Cold Storage: Movie Review

Cast: Georgina Campbell, Joe Keery, Liam Neeson, Lesley Manville, Vanessa Redgrave
Director: Jonny Campbell

Cold Storage's distinctive B-movie vibes are apparent from its opening titles.

As meteors smash through on-screen graphics, this tale of a fungal microbe from space escaping from years of captivity in an abandoned Government facility that's become a storage unit is clearly not taking itself seriously from the start - even if its cast are.

Liam Neeson stars as Robert Quinn, a former specialist who first became aware of the alien lifeform after he was called to Australia by a Dr Martins (yes, it's a real name) who'd been contacted about an outbreak in a Western Australian township. 

Years later, Travis (Stranger Things' Joe Keery), a nighttime worker finds his shift interrupted by a beeping noise and a brand new colleague Naomi (Barbarian's Georgina Campbell). When the duo investigates, they soon discover the bacterial incursion and race against the clock to try and save the day.

Cold Storage does exactly what you'd expect from a story that's about a marauding fungus - and if you can get past the inconsistencies of the plot and the fact it feels padded with a small cast and an at times shonky script, there are plenty of gore-filled vicarious thrills and needle drops to be enjoyed here.

Neeson delivers a no-holds barred class in doing it all seriously throughout, despite the increasing levels of absurdity and it's great to see the likes of Lesley Manville taking part in something like this, given her career's been mainly prestige pictures and period dramas.

There's a real warmth to Neeson and Manville's partnership, a lived-in quality that makes you wish the story spent more time with them, rather than Travis and Naomi's attempts at banter and bonding.

Both are fine, and even an exposition-heavy script and a penchant for labelling Travis as "loqacious" before firing off yet another dialogue from him can't stop you feeling a frisson of engagement in this budding work-colleagues relationship -0 even if it doesn't leave mushroom for development.

Jurassic Park writer David Koepp's 2019 story is fun enough, and this is disposable enough fare that just about entertains, given how it doesn't take itself seriously. Do yourself a favour and see it with some friends - it's the kind of thing that will appeal to anyone who's a fungi.