Cold Feet is another in the long line of films about a bachelor or bachelorette party gone straight to hell. It follows in the footsteps of films like Stag Night of the Dead, Slashlorette Party, Hostel III and even Bachelor Party in the Bungalow of the Damned. It’s getting to be almost as much of a tradition as bachelor parties themselves. Does Cold Feet uphold that tradition, or is this one party that should be skipped?
Eddie (Allen C. Gardner, Don’t Read This on a Plane) is about to get married, which calls for a stag party. So Johnny (Adam Burns, Daylight Fades), Jeff (Matthew Gilliam),Ben (Gabe Arredondo, Community Theater Christmas) and the rest of the guys rent a house for a weekend of booze, drugs and strippers. Well, no strippers because Eddie’s not into that.
But, despite everyone denying they hired her, Courteney (Najarra Townsend, Dementia: Part II, Portal) turns up anyway. And then turns up dead in the morning, after taking everyone’s phone. But that’s only the start of it. There are snipers outside, preventing them from leaving. And did I mention, there’s a ghost in the house with them?
Directors Allen C. Gardner and Brad Ellis, working from a script by Gardner, Cold Feet starts out as an ensemble bro comedy before getting somewhat serious as Eddie confides his doubts about his upcoming marriage to Courtney. How much you enjoy this will depend on how much you like the characters. I found them a bit more irritating than amusing, but your mileage may vary.
From the point of Courtney’s death on, Cold Feet becomes progressively stranger, and funnier. It seems the ghost can jump bodies, possessing people at will in order to make sure nobody escapes. That includes knocking out Officers Mooney (Kenneth Farmer, The Fanatic) and Hanson (Lindsey Roberts, Tennessee Queer) when they turn up. It also leads to some amusing emotional violence as the the ghost tells the partiers what their friends really think of them.
The eventual explanation for all of this, which I won’t spoil, is as nuts as the plot itself. And that is fairly nuts, as incident piles on incident. This leads to, among other things, Kim (Hayden Blane, Sawblade, Steampunk Samurai Biker Chick) on whom Eddie has the worst hidden crush in history showing up.
Despite the presence of ghosts and a few people ending up dead, I really wouldn’t call Cold Feet a horror comedy. It’s never really scary and the deaths aren’t frightening or gory. When it does get serious it’s over more mundane things, love, marriage, friendship, etc. It works, but I would have preferred the scares. Or for it to have pulled out the stops and gone way over the top with it’s already outrageous plot.
If you’re looking for a few chuckles mixed with some serious moments, Cold Feet will keep you amused. Just don’t expect the ghosts to be scary. Cold Feet is available on several Digital platforms. You can check the film’s Facebook page for more details.