Cold Storage (2026) – Film Review
Director: Johnny Campbell
Cast: Joe Keery, Georgina Campell, Liam Neeson
Certificate: 15
By Roger Crow
The second film from director Johnny Campbell, who helmed Ant and Dec’s not bad 2006 sci-fi offering Alien Autopsy, is a lot of fun.
David Koepp, writer of assorted Jurassic Parks, Mission: Impossible, and Spider Man adapted his own novel for this action thriller, which feels part Andromeda Strain, part Outbreak, and with the tone of Shaun of the Dead.
Stranger Things star Joe Keery, Georgina Campell and comedy/action legend Liam Neeson go up against a lethal fungus from outer space in a storage facility.
Lesley Manville (one of my favourite actresses of recent years) and Vanessa Redgrave also star in an enjoyable thriller which features obligatory close-ups of the space virus wreaking havoc at a molecular level.
“Demands a spin-off”
Some of the CG effects are a bit ropey, but it’s a fast-moving comedy horror, with a solid performance from Neeson as the gruff, seasoned hero whose relationship with Manville almost demands a spin-off movie.
Yes, we’ve seen all of this before, from zombies wreaking havoc in storage facilities, to cars trying to outrun huge explosions. But it hardly matters. Keery and Campbell do a fine job sustaining the attention, and the film looks and sounds great. Those colours really pop, especially neon-soaked signs reflected in puddles.
A sequel is inevitable, and hopefully when that happens, we get more of those leads, with a bigger part for Manville, who almost steals the movie.
Adopted Yorkshireman Roger Crow developed a passion for film and TV in the 1970s and 1980s. He has been a published film and TV reviewer since the 1990s; a world travel and restaurant critic since the noughties, and for the past decade has assessed the pros and cons of live gigs and theatre productions around the UK. His ideal day would involve reviewing a performance of Bat Out of Hell, followed by a Pad Thai while being serenaded by Texas on a cruise around Europe.
crowsfeat.com; nostalgiahhh film podcast
