Cold Storage features every lab scientist’s worst nightmare: an unidentified organism spreading rapidly and lab protocols being followed loosely. Jonny Campbell’s first true foray into comedy brings a fungal outbreak to the big screen but lets the characters take centre stage. Instead of the fungus driving the narrative, a ragtag group of societal misfits and rule-breakers takes over and does not let go until the credits roll. While outbreak comedies have been hit or miss since 2020, Cold Storage smartly leans into its comedic timing and never takes itself too seriously, even as the stakes are world-ending.
The beginning of Cold Storage drops the audience into the middle of the action, where scientists Robert Quinn (Liam Neeson), Trini Romano (Lesley Manville) and Hero Martins (Sosie Bacon) inspect the fallout from a space station that crash-landed on Earth in 1979. The station was home to some of the most dangerous experiments conducted beyond Earth’s orbit, and Dr. Martins recruits Quinn and Romano to contain a specific malignant fungus.
The fungus is what I would describe as a “Flubber gone rogue.” The green ooze infects and overtakes any living thing it touches. Director Jonny Campbell uses effective cinematography to show how the fungus enters the bloodstream from a first-person perspective before crippling the nervous system from within. After the infectious nature of the organism is revealed, and people begin to die, Quinn and Romano decide to store what remains of it in, you guessed it, cold storage in Kansas.
“Cold Storage smartly leans into its comedic timing and never takes itself too seriously, even as the stakes are world-ending.”
What follows feels like a conspiracy theorist’s dream: a montage showing the government lockdown facility falling into disrepair after being sold multiple times over the years. Eventually, it is reborn as a standard storage facility serving the people of Kansas.
Fast forward to the present day, where the now-ordinary storage facility operates with no one aware of what the government has hidden inside. This is where Teacake (Joe Keery) and Naomi (Georgina Campbell) work the graveyard shift to make ends meet. Like many retail workers, the two are burdened by an overbearing manager, Griffin (Gavin Spokes), who borders on cartoonishly villainous. He even pressures Teacake to help ship ill-gotten big-screen TVs overnight, a request Teacake refuses as he tries to leave his criminal past behind.
David Koepp channels these uncomfortable scenarios with precision, as though he has had a few run-ins with overreaching management himself. You can almost feel how Naomi and Teacake’s instant bond is cemented through their mutual loathing of Griffin. While it may seem unnatural at first, co-workers who share a dislike for their boss often form bonds forged on the front lines. Koepp understands this dynamic and leans into it to develop an organic relationship between the leads. As someone who has worked retail, that bond is one of the easiest elements to believe in Cold Storage.
Teacake notices an alarm blaring somewhere in the facility and recruits Naomi to help track it down. The director-writer duo of Koepp and Jonny Campbell navigates these relationships with sharp comedic timing and genuinely funny moments. The banter between the characters feels organic, like something you might overhear among friends trading playful jabs. At Teacake’s urging, the pair break open a wall and uncover the control interface of the old government system, where the fungus is being stored.
With all the moving parts in place, the film hits the gas and drives hard to the finish. At 98 minutes, Cold Storage plays out like a fever dream, moving at a brisk pace, though not always evenly. Quinn is recalled to action by the government, and Liam Neeson trades in the deadly assassin persona he carried in the Taken films for a grizzled veteran with a bad back. Robert Quinn is a sharp contrast to many of Neeson’s previous big-screen roles, and he fully commits to the part. Quinn also calls in his former partner, Romano, who is familiar with the fungus, to help contain the escalating threat.
From this point on, each scene focuses more on the relationships between the characters and their comedic interactions than on the fungus itself. Cold Storage gestures toward high stakes, but the outbreak mainly serves as a vehicle for the characters’ reactions and banter. Like an episode of Rick and Morty, Teacake and company are thrown against the chaos to showcase the humour that follows, rather than to frame the situation as a full-scale, 28 Days Later-style national emergency.
“Cold Storage is an easy choice for a night at the theatre with friends, just do not take it too seriously.”
While this approach waters down the plot, the cast’s acting keeps the audience engaged. The supporting characters also bring strong material, particularly Naomi’s ex, played by Aaron Heffernan, who steals nearly every scene he appears in. Asking an ex for help is usually uncomfortable, but asking them to throw up in their mouth crosses such an absurd line that it becomes genuinely funny. Over the course of the film, a deer takes an elevator, a cat becomes part of a subplot, and Quinn and Romano engage in a bit of comedic breaking and entering.
The pacing of Cold Storage is relentless. In 98 minutes, so much happens that it can be difficult to keep up at times. While this brisk pace, combined with convenient plot devices, including a largely ineffective government, does weigh the film down, the campy B-movie gore, seen in productions like Zombieland and The Toxic Avenger, mixed with sharp comedic timing, holds it together by the final credits. Lesley Manville steals nearly every scene she appears in, adding another comedic highlight to her already impressive résumé.
Cold Storage is not a generational film, nor does it tell a story that will be remembered for decades like some multimillion-dollar productions. In fact, it was shelved for years before finally being released, and it is fortunate that it was. The film offers a fun romp through a serious situation without fully embracing the stakes it sets. What follows are genuine laugh-out-loud moments, yes, a deer takes an elevator, and plenty of entertainment, even if the pacing occasionally feels too fast. Cold Storage is an easy choice for a night at the theatre with friends, just do not take it too seriously.
