Earlier this week Collider was invited to a special L.A. screening of The Frozen at the Arclight Hollywood. The psychological thriller stars Brit Morgan (True Blood), Noah Segan (Looper), and Seth David Mitchell. When Mike (Mitchel) and Emma (Morgan) head off to the mountains in search of a romantic getaway they find their trip strained by tension in the relationship, but after a snowmobile accident leaves them stranded they must work together to survive. Soon after, Mike goes missing, leaving Emma alone in the wilderness with a mysterious hunter (Segan) tracking her through the woods. Hit the jump for a look at the official synopsis, trailer, and poster for the film, as well as the five things I learned at the screening.

First off, here’s a look at the trailer:

The Frozen was a slow-burn film with a unique approach to genre bending. While the movie certainly qualifies as horror, a large part of the film operates as more of a relationship drama. The cast and crew were on hand at the screening to give a brief introduction to the film.  After calling the cast and crew to the front of the theater, director Andrew Hyatt spent a few moments discussing how important the decision was when casting the lead actress, saying the film “absolutely would not work” without the right actress in the role. He then went on to praise Brit Morgan’s performance saying he “hope’s [he’ll] be able to afford her after this.” Morgan really does deliver a killer performance and it’s a complete switch from True Blood, which is so consistently over-the-top. She was made a great villain on True Blood and really embraced the overblown style of the show, here she handles the delicacy and nuance with equal ability and I hope to see her in a lot more in the future.

Here are five other things I learned at the screening.

  • The film was a passion project from a very small cast and crew, and was shot in less than three weeks.
  • The bulk of the film was shot in an isolated ditch that took cast and crew about two hours to get in and out of each day.
  • The title The Frozen can be taken quite literally as a member of the crew was afflicted with frost-bite during the course of the shoot.
  • Lead actor Seth David Mitchel is business partners with director Andrew Hyatt, and in addition to starring in the film he also served as producer.
  • As a huge fan of Noah Segan (who is tragically underrated) I am sad to report he has very little screen time and spends most of the movie as more of an ominous off-screen presence.

Official Synopsis:

In this psychological thriller, Mike (Mitchell) and Emma (Morgan) take an ill-advised winter camping trip and get stranded in the woods after a snowmobile accident. When he disappears, she is left on her own not only to battle the elements, but elude a mysterious man (Segan) who has been tracking her through the forest. DVD release date December 18, 2012 through Arc Entertainment.

ARC Entertainment will be releasing The Frozen on VOD and DVD on December 18, 2012