FROZEN GROUND

John Cusack plays another villain in FROZEN GROUND
John Cusack plays another villain in FROZEN GROUND

Kiwi Scott Walker has gone north to Alaska to helm a true horror show, FROZEN GROUND (MA).

Sub zero is serial killer temperature and it’s definitely ice that’s coursing through Robert Hansen’s veins as he rapes, tortures and kills a number of women.

Detective Jack Halcombe is set to freeze the sprees that have largely gone unnoticed for thirteen years.

Nicolas Cage is cast as the cop staving off retirement for this one last case.

John Cusack, lately cornering the market on the sleazy and unsavoury, see The Paperboy, The Butler and Grand Piano if you doubt me, plays the homicidal Hansen with a chill that rivals his arctic environs.

Vanessa Hudgens as a pivotal witness, a sole survivor of the serial killer gives an edgy brittle performance of the habitually abused  but Radha Mitchell as Jack’s long suffering lawful blanket  is given short shrift in a cliché cameo.

FROZEN GROUND is a perfectly respectable and competent police procedural set in polar land. Its two leads set it a couple of notches above , as they play a cat and moose – well it is Alaska-  game where the killer’s cunning is matched by the detective’s diligence.

Hansen preyed on prostitutes and a large contingent of the constabulary concludes these victims don’t warrant expedient investigation. These men aren’t much different to the murderer in this respect.

Halcombe, haunted by happenings that were a harbinger of his career choice, has a dissimilar view and has to battle cultural cringe to catch the killer.

The Anchorage and environs location work conjures comparison s with Nordic noir, the Scandinavian crime thrillers that have gained such popularity recently in publishing, television and film.

FROZEN GROUND has just been released on DVD