5 Frigid Movies to Stream While You're Snowbound
It might sound like the stuff of disaster movies like The Day After Tomorrow and Snowpiercer, but for much of the East Coast, the snowpocalypse is about to be a very real thing. A huge winter storm is expected to dump bucketloads of snow on the region this week, which means lots of time indoors while the drifts pile up outside. At least the worst things most of us will have to deal with are cabin fever and hyperactive kids. The snowpocalypse victims in the following five films — all of which you can stream while waiting out the storm — have a heck of a lot more on their plate.
Charlie Chaplin in The Gold Rush
The Gold Rush (1925)
Boasting some of the finest, funniest comic set-pieces Charlie Chaplin ever choreographed, The Gold Rush is a terrific weather-appropriate gateway for viewers — particularly those in the 10 and under set — unfamiliar with the Little Tramp. Whether he’s chomping on a shoe or desperately trying to keep his tiny shack from plunging over an icy cliff, Chaplin’s gold-hungry, love-starved Alaskan prospector is an easy hero to root for. Bonus: After seeing this, you’ll finally understand what Johnny Depp was doing in this classic Benny & Joon scene. (Available on Amazon Instant, Hulu Plus, iTunes)
Watch a classic scene from The Gold Rush:
Jack Nicholson and Danny Lloyd in The Shining
The Shining (1980)
Stanley Kubrick’s chilling adaptation of the classic Stephen King novel is the most effective argument ever made against taking the kids on an extended ski vacation. Even if Jack Nicholson wanted to get his family away from the Overlook, where the elevators flow with blood and bartenders apparate out of thin air, the snow-drenched mountain roads make escape next to impossible. The scariest thing about The Shining? There’s an entire generation coming up who probably won’t understand what “Heeeeeere’s Johnny!” means. (Available on Amazon Instant, iTunes, YouTube, Vudu)
Ethan Hawke in Alive
Alive (1993)
“To eat or not to eat (human flesh)?” is the question faced by the snowbound survivors of an Andean plane crash in this 1993 drama, based on a terrifying true story. En route to a match, the members of a Uruguayan rugby team (one of whom is played by the decidedly non-Uruguayan Ethan Hawke) end up stranded in the mountains, with no easy route back to civilization and a desperate choice to make about their survival. (Available on Amazon Instant, iTunes, YouTube, Vudu)
Guy Pearce in Ravenous
Ravenous (1999)
Antonia Bird’s wickedly tense and darkly hilarious frontier thriller was mostly ignored upon its original release, but it’s deservedly become cult favorite since then. Guy Pearce plays a cowardly general exiled to a remote fort located high in the Sierra Nevada mountains, where he shivers and starves in the frozen tundra alongside seven other soldiers, until a wild-eyed stranger (Robert Carlyle) turns up on their doorstep and things get real crazy, real quick. To spoil what happens next would be criminal, but let’s just say that — similar to Alive — the chill factor is less of an issue than the cannibalism factor. (Available on Amazon Instant, iTunes, Netflix, YouTube, Vudu)
Billy Bob Thornton in The Ice Harvest
The Ice Harvest (2005)
The late Harold Ramis’ penultimate directorial effort is an eternally underrated entry in his filmography, a ticking-clock crime caper told with great verve and wit. Having stolen $2 million from their criminally-inclined employer on Christmas Eve, John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton are looking to get the hell out of Dodge — make that, Wichita — but are blocked at every turn by bad decisions and even worse weather. It all goes to show you that crime doesn’t pay…especially during winter. (Available on Amazon Instant, iTunes, Netflix, YouTube, Vudu)
Watch the trailer for The Ice Harvest:
