{"id":399019,"date":"2026-01-30T16:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T16:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/399019\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T16:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T16:09:09","slug":"a-fun-and-lighthearted-zombie-adjacent-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/399019\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fun and Lighthearted Zombie-Adjacent Film"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

PLOT: When a highly dangerous fungus escapes from a secret laboratory, a former bioterrorism agent is called back into action. Alongside two young employees, he must confront an invisible and out-of-control threat.<\/p>\n

REVIEW: Based on the novel by David Koepp<\/a>, Cold Storage<\/a> is a tale of government ineptitude, lovable losers, and just trying to do the right thing. The story follows two employees at a storage facility who have to confront a dangerous fungus who\u2019s main purpose is to take over its hosts and spread. They\u2019re aided by a government operative who has a history with the fungus and knows the danger it poses. Think Zombieland meets Evolution. And don\u2019t let the trailer fool you: this is not a zombie tale.<\/p>\n

As much as this is an alien\/zombie-style narrative, it\u2019s really all about characters. Joe Keery and Georgina Campbell have a really fun dynamic together as Teacake and Naomi. They\u2019re constantly trying to one-up each other, which leads them into their predicament. But smartly, this really just makes them more prepared for the situation at hand rather than the cause of the outbreak. It\u2019s easy to root for them as both Keery and Campbell have such a likability to them. Teacake, in particular, being a bit of a dummy makes him all the more affable.<\/p>\n

Liam Neeson\u2019s Robert Quinn is the type of role as a government fixer that we\u2019ve seen time and time again. But rather than straight-faced and humorless, he\u2019s constantly witty and making light of the situation, while still acknowledging its severity. He genuinely has some of the best jokes in the film, and is always ready to take someone down a peg or two. He has back problems, and it\u2019s fun to see how it hampers an otherwise on top-of-his-game operative. As someone who has back problems of my own, it was oddly relatable and had me wincing. He has a fun partnership with Lesley Manville\u2019s Trini Romano, giving us another two-hander outside of Teacake and Naomi.<\/p>\n

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Sosie Bacon also shows up in a brief role at the beginning. As a big fan of Smile, it\u2019s nice to see her still horror adjacent. Richard Brake also has a small role, and I\u2019m starting to wonder if he\u2019ll ever be cast in anything other than the bad guy role. Thankfully, he always plays those parts well and here is no different. I do wish we got a little more development from some of the side characters, as they\u2019re mostly just fodder and fairly interchangeable.<\/p>\n

For the most part, the FX <\/a>work is all handled incredibly well, with just the right amount of practical and digital. There\u2019s an explosion in this movie that is one of the more impressive that I\u2019ve ever seen. Sure, it\u2019s obviously CGI but it\u2019s so well done with the ground buckling in sections and it looking more photorealistic than you\u2019d expect. They could have easily just done a bright light and cut but the impact is quite impressive. Visually, the film looks similar to Zombieland, only without the excessive text and editing flourishes. The title cards we do get are dynamic, but they never become overwhelming.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m pretty tired of the zombie genre by this point so I was a little worried about dealing with more stumbling ghouls. Thankfully, outside of their appearance, there\u2019s nothing particularly zombie-like about them. They\u2019re a hivemind and their sole purpose is to spread. There\u2019s a bit of inconsistency in when they explode and it\u2019s seems mostly story-based, but it\u2019s never overly egregious.<\/p>\n

From Jurassic Park to Mission: Impossible, David Koepp is one of the most prolific writers out there, so it\u2019s easy to have a certain set of expectations with his involvement. Adapting his own novel, Koepp has to cut down some of the character interactions that make the book so memorable, but gives us enough to know and like all of them.<\/p>\n

Cold Storage doesn\u2019t feel very high stakes with our characters never being in any real danger but honestly, in this day and age, it didn\u2019t bother me. The tone is light and breezy and it\u2019s entertaining to just sit and hang out with these people. I never expected anything bad to happen to them, and just wanted to see them accomplish their goals. And sometimes, that\u2019s all you need from a movie like this.<\/p>\n

Cold Storage<\/a> releases to theaters on February 13th, 2026.<\/p>\n

Related
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\n Cold Storage trailer: Liam Neeson, Joe Keery sci-fi virus thriller looks to be a slime-coated blast <\/a><\/p>\n

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