Starring: Georgina Campbell, Joe Keery, Liam Neeson, Lesley Manville, Vanessa Redgrave Written by: David Koepp Directed by: Jonny Campbell
Once the central storyline gets churning on this sci-fi-horror-comedy written by David Koepp (based on his 2019 book of the same name), it’s hard not to be reminded of 1985’s Return of the Living Dead. Like that movie, Cold Storage features two bumbling workers who come across a long-hidden material that turns people into zombies.
But instead of taking place in a medical supply warehouse, here our setting is a self-storage facility. And unlike that cult classic—which had an punk rock ethos and some truly eye-popping low-budget gore effects—Cold Storage feels more like a carbon copy of an 80s/90s horror-comedy than a truly authentic creation.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s some fun to be had here. The setting is ripe for this type of movie. The movie smartly zips along in under 100 minutes. And Barbarian’s Georgina Campbell and Stranger Things’ Joe Keery make an enjoyable enough duo (though it’s unclear exactly what Keery is doing with his blonde locks and fluctuating accent).
Prominent names like Liam Neeson, Lesly Manville, and Vanessa Redgrave also show up to lend their names to the proceedings, sturdily delivering lines it appears they have no real context for (Neeson also seems to have dictated his character has to be sitting or laying down in nearly every scene).
All that works fine. The real problem is the Cold Storage is not nearly sleazy enough for the material. And that takes away a lot of the weirdness and creativity that makes this type of movie really sing.
Worse yet, the movie is flooded with CGI (maybe even AI CGI?). There’s something tactile and even magical about projectile vomit and head explosions done with practical effects that animation—especially, in this case, very obvious animation—cannot recreate. What we’re left with is something that feels far too clean and safe when it should feel grimy and squirmy.