Taking a rest stop at a diner in the Canadian Rockies, David (Allen Leech) finds himself out in the cold when he comes between waitress Ana (Nina Bergman) and her violent ex (Yan Tual). Later stuck on the road together with a terrible injury and the billowing snow, Ana and David suddenly face a terrifying fight for survival. The last thing they need is some manner of beastie banging on the window, but that’s what they have on their hands here (plus frostbite).
Director Sébastien Drouin helms this icy survival thriller – a tense game of cat-and-mouse between hunter and prey… and then back again, as the tables turn to and fro. Beyond its table-setting opening sequence, Drouin locks the (car) doors and hunkers down to a single setting that’s both isolated and claustrophobic. The trapped-in-a-bad-place thriller is nothing new, but Drouin and co-writers James Kermack and Andrew Desmond find plenty of ways to reinvent the wheel. It’s a unique take on the subgenre, served well by the sharply observed interplay between its leads.
As the temperature drops and the pair’s situation becomes more perilous, Cold Meat impresses with its bleak plot twists and ever-building sense of dread and danger – but the thing which really stands out is the characters, brought to life with terrific performances from Bergman and Leech. A shining example of the snowbound survival thriller.
COLD MEAT is out now on digital platforms.
