Frostbite Review (2026 Tubi London Frightfest)

Old-school disaster flick Frostbite buries a gripping premise under clunky writing, erratic acting and tonal dissonance.

Ski resort entrepreneur Charles aims to assure potential investor Mr Lee that his planned development of avalanche magnet Mount Killgore is safe by creating one. When a freak accident triggers the avalanche early, it engulfs his cable car. As a reward for putting the mental into environmental disaster, Charles is left trapped in a mangled gondola under 15 feet of snow and painful dialogue. His clusterfuck has companions too, as his salty ex-wife, estranged daughter and a shouty shit-spouting state senator are entombed with him. With thinly veiled contempt and bickering draining their chances of survival, a competition ensues to see who can make the most monumentally stupid decisions. If the group is to escape, they must work together to ride out a domino effect of natural perils, including some with sharp teeth. Director Lukas Rinker’s breezy B-Movie has Irving Allen aspirations that struggle to claw their way to the surface. His previous film, (Holy Shit!) was a Frightfest favourite that featured a man locked inside a porta-potty. This seems like a natural progression but replaces his earlier works contained charm with overambition. At its core is a genuinely intriguing concept but it seems confused as to how straight or cheesy it wants to play its hand. The majestic, and often pristine, cinematography lapses periodically into questionable CGI before redeeming itself again with superb naturalistic creature work. The plot moves at a pleasingly playful pace, before sloshing about in a quagmire of badly delivered verbal ballistics. The set pieces are often engaging but write checks the awkward execution can’t cash. Working with a superficial screenplay in dire need of wit and satirical bite the actors struggle to channel their clear commitment into characters we care about, which is a fundamental flaw in the dynamics of catastrophe cinema. Zoe Boyle (Downton Abbey) emerges relatively unscathed as the resourceful former spouse Martia, despite her character’s acidic disposition and frankly hilarious regenerative capacity. I’m no Doogie Howser and while I’m not entirely convinced a compound fracture can be snapped back to leave the victim pain free, I am dead sure arterial blood loss can’t be alleviated by incorrectly performed CPR. Lily Curley‘s screen presence as her entitled daughter Billie is not entirely wasted either as she musters much of the films latent jeopardy. An early normalisation of casual predatory behaviour towards her character, inexplicably reinforced later on, is puzzling to say the least. Frostbite is not without artistic acumen and melodramatic invention. There are moments of genuine tension once the fight against mother nature gains focus and momentum. However, the movie seems determined to shoot itself in the foot with fatal accuracy. One such bullet of creative self-harm proved a deal breaker for me. Here’s the thing. The characters are buried under tons of ice and snow deep in a subterranean coffin. Yet not once can I recall a single instance where any of them acted, or even mentioned being cold. No frosty breath plumes is one thing, but not ever referencing feeling a bit chilly in the slightest, in a film literally called Frostbite, is just wilfully bizarre. It is really hard to pin down the intended tone of this frustrating film. If it is a deliberately eye-rolling B-movie with an ending so undercooked it could induce salmonella then that’s fine. If it aims to be a pastiche or homage then it is too humourless and feckless to be either.

★★

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Browse all our 2026 Tubi FrightFest Coverage World Premiere at Tubi London Frightfest on the 28th of August 2026 / Zoe Boyle, Kris Hitchen, Andrew Scarborough, Lily Curley / Dir: Lukas Rinker / Signature Entertainment     Frostbite will be available to own on DVD and Digital from early 2027.