‘Frostbite’ Traps Survivors Beneath the Ice at Tubi FrightFest

Disaster cinema and survival horror collide high above the frozen wilderness in Frostbite, the latest feature from Holy Shit! director Lukas Rinker, which is set to make its World Premiere at Tubi FrightFest later this month. Promising an icy battle against both the elements and an unseen menace, the Denmark and Germany co-production arrives at the festival with an ambitious blend of large-scale spectacle and tightly contained suspense.

Screening in FrightFest’s Main Screen programme on Friday 28 August at 1.05pm, Frostbite centres on a catastrophic accident atop Canada’s fictional Mount Killgore. A group of high-profile investors has travelled to inspect plans for a luxury winter sports destination, but a controlled avalanche demonstration spirals disastrously out of control. Former skating professional Charles, geologist Martia and her daughter Billy become trapped inside a cable car buried beneath layers of ice, where dwindling hope is matched only by the growing realisation that the freezing mountain is not their only threat.

As injuries mount and temperatures plummet, the survivors must contend with collapsing surroundings, psychological strain and an unseen force attempting to reach them from outside the shattered lift. FrightFest describes the film as an Irwin Allen-inspired disaster movie fused with a relentless survival thriller, placing its characters in a race against time where nature and something far more sinister close in simultaneously.

The cast is led by Zoe Boyle, best known for Downton Abbey and Living, alongside Kris Hitchen, whose recent credits include Speak No Evil. They are joined by Andrew Scarborough and Lily Curley, with supporting appearances from Denzel Baidoo and Mark Bennington.

For Rinker, Frostbite marks a return to FrightFest following the festival success of his feature debut Holy Shit!, the real-time thriller that premiered in 2022 and went on to collect the Audience Award at Germany’s Hard:Line Film Festival before screening internationally. Before moving into feature filmmaking, Rinker built a reputation directing award-winning short films and commercial work after studying media design at Mainz University of Applied Sciences.

Although the premise unfolds across a vast snow-covered mountain, much of the tension comes from the confined setting of the wrecked cable car, forcing its characters into increasingly desperate decisions as both physical and psychological pressures intensify. It is a simple concept, though perhaps that is exactly where its appeal lies. Survival stories often become most effective when escape feels agonisingly close but remains completely out of reach.

Tubi FrightFest runs from 21 to 31 August in London’s Leicester Square, with Frostbite receiving its World Premiere on Friday 28 August at 1.05pm in the Main Screen. For tickets, visit: frightfest.co.uk/