Whatever happened to the plethora of good ol’ knockabout comedy horrors? You know the sort of thing. Fun and gory romps that weren’t afraid to breach the R-rating, drench the screen in blood, have endearing characters, and offer non-condescending humour. We could rattle off loads of those from bygone years. Shaun of the Dead (of course), Return of the Living Dead, Night of the Creeps, Fright Night, etc. Nowadays, not so much. In 2025, the only ones that come to mind as major theatrical releases were The Monkey and… maybe… Death of a Unicorn, neither of which exactly set the box office alight. This year at least, we’ve got Ready or Not 2, They Will Kill You, and Violent Night 2 (notice that two of those are sequels, though). In the meantime, we’ve got Cold Storage. The film originates from a screenplay by the prolific David Koepp, based on his same-named novel and is directed by Jonny Campbell, best known for UK TV dramas, including the BAFTA-winning zom-dram In the Flesh. It’s got an eye-catching cast, which includes Georgina Campbell, Joe Keery, Liam Neeson, and Vanessa Redgrave(?!). It opened in the States on Friday the 13th and is now in UK cinemas, but just how infectious is it as a piece of entertainment?

 

Starting with a similar vibe to the 1988 remake of The Blob, the film opens with the pieces of the infamous Skylab falling to Earth in 1979. Some twenty-something years later, US Government fixer (Liam Neeson as Robert Quinn) is sent to Australia to investigate and contain a piece of wreckage from it, after a mutated fungus emerges and wipes out the inhabitants of a remote town. Whilst the site is napalmed into oblivion, a remaining sample of the green gunge is sent to an army shelter for storage in America. Many years later (i.e. now), the land of the shelter has been sold for profit, the goo-containment vault has been sealed off, and a self-storage company has built a facility on top of it. (Yeah… just go with it, okay?). Here works Travis "Teacake" Meacham (Keery), an ex-con (mostly due to poor decision-making and bad luck), who must keep his job as part of his parole conditions. He’s joined by new employee Naomi Williams (Campbell), a savvy single mom who is eager for something interesting to happen to distract her from her needy ex. When they start to hear a strange beeping noise during the night shift, it leads them to discover the existence of the secret bunker underneath their feet. The problem is that the fungus is already breaking out of its confines and looking to infect all living lifeforms. So, they’re mankind’s last line of defence by default. Maybe Quinn can help?

 

There’s so much to like about this movie. As usual for this time of year and the genre, it looks like it has been ignored (at least in America) but will hopefully go on to be more appreciated on streaming (or other countries) at some point. Yeah, depressing, isn’t it? But that’s our world now. As it stands, Cold Storage is a very fun throwback to the modestly budgeted horror-comedies that we mentioned at the start of this review. It is simply a “feel good” horror in the style and tone of something like Zombieland, with some old-fashioned sensibilities. Even the opening scene (with a falling piece of Skylab physically smashing through a title that haughtily proclaims “Pay Attention. This shit is real”) has a similar irreverent feel to it. The film isn’t here to wag a finger, be serious, explore social evils, or offend anyone. It just wants to entertain. And it does.

 

The lengthy prologue is semi-serious and riffs off The Andromeda Strain, featuring a nice cameo from Sosie Bacon (clearly enjoying a return to horror tropes after Smile). As well as showing the gross potential of the fungus (and what it does to the human body and mind), it also sets up a fun character for Neeson, who… umm… plays his age for once and ditches his unlikely action-hero trope without stooping to spoofing it. Quinn is genuinely too old for this shit and he’s got a bad back, but he knows what’s at stake. His partnership with (another) much-loved Brit acting icon (Lesley Manville as Trini Romano) is great fun, and they’re clearly enjoying the quirky material. There’s something wonderfully refreshing about seeing Neeson crock himself and reduced to spraying bullets from a prone position, whilst still cracking one-liners with his gravelly vocals. As fun as his contribution and performance is (imagine the curt Colonel Glover from the end of Return of the Living Dead actually visiting Kentucky rather than nuking it from a distance), it’s the other leads that provide a lot of the goodness here.

 

Campbell is perhaps best known for her survival prowess in Barbarian, and Keery, of course, is still Steve “The Hair” Harrington to many people. The nice thing is that they have real and natural chemistry together here. It mirrors the easy and believable relationship that the lead characters had in Ti West’s The Innkeepers. There’s a natural flow and a lot of the dialogue almost feels improvised as they explore each other’s personalities and backgrounds, as well as the random offshoots that sometimes go into genre references (Travis is convinced that Haitian zombies are a real thing). It might sound overly sappy, but it gives real heart to the proceedings, something that is often missing from “buddy” movies like this. It also papers over some of the questionable decision-making that is made, such as the long descent into the military bunker or Travis wanting to rescue his hateful boss, as they voice their intentions in relatable ways. This kind of natural sweetness and unshowy realism is really welcome in a horror comedy like this, and the snappy dialogue is easy to listen to. It all juxtaposes with the (yes!) exploding heads and guts.

 

As you may expect, there’s plenty of viscera and gore in the storyline. Again, it’s nice to have the production simply show all this stuff without watering it down and trying for a family rating, even if the green tinge of the fleshy explosions probably helped with any potential censorship. For the most part, the SFX are pretty solid, and (apart from a slippy cat scamper) are impressive for what they are. CG animals are convincing (especially the spasmodic and dead-eyed deer) and provide some well-needed variety. Infected people riff on the scary IRL concept of Ophiocordyceps Unilateralis (Google it) and The Last of Us, but they are cheerfully envisaged as stumbling zombies with gross symptoms. Occasional lines like “Open your mouth. I want to throw up in it!” also add the ick where it’s needed. Despite a slight lack of originality on this front, it’s still good to see chop-topped zombies and exploding animals, even if it does seem miraculous that certain characters manage to avoid contact with the contagious ooze. But it’s that type of movie.

 

In other words, there’s a cheerful playfulness to the proceedings that upends some expectations. A crucial electronic countdown constantly glitches for no other reason than to mess with the viewer, making one event all the more chaotic. A mysterious thumping noise from a car boot doesn’t go where you think it’s going. This sense of goofiness is further enhanced during some key sequences. “I Get Around” by the Beach Boys plays over a montage as the fungus is transported to America, and Blondie’s “One Way or Another” blasts out as a flashback shows how the fungus escaped before everything kicked off. It’s fun and nutty stuff without being condescending or tiresome. If there is some criticism to be had, it’s that the payoff and later sequences never really live up to the premise or become as apocalyptic as you would wish. The pace is a little uneven as well, and whilst it’s fun seeing Neeson play off his usual hero tropes, his travel sequences interrupt the flow of events between Travis and Naomi. At around 100 minutes, the movie never outstays its welcome, but it also never really hits a crescendo. However, what it does do is provide solid, uncomplicated entertainment.

 

If you want some depth to the plot, you can dwell on some of the incidental details, such as the fact that buried secrets will always resurface to cause havoc (see recent UK headlines), and most importantly, bad administration is undoubtedly going to be a deciding factor in any upcoming Armageddon scenario. There’s also a neat sub-plot about what a national military force should be doing as a job spec, instead of whatever shit it normally gets up to. But let’s not kid ourselves, this is mostly a lightweight romp with a hugely likeable cast. In this world, it’s the bad guys that get what they deserve, and the good guys are easy to root for. Don’t expect anything more incisive than “don’t touch green goo if you can help it”. But do expect to walk out of the cinema with a smile on your face. And that sort of praise isn’t easily given out. Give this film some love and not a cold shoulder.