Cold Meat
February 22nd, 2024
MOVIE: COLD MEAT
STARRING: NINA BERGMAN, ALLEN LEECH, YAN TUAL
DIRECTED BY: SEBASTIEN DROUIN
AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 3 STARS (Out of 4)
Sometimes you are just in the mood for a good B-movie. That’s a funny statement for me to write because a week ago I was not a fan of the throwback Land of Bad (It feels like a movie I want to revisit in a year) and that was a textbook B-action movie. But sometimes you want a movie with even a sliver of depth and this week’s thriller Cold Meat hits the right spots. It’s a two-hander, about a woman that has been abducted during a terrible snowstorm, and in her moment of terror, she becomes stranded with the very man that took her. Cold Meat is a tight, compact, and ice-cold thriller.
The first setting is a small diner in Colorado, where Ana (Nina Bergman) is working the late shift, while a blizzard is brewing outside. One patron makes his way to a booth, a clean-cut looking man named David (Allen Leech), tired, but stopping in for a coffee and piece of pie on his way through the storm. She takes his order, they exchange pleasant small talk and then enters Ana’s belligerent ex-husband (Yan Tual). They argue and he becomes scary, threatening Ana and her daughter, until David puts him in his place. He’s the hero, chasing off the ex before anything worse happens, and soon he’s back on the road. But we wish it was that easy of a night for Ana, as things get worse, and the storm builds outside.
Director/writer Sébastien Drouin, co-written with James Kermack and Andrew Desmond, does a good job of keeping the mystery tight. We see the ex-husband’s snow truck begin to chase David, thinking we are about to see a scary road rage incident until he pulls over to get away. Soon after, David has the unfortunate mishap of hitting the ice, swerving off the road, and crashing into a ditch. He checks the trunk and there we witness that Ana is tied up. Once this is revealed the entire story changes, creating a tight, and incredibly intense situation.
From the narrative standpoint, Cold Meat is straightforward, where it becomes about two people, one evil, and the victim fighting for their lives. What makes the structure work is how both Leech and Bergman make this car their stage. They can’t go outside because they would freeze to death. They are stuck miles away from help. Cell service is down. When Ana has her moment she takes it, breaking out of the trunk, and subduing her assailant, in a close-quarters fight. It’s always engaging, and unpredictable, and with Leech delivering an icey scary performance. It’s also a new role for Bergman, who was thoroughly impressive in Hell Hath No Fury, and shows once again that she’s up to the task of any character. The small setting for Cold Meat makes it reminiscent of Fall, two people stuck together, with death a very plausible outcome.
Cold Meat isn’t deeper than a Shakespear play nor is it trying to be bigger than it knows it is. What it does know is exactly what it is. This is a tight, tense, and thrilling film. It works perfectly in line with the B-movie status, reminiscent of a film such as Spielberg’s Duel, or the recent films Monolith, or Crumb Catcher. There can be awesome movies made with minimal settings. Cold Meat is good at exactly what it sets out to do.
COLD MEAT IS PLAYING IN SELECT THEATERS ON FRIDAY FEBRUARY 23RD, 2024.
3 STARS
Written by: Leo Brady
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