Cold Feet is a horror comedy that merges friendship, romance, and a dash of the supernatural.
Directed by Brad Ellis and Allen C. Gardner (from Gardner's script), Cold Feet tells the story of a bachelor party gone horribly awry. A group of friends gathers at a rental house for the weekend to celebrate the upcoming marriage of their friend, Eddie. What starts off as a pretty laid-back weekend quickly takes a turn for the strange when the stripper that they didn't actually hire turns up dead and they find themselves trapped inside by a team of snipers that has the house surrounded. And did I mention the ghost? Yeah, they're trapped inside with a ghost, too. I could elaborate, but much of the fun comes from watching just which crazy turn the plot will take next.
Yes, it seems like a lot of plot points for a light, 82-minute comedy, but they come together surprisingly well. Ellis and Allen do a good job of introducing and incorporating every turn of the story while still keeping the plot rolling. With a film that moves this quickly, that can be a hard thing to manage while still keeping the audience engaged, but they do pull it off.
In addition to the craziness in the story, the film also carries a solid amount of heart, both between the group of friends and for our lead character, Eddie. When the film starts, he is dedicated to maintaining the notion that he is head over heels for his fiancée, Jenny, despite all of his friends knowing that he harbors a not-so-secret crush on his colleague, Kim. Over the course of the film, he begins to acknowledge and face those feelings, and finally starts to make an effort at determining what he wants out of a relationship. As bonkers as the surrounding plot is, at the core is a story about a man starting to understand a bit more about who he is and finally beginning to make decisions regarding what he wants out of life.
The film does a decent job of balancing this internal struggle with the craziness going on around it. We have a big group of characters and the plot largely (more on that in a minute) gives each of them the chance to find a voice and contribute something to the greater narrative. We get a broad, but decent idea of who each of these friends are and the role that they play within the group dynamic, and we root for them as they begin to understand the full insanity of their predicament.
The film does struggle a bit when it comes to its female characters (or lack thereof). They are largely empty vessels and more stage setting than actual characters. In some aspects, there is a reason for this (it pertains to the ghost noted in paragraph 1), but overall, it feels like a missed opportunity to build a more dynamic story. Especially as it pertains to the stripper who is unceremoniously offed at the beginning of the film. “Dead sex worker” has become a staple of bro comedies, and though this one does manage to do something different with the trope, it remains a tired trope, nonetheless.
Still though, the film is a light, madcap comedy, and watching it unfold is pretty entertaining. We’ve seen the crazy bachelor party done a thousand times, but you’ve never really experienced it until you add in a haunted house and some snipers.
Movie Score: 3/5
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Check here to read Emily von Seele's previous coverage of the 2019 Indie Memphis Film Festival.
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