By John Corrado
A green, oozing alien fungus presents a threat to life on Earth in the sci-fi horror comedy Cold Storage, which mainly serves as a decent little B-movie that benefits from knowing it is one.
Directed by Jonny Campbell, mostly a British TV director whose only previous film credit is the 2006 film Alien Autopsy, Cold Storage has an ’80s throwback vibe to it, especially calling to mind 1986 cult classic The Return of the Living Dead.
The film opens with some lore about an alien organism coming to Earth on the Skylab space station in 1979, that causes people to turn into zombies and explode when exposed to it. Years later, the mutating fungus was discovered and contained by bioterrorism agents Robert Quinn (Liam Neeson) and Trini Romano (Lesley Manville).
It was buried deep underneath the Atchison Storage Facility (a real place) in Kansas, a former military containment site that got turned into a series of rental storage units. This is where, in present day, a pair of bored night shift security guards, Travis (Joe Keery) – an ex-convict who goes by the nickname Teacake – and his new co-worker Naomi (Georgina Campbell), hear a strange signal going off from an old temperature control alarm and decide to investigate. A call to the military prompts Robert to spring back into action to contain the threat once again.
One of the main selling points of Cold Storage is that it was written by Jurassic Park screenwriter (and frequent Spielberg collaborator) David Koepp, who is adapting his own 2019 novel of the same name for the screen. The script has some wit to it, but also a few pacing issues. It can feel like two different movies, one following Travis and Naomi at the facility, and the other following Robert working covertly with a rogue military operative (Ellora Torchia) to try to get there before all hell breaks loose.
The film is also held back by some surprisingly spotty CGI, including some pretty fake-looking deer and largely unconvincing visual effects. The film would’ve needed a bigger budget to leave more of an impact. Still, Cold Storage is gory and squeamish when it needs to be, with the green alien splatter – and there is plenty of it! – serving as a classic gross-out effect.
Keery’s charismatic performance as the chatty ex-con, just different enough from his fan favourite character on Stranger Things, helps carry the movie. Keery has an easy rapport with co-star Campbell, as Neeson adds some more credibility to the film with his usual grizzled action hero routine. It might not reach the heights of the classics that it emulates, but as an old school B-movie throwback with elements of John Carpenter, Cold Storage is a pretty enjoyable and undemanding ride.
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