Cold Storage is a horror comedy that knows exactly what kind of film it wants to be. Directed by Jonny Campbell and written by David Koepp, who adapted his own novel, the film blends creature-feature chaos with sharp humour and just enough real science to make the nightmare feel plausible.
The film opens with a prologue set in 1979 during the fallout from Skylab’s crash back to Earth. A piece of debris lands in Western Australia, carrying a fast-spreading alien fungus that infects its victims almost instantly. The early scenes are grim and efficient, showing how quickly things spiral out of control. A small NASA team, led by a calm but intense scientist played by Liam Neeson and his equally capable colleague played by Lesley Manville, manages to contain the organism by freezing it and locking it away in a government facility.
Decades later, that warehouse has been converted into a mundane self-storage facility. This is where we meet our younger leads: Joe Keery as the easy-going Travis “Tea Cake” Meacham and Georgina Campbell as Naomi Williams. Tea Cake is there for the paycheck; Naomi is sharp, practical, and clearly overqualified for the job.
Naturally, the fungus escapes. As the organism slithers through vents and mutates its victims in deeply unsettling ways, Travis and Naomi are forced to work together to stop the spread. The film fully embraces the absurdity of its premise — there’s a reanimated cat sequence that balances genuine horror with sharp, dark humour — yet it never plays the threat as a joke. The scares land precisely because the film commits so completely to its outrageous concept, treating the madness with absolute seriousness.
Thematically, Cold Storage hits on a very human brand of arrogance: the idea that we can just box up our problems, label them, and forget they exist. The fungus is a symbol of neglected consequences, quietly waiting for the right conditions to return. There’s also a great understated angle regarding the older authorities who buried the mess and the younger workers left to clean it up.
Neeson and Manville bring instant credibility, playing their roles with straight-faced determination, while supporting turns from Vanessa Redgrave and Richard Brake are brilliantly judged. Visually, the practical-looking effects are a highlight; the fungus is vividly unpleasant and genuinely makes your skin crawl.
Cold Storage doesn’t try to reinvent the genre. Instead, it’s a smart, entertaining variation on a familiar formula. It’s clever without being smug, scary without losing its sense of humor, and messy in the most enjoyable way.
