‘Cold Storage’ is stacked with outrageous comedy
When it comes to blending yucks and yuk, no one does it better than “Send Help” mastermind Sam Raimi. All others are mere imitators. But that doesn’t mean entries such as Jonny Campbell’s “Cold Storage” can’t generate their fair share of laughs and chills. They can, and in Campbell’s case, quite a lot of them, perhaps even enough to one day earn “Cold Storage” cult-film status, much like Raimi’s “Evil Dead” trilogy.
For now, Campbell will likely have to be satisfied with the solid word-of-mouth “Cold Storage” is building among horror fans who prefer a bit of levity with their scares. Penned by “Jurassic Park” scribe David Koepp, who incidentally also wrote the first “Spider-Man” for Raimi, this tale concerning a pair of bored and curious millennials accidentally unleashing a deadly fungus inside a self-storage facility delivers big on both counts.
It attests to the quality of the writing that actors of the caliber of Liam Neeson, Leslie Manville and Vanessa Redgrave are on hand, having a ball filling limited, but essential supporting roles outside their purview. All three deliver bigly, with Neesom emerging as the standout in the role of Robert Quinn, a grizzled military vet who’s had past dealings with the parasitical fungus and must now save the world from it once again. But not without an assist from a couple of youngsters in Joe Keery’s doltish night manager, Travis, and Georgina Campbell’s adventurous mom, Naomi, a newbie on the security detail.
In adapting his novel of the same name, Koepp opens with a preamble that quickly fills us in on the origins of the fatal fungus, beginning in 1979, when NASA’s abandoned Skylab plummeted to Earth. Most of the structure disintegrated on re-entry, but a scavenger in Western Australia discovers a battered oxygen tank in the outback that becomes the centerpiece of his rudimentary Skylab museum. But three decades later, a mysterious jade-colored goo begins oozing from the tank, causing everyone in the tiny village to literally explode upon being infected.
Rushing to the scene, a la “The Andromeda Strain,” is a crew of experts led by NASA scientist Dr. Hero Martins (Sosie Bacon) and a hazmat crew consisting of Quinn and Lt. Col. Trini Romano (Manville). Almost immediately, they order the town burned to the ground, except for a small sample of spores Martins gathers for further study at a heavily fortified military complex outside Atchison, Kansas. It is there that the substance is eventually sealed off hundreds of feet below ground.
With the Beach Boys boyantly chiming “I Get Around,” the story quickly jumps to the present. The installation has been repurposed as a self-storage facility that the chief security officer, Griffin (Gavin Spokes), also uses as a front to fence stolen HDTVs to fellow miscreants. It’s a side business that ex-con Travis, aka Teacake (long story), wants no part of as he fights to turn his life around.
But on this soon-to-be dark and stormy night, trouble finds him just the same, and I’m not even talking about Naomi’s crazy, jealous boyfriend, Mike (Aaron Heffernan). It begins when Travis hears a strange noise, like a smoke alarm running low on battery. He and Naomi go to investigate, not knowing that their unwitting actions will soon unleash the long-dormant fungus across Eastern Kansas and Western Missouri. Their only hope of heading off the ooze is Quinn, who is dispatched at once by plane to vanquish his old enemy forever.
What follows is an engaging blend of comedy and suspense, with a touch of romance thrown in as Travis and Naomi grow closer in the face of doom. It’s all well executed by Jonny Campbell, moving from his regular TV gigs to direct his second feature after the little-seen “Alien Autopsy.” The Brit proves himself a natural, quickly establishing an infectious tone while drawing excellent performances from the unbeatable trio of Campbell (no relation), Neeson and the charismatic Keery, sharpening his acting chops post “Stranger Things.”
He and Campbell exhibit discernible chemistry as their characters race against time to stay alive and stop the ooze from spreading to populous areas, where it will be free to fill the lungs of man and beast until their heads and torsos burst. This, natch, allows Mr. Campbell to indulge his love of projectile vomiting and blood spatter, including exploding a cat and a deer, bringing a new meaning to “more bang for your buck.”
The obvious metaphor is COVID, and in fact, the film’s best line comes at the pandemic’s expense, barely topping a hilarious bit in which Redgrave’s suicidal Mary Rooney repurposes the gun she was planning to use on herself. Yet, as entertaining as “Cold Storage” is, you’re likely to forget it almost as soon as it’s over. But while it lasts, you can’t help but delight in a lark intent on putting the “fun” in fungus.
Movie review
Cold Storage
Rated: R for violent content, language, gore
Cast: Joe Keery, Georgina Campbell, Liam Neeson, Leslie Manville, Vanessa Redgrave and Sosie Bacon
Director: Jonny Campbell
Writer: David Koepp
Runtime: 96 minutes
Where: In theaters Feb. 13
Grade: B
