COLD STORAGE

US, 2026, 99 minutes, Colour.

Joe Keery, Georgina Campbell, Liam Neeson, Lesley Manville, Sosie Bacon, Gavin Spokes, Vanessa Redgrave, Ellora Torchia, Rob Collins, Richard Brake.

Directed by Jonny Campbell.

This film opens, surprisingly, in Western Australia. An indigenous man, Rob Collins, is placing a desperate phone call to a scientist in Rome. In his outback town, all the inhabitants have climbed desperately on to their roofs and their bodies have exploded. An explanation is suggested that when Skylab crashed into the ocean, bits of debris landed in the Australian desert. And, one of the pieces of debris was a container with a scientific experiment to be tested in outer space – and, now, it is beginning to wreak havoc in Western Australia.

This is very serious. And, in its way, it is. Liam Neeson and the scientist arrive in Australia with an associate, the mysterious fungus has escaped, destructive. Liam Neeson’s task is to collect the remnants, transport them to the US, bury them deep down below ground and there they will be contained forever. But, as science fiction and fantasy, not likely!

For those who enjoy a very serious science-fiction, mysterious and expanding, death-gripping fungi with the living dead, they will have to adjust their expectations. Liam Neeson, with so many action shows behind him, has moved into comedy with the reworking of The Naked Gun. Cold Storage is more in that vein, oddball characters, dangerous situations, farcical turn of events, some dialogue accordingly.

And, part of the surprise is to look at some of the supporting cast. Serious British actress, Lesley Manville, is in deadpan mode as Neeson’s assistant. And, suddenly, there is Vanessa Redgrave, a widow who is checking out the storage room containing her husband’s memories, getting caught up in the gunfire and all the strange action – because the US authorities thought the fungi threat was long closed, signed off the deep storage area for commercial purposes, not much really going on there and supervised by a former prisoner on nightshift.

The fungus is loose.

So, no spoilers except to say that the night guard, played by Stranger Things’  Joe Keery, a chatterbox klutz hero, is matched with a rather intrepid Georgina Campbell as a security guard – and they are caught up in all kinds of dangers, threats, escaping fungi on the loose, exploding bodies and a final solution to the crisis. Or is it?

1. Science-fiction? Space exploration, consequences? But, signs-fiction parody? Satire? The blend of the serious and the comic?
2. The title, the background with Skylab, experiments, the breakup, the desert town, Western Australia, the experiment, the fungus, the escape, the destruction, physical and human? The scientist – and her destruction? The officials, the capture of the sample, Kansas and the deep storage? Time passing, the visuals dying, authorities not taking notice? The sale of the plant, the storage centre?
3. The plausibility of the central themes, Skylab, the experiments, the debris and the dangers? Containing the experiment, its getting loose?
4. The opening, the indigenous man, the phone call, Western Australia, the scientist in Rome, his desperation, her arrival, with Robert and Trini?
5. 18 years later, the storage plant, in the desert? Teacake and his job, from prison, his personality, chatterbox, klutz? Griffin and his dominance? Naomi, her job, supervision, reaction to Griffin, her husband and daughter, security, reaction to Teacake and his chatter?
6. The signals, the decision to search, Teacake and his job, the reason for his nickname, Naomi and her daring, the picture, breaking the wall, going down, the discovery of the signals, the bridge?
7. The transition to the information base, and, the phone call, discussions with Robert, the scepticism of the supervising officer and his dismissal of the theories from the past? Robert, waking, assessing the situation, going to visit Trini, the continued contacts with Abigail, the plan, the travel, the plane, with Trini and her son and the domestic conversation, the car, arriving at the plant?
8. Play on zombie themes, the discussions, the humans exploding, the exploded courses? The clues and infection?
9. The information, the discussions with Naomi, irritation with Teacake, their decisions, hiking, her husband’s arrival, the contamination, his threats? Griffin coming back, the team, stealing the television sets, and the infected deer? The gradual infection, the husband exploding? Griffin and the gun, the confrontations with Teacake?
10. The plan, Robert, the bomb, setting the to do to install it, his disabling all the vehicles, Trini and her arrival, the confrontation with Griffin?
11. Teacake rising to the situation, Naomi sensible, the timing, coming up the steps, the vehicles, the timing of the explosion, in the car, driving to safety?
12. And, the horror at the end with the infected deer?