Cold Storage 2026 Review

Cold Storage is one of those films where the idea sounds fantastic, the talent involved looks promising, and the end result ends up being far more frustrating than entertaining. The film comes from David Koepp, the writer of Jurassic Park, which immediately gives the project a bit of credibility. Koepp adapted the screenplay from his own novel, and with a premise involving a deadly parasitic fungus locked away by the government for decades, the movie initially feels like it could become a fun science fiction horror ride. Unfortunately, while the concept is solid, the execution never quite lives up to the promise.

The story centres on a mysterious organism discovered during the Cold War. The fungus is extremely dangerous and spreads rapidly once released, so the government seals it deep underground in a military facility and essentially hopes it stays contained forever. Years later the abandoned base is converted into a commercial self storage facility, which is about as safe a decision as you would expect in a horror comedy.

Two employees working the night shift, Travis “Teacake” Meacham and Naomi Williams, accidentally unleash the organism from the lowest levels of the facility. Travis is played by Joe Keery, while Naomi is played by Georgina Campbell. Once the fungus escapes it begins infecting everything in its path, forcing the pair to work with a retired government operative, played by Liam Neeson, who was involved in containing the organism decades earlier. Their job quickly becomes simple in theory and impossible in practice. Stop the outbreak before it spreads beyond the building and potentially wipes out humanity. That premise has all the ingredients for a tense creature feature. A contained environment, an unpredictable biological threat, and a group of characters trying to survive the night. On paper it sounds like something that could land somewhere between Alien and The Thing, with a bit of dark humour thrown in.

Instead the film leans heavily into dumb comedy. Now, dumb comedy is not automatically a bad thing. Plenty of great horror comedies embrace ridiculousness and make it part of the charm. Cold Storage clearly wants to sit in that lane, but it pushes so far into silly territory that it begins to undermine the story itself. The jokes are constant and often deliberately stupid. Occasionally that works and you get a genuinely funny moment. But more often the humour feels forced and ends up breaking any tension the film tries to build. Joe Keery does his best with the material. His character Travis is essentially the audience surrogate, the normal guy stuck in an increasingly insane situation. Keery has proven before that he has strong comedic timing, and there are moments where his reactions to the chaos around him are entertaining.

Georgina Campbell, who many people will recognise from Barbarian, plays Naomi, the other storage facility employee caught in the middle of the outbreak. Campbell is a strong performer and she brings a grounded presence to the role. Unfortunately the chemistry between Campbell and Keery never quite clicks. Their characters are supposed to form the emotional centre of the film, but their dynamic feels awkward and forced rather than natural.

Because the movie relies so heavily on their partnership, that lack of chemistry becomes a noticeable problem as the story progresses. Liam Neeson, meanwhile, plays Robert Quinn, the grizzled former bioterrorism expert who knows exactly how dangerous the fungus really is. Neeson brings his usual gravitas to the role, and there is something inherently amusing about seeing such a serious actor in a film this ridiculous. He plays the character completely straight, which does create a few amusing moments simply through contrast with the absurd situation around him.

The supporting cast includes actors like Sosie Bacon, Lesley Manville, and Vanessa Redgrave, all of whom add some personality to the world, although most of them are not given enough screen time to really stand out. Where the film struggles most is in its visual effects.

The fungus creatures and infected growths are supposed to be terrifying, but the CGI often looks unfinished. In many scenes the effects genuinely resemble something you would expect from an early PlayStation 2 cutscene. The textures are flat, the movement lacks weight, and the lighting rarely matches the environments properly.

There are a few moments where the effects look decent, particularly when the creature is partially hidden or when practical effects are used alongside the digital ones. But most of the time the visuals feel cheap and take you out of the movie rather than pulling you into it. To the film’s credit, the cinematography itself is solid. The underground storage facility is a good setting for a horror story, and the camera work does a decent job of making the environment feel large and claustrophobic at the same time. Long corridors, industrial lighting, and shadowy storage units create an atmosphere that could have supported a much stronger film.

The sound design is also well handled. The noises of the fungus spreading through the building and infecting its victims are unsettling, and the audio mix gives those moments a sense of impact.

Unfortunately those technical strengths cannot fully compensate for the film’s biggest issue, which is tone. The movie never seems completely sure whether it wants to be a horror film, a sci fi thriller, or a goofy comedy. Instead it jumps between all three without fully committing to any of them. That tonal confusion makes the pacing feel uneven. One moment the film tries to build suspense, the next it undercuts the scene with a joke that feels completely out of place.

The most frustrating part is that the core idea actually has potential. A fast spreading biological threat trapped inside a storage facility could have been genuinely tense. But the film leans so hard into the dumb comedy that it ends up pulling attention away from the story rather than enhancing it.

By the time the film reaches its final act it becomes clear that the movie is not interested in delivering anything particularly memorable. The climax is chaotic and loud, but without the emotional investment or tension needed to make it satisfying.

That does not mean the film is completely without entertainment value. There are a few laughs here and there, and if you go into it expecting a silly B movie creature feature you might have a decent time.

But considering the talent involved and the strength of the premise, Cold Storage ultimately feels like a missed opportunity. It is not terrible, but it is not particularly good either.

In the end it is a dumb comedy with a decent concept that could have been something far better, that’s why I rate the film a 5/10