It’s getting colder in here
Main Cast: Genesis Rodriguez, Vincent Piazza
Director: Brendan Walsh
Well, they didn’t waste any time with preamble on that one. I like that in a movie.
CENTIGRADE opens with a title card saying this movie is inspired by real events, then we cut to the interior of a car, meeting our two main characters, Matt (Vincent Piazza) and Naomi (Genesis Rodriguez), as they are already trapped.
They were driving in Norway and stopped on the road the night before to wait out the night, both fell asleep, and when they woke up their car was frozen solid and snowed in. You talk about a horror movie premise, this one had me from the beginning. I hate the cold with a passion, and the idea of being stuck inside a car in the snow and there’s no way out, that’s hell to me. So of course I had to see how writer/director Brendan Walsh wrote himself out of this one.
The lifelong moviegoer in me imagined the most likely scenario; they suffer for a week or so in the car but by then any food and water they may have brought—they were on their way to Naomi’s book signing, so wouldn’t have packed for a really long trip—Matt bundles up and escapes the car then goes in search of help. He probably runs into a bear or whatever they have in Norway along the way and barely escapes with his life, the rest of the third act being Matt’s fight for survival among the elements.
Nope. Not even close. Walsh had a very different course in mind for his story and I was hooked watching every second of it.
Rodriguez carries most of the movie with Piazza hot on her heels, and it’s a good thing they were so evenly matched; they’re the only two characters with any dialogue. I’ve always loved a good bottle episode, and this one is 89 minutes. These are the stories where the crew really gets to shine because there’s nothing to rely on except talent. There are no exotic locations, no quick-cut action scenes, no wire-fight choreography. It’s just two actors saying whatever lines the writer gave them to say while the director has to make this one-on-one conversation engaging enough to keep the audience watching. And in this case, Walsh and company couldn’t have done it better if they had to.
CENTIGRADE is an excellent movie that supplies just enough red herrings and plot twists you didn’t expect to keep you interested from beginning to end.
It’s currently streaming on AMC+, so if you have a subscription or can borrow one, definitely give this one a watch.
C. Dennis Moore is the author of over 60 published short stories and novellas in the speculative fiction genre. Most recent appearances are in the Dark Highlands 2, What Fears Become, Dead Bait 3 and Dark Highways anthologies. His novels are Revelations, and the Angel Hill stories, The Man in the Window, The Third Floor, and The Flip.
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