Cold Meat – Movie Review (3/5)

COLD MEAT is a new serial killer survival thriller. A runtime of just 90 minutes and a tiny cast makes for an intense experience. It clearly shows how passion is worth more than big budgets. Read our full Cold Meat movie review here!

COLD MEAT is a new thriller with a survival plot and a serial killer hunting in the freezing cold. Most of the movie plays out inside a car, which makes for a claustrophobic and intense setting. Also, the tagline perfectly describes the conflict for those involved: Outside is dangerous. Inside is deadly!

The runtime is just 90 minutes and while there is a lot of talking in this survival thriller, we also see flashbacks and learn new things. I am a sucker for these one-location stories as their stories tend to work their way into your brain better than if you just see everything.

Continue reading our Cold Meat movie review below. Find it On Demand now!

Serial Killer versus Freezing Blizzard

In Cold Meat, a potential victim has to choose between being caught out in a freezing blizzard with no real idea of where she is or staying in a car with a serial killer. The raging blizzard makes the choice both very easy and extremely difficult.

Again, I did say the tagline was “Outside is Dangerous, Inside is Deadly”. However, it seems like both settings are equally dangerous and deadly.

In many ways, Cold Meat is a classic survival thriller, but it’s also very much a psychological horror movie to me. Being trapped inside a car with a serial killer is a pretty brutal situation. Also, this movie utilizes its budget perfectly by keeping the special effects (which mostly consist of make-up) to a minimum.

And yet, these practical effects via make-up have maximum impact as we see the cold do its work on their skin.

The less you know, the better it works

I could easily get into all the elements of the story that I think works wonderfully. However, that would also lead to spoilers and this really is the kind of movie where the less you know, the better!

I will, however, say that the two main characters are portrayed by Allen Leech and Nina Bergman who work perfectly from the beginning until the very end.

There is one thing I need to mention and since it’s shown on the poster, I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler Allen Leech plays David, and – as shown on many PR images and the poster – he gets injured when leaving his car and gets injured.

We’re talking about a serious injury where he is bleeding profusely. However, following this incident, he sits in his car with his leg down for a long time to wait out the storm. With any leg injury that bleeds (or even just hurts due to internal damage), you need to elevate the hurt leg.

Seeing him be relatively fine without doing much is strange and possibly the only unrealistic element. Not counting that supernatural predator that seems to be lurking around the car.

Watch Cold Meat on demand now!

Cold Meat is written and directed by Sébastien Drouin (Pièces détachées), who also worked on the visual effects. He really is a one-man army though this is his feature film debut as a director. In fact, we’ve reviewed a movie where he was the visual effects supervisor. It was the horror mystery The Sonata (2018).

I should mention that the screenplay was co-written by James Kermack & Andrew Desmond. The original story is all Sébastien Drouin. While the film has a few small roles portrayed by actors delivering solid performances – especially Yan Tual – this movie really is all about its main characters.

As mentioned previously, those are portrayed by Allen Leech (Downtown Abbey, the Black Mirror pilot episode) and Nina Bergman (Hell Hath No Fury, The Car: Road to Revenge). These two are the heart and soul of this story. They are also the reason you should watch this survival thriller – and will enjoy it!

Cold Meat premiered at Fright Fest UK in August 2023 and is out On Demand now.

Details

Director: Sébastien Drouin
Writer: Sébastien Drouin, James Kermack & Andrew Desmond
Cast: Allen Leech, Nina Bergman, Yan Tual, Riley Banzer, James Barton-Steel, Sydney Hendricks, William Kuklis, Kat Fullerton, Gil Botelho