to enjoy in Cold Storage. The location is clever and mostly well-used (although it seems like opening more units for additional moments is right there to use!). The facility was a government storage and research center built into a mountain, akin to the salt mines of Day of the Dead, sold and transformed into a public storage rental, and I’d love to explore its halls and history. And Cold Storage is plenty goopy. The body-melting and exploding effects look great and are plentiful; it has a solid body count (more than just our core show up in a nice nod to Dawn of the Dead). The effects seem to be mostly practical on humans as they mutate and shift (flashbacks to Robocop sludge guy), with CG augmentation. I believe animals are fully CG, maybe some practical rats. But they mostly look good. I loved the way the mold altered and changed the people and location.
Koepp knows how to write quickly developed, interesting, witty, and natural characters who generally make smart decisions (see Black Bag from last year for a pinnacle example; but let’s not forget his iconic Jurassic Park script- that film is quotable from start to finish). And he does so here. They act in ways benefiting their situations and persons; when they do something dumb to continue the plot, they own up to it as a final choice. It’s a fun awareness. Koepp, as he often does, keeps the audience engaged, rooting with the characters instead of taking out audiences with eye-rolling moments.
Teacake is Joe Keery, known to all as Steve from Stranger Things, but I highly recommend him in Spree (now on Shudder) and his music as Djo (I’ve listened to his albums and they’re very good). Teacup is an overly friendly, outgoing chatterbox ex-con; instantly likable. His partner in putrecience is Naomi, played by Barbarian’s Georgina Campbell. She’s a more taciturn young mother, aiming at vet school. She’s calmer but able to cajole people into doing things, especially the excitable Teacake. They have amazing chemistry together, playing off with banter and character as they deal with the horror erupting around them. As do Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville as the operatives. Both in the “18 years earlier” setup in the Outback, also featuring Smile’s Sosie Bacon, and in the modern age, as they are the only ones to take the breach seriously. Neeson leans into the “grumbly guy with skills” persona with a knowing humor (remember Naked Gun showed how funny he can be), and Manville is delightful bouncing off of him. Weird to see “serious actors” Manville and an extended cameo Vanessa Redgrave in a purposely B-movie like this. All the actors seem to be having a blast, and that energy is infectious (pun intended), carrying over rough spots, mostly. BTW, Richard Brake (fresh from the Strangers trilogy) has a small part that I wish had another moment or two, but I’ll take it since he makes the most of it in his own way.
For all I enjoyed of the banter, and what gore, guts, and goo do occur, Cold Storage takes a while to really get going, and never really embiggens to something special. It’s a purposefully B-movie, well aware of what it is. It’s not coasting on the title like so many, but also doesn’t use it to its best effect. It’s a small film, for better and worse. I appreciate the intimacy of the characters and location, but it remains small when it has the chance to ramp up, leaving a “oh that’s it” feeling as it starts to wrap up. What we got is good, very good, but we needed more for it to truly work. There’s room for a sequel, and I have no doubt this was made for a small budget: here’s hoping another can come to get that extra push we needed now instead.
Directed by Jonny Campbell, Cold Storage is a fun, goopy, goofy slice of zombie body horror. While it doens’t fully live up to the premise, held back in various ways, the joy the actors bring to David Koepp’s script and the characters, banter, wit, and chemistry are more than enough to bring a good time. A good flick to sit down with a bunch of buddies and beers (or drink of your choice), have a fun night.