The poster for The Frozen Ground has a tasteful, moody colour palette of cool blues and greys but the cast list suggests something more lurid – a serial killer movie starring Nicolas Cage, a performer not known for his restraint, John Cusack, who has veered into scenery chewing of late and 50 Cent (enough said). It was genuinely surprising how restrained and earnest the film turned out to be – setting the tone from the off with a Bible verse and ending with a series of pictures of all the real women who were killed by serial murderer Robert Hansen.
The film begins when police are called to a hotel bathroom where a prostitute called Cindy (Vanessa Hudgens) is bloodied and hysterical, claiming to have been abducted and assaulted, narrowly escaping with her life. The boorish officers refuse to take her case seriously and soon Cindy is back on the streets and her attacker, local businessman Robert Hansen (Cusack), is free to claim his next victim. When the body of another woman is discovered, Detective Jack Halcombe (Cage) takes on the case and attempts to persuade Cindy to help him.
The true story is sensitively handled by director Scott Walker; scenes depicting the abuse of the women concerned are suitably shocking and disturbing without feeling exploitative – the scene in which Hansen dispassionately picks off a fleeing woman with his hunting rifle is particularly distressing. Cusack’s cold, blank-eyed performance heightens this emotion. Walker is also keen to highlight the failures of the original investigation and the difficulties those on the margins of society have with the justice system.
Despite good intentions though, there are elements which disappoint. The film has the tendency to fall into unnecessary cliches that feel counter-productive to the telling of a real story. For example, it’s hard to fathom why any screenwriter would bring out that old chestnut of a detective on the verge of retirement being pulled back in for one last case. Forgiving a few missteps though, The Frozen Ground is a competent piece of work with a notable performance from Hudgens, who is polishing up her hard edges nicely.