By: debbie elias
Bringing the true story of the arrest and capture of serial killer Robert Hensen to life with THE FROZEN GROUND is first time feature director, Scott Walker. Structuring the film as a police procedural with the audience knowing early on who the killer is and then working backwards from the perspective of law enforcement to obtain evidence to arrest and convict, Walker treats us to nail biting urgency and tension. Shooting in Anchorage and at the specific locations where some of the actual victims’ bodies were found, we are immersed in the horror of reality. Boasting a powerhouse cast, THE FROZEN GROUND captivates with compelling performances. John Cusack delivers an Oscar-worthy turn as killer Robert Hansen, going toe-to-toe against Nic Cage’s Sergeant Jack Halcombe, an amalgamation of several key law enforcement involved in the investigation but primarily Detective Glenn Flothe, while Vanessa Hudgens amazes as she delves into the very heart of Cindy Paulson, drawing the audience ever deeper into the darkness, fragility and strength of this 17 year old girl.
Robert Hansen is currently serving 461 years in the Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward, Alaska. One of the most notorious serial killers in United States history, Hansen is believed to have viciously raped and assaulted over 30 women and murdering 17 to 21 of them ages 16 to 41 between the years 1980 and 1983. When ultimately convicted, Hansen actually confessed to murders dating as far back as 1971. A respected member of the Anchorage, Alaska community, Hansen was beloved by all. Happily married with two children, Hansen spent his time as a local business owner, serving the community and occupying his spare time with hunting, so much so, that he became a champion hunter. He also managed to keep hidden crimes of his past which may have pointed law enforcement in his direction when women began disappearing and turning up murdered at an alarming rate. But life changed for Hansen and the entire United States criminal legal system as we know it on June 13, 1983, when 17 year old Cindy Paulson escaped Hansen’s clutches.
Taken captive by Hansen and held hostage in his basement lair where she was raped and beaten, Paulson was being taken by Hansen to his private aircraft so that Hansen could do what he had already done with so many other seemingly “unwanted” or “tainted” girls (strippers, prostitutes, wives escaping husbands, single girls, waitresses), so many times before; fly her out into the frozen grounds of the Alaskan woods and kill her. But Paulson saw a moment of opportunity and made a run for it. Initially, the police dismissed her story, trying to twist the facts to prove that Paulson was trying to do a shakedown on Robert Hansen. But then Detective Glenn Flothe of the Alaska State Troopers came on the scene and took charge. Already on the task force investigating the murder of three women found brutalized in various parts of the Alaskan tundra, Flothe saw truth and similarity with Paulson’s story. Calling in the FBI and agent Roy Hazelwood, Flothe put the wheels in motion to save a community and change history.
The performances in THE FROZEN GROUND are shockingly real and each strong and defined, starting with Nic Cage. As Sergeant Jack Halcombe, an amalgamation of real life Flothe and several other law enforcement personnel, Cage brings a compassionate earnestness and dogged heart brimming with wrenching determination. He wears Halcombe’s heart on his sleeve but his conviction on his face and in his movements. Cage does some of the most seductively commanding interrogation scenes going toe-toe-toe with John Cusack’s Hansen, but what is even more engrossing is that he spins his tact and emotion on a dime when grilling Hansen and then when grilling the APD’s only witness, Cindy Paulson.
According to Cage, “I was primarily just drawing my inspiration from Glenn Flothe. I spent about 3 hours with him on the telephone interviewing him. I did not take the job lightly. I view the man as a hero, a real one. It was important to me to make him look good and I told him that; not only make him look good, but make Alaska State Troopers look good. And by good, I mean treat it responsibly; no showing off, no self-aggrandizement. Just tell the facts the way they are and demonstrate the good that he did and the actions that he did. I remember one of the things I asked him was, ‘The things that Hansen did to these women, did that get in your head at all? Did that get in the way of your job performance? Does it make it hard for you to sleep?’ The first thing he said was, ‘No. It didn’t get in my head.’ And the way he said it was so direct, I had no doubt that he was as scary as Hansen was, but on the side of justice. He just was not going to stop. He was vigilant and he was going to get him behind bars.” There is not a moment in Cage’s performance where one does not believe that Halcombe is going to do just that.
And start the Oscar campaign NOW for John Cusack! Short changed last year for his stunning performance in The Paperboy, it would be a travesty for the Academy to pass over him again given his work here as Robert Hansen. A beyond frightening portrayal, as Cusack does with everything, he immerses himself in the character and as a result, the audience. The little tics and personality shifts that he brings to Hansen stun. From being “an everyman”, liked by all, Cusack adds subtle shadings that are powerfully telling as to the schizophrenic dichotomy of the man. The deliberateness, the need for control, the rage that pushes him to rapid, wild-eyed, foaming killer. GASP! Cusack makes my heart stop. Physical nuance from the grip of a steering wheel to striding through his bakery with head high, strides long – he is simply spellbinding.
As reflected on by writer/director Walker, one of Cusack’s initial concerns in taking on the role of Hansen was that “This character could go anywhere” and where Cusack did not want it to go was “over the top.” Key to his coming on board was Walker’s assurance that “I want this character to be as truthful a portrayal of an ordinary man who is a serial killer and how he gets away with it by being so normal. That we stay as truthful to these books and these manuals that I’m going to give you, and to these case files and these psychiatric reports that we have on him. . .”
Then you put Cusack and Cage together and the screen explodes, and never moreso than in the final interrogation scene. Like caged animals let loose in an arena – gladiator style – forceful, dogged, deceptive, the two create a riveting masterful dance. As Cage notes, “I think even Scott [Walker] kept us apart for awhile by design so it would be this electricity in the room. I remember not wanting to rehearse much. . .I just wanted to keep it fresh and hopefully have some happy accidents that we could catch on camera right away. I knew working with John [Cusack] there were going to be some surprises. It was really like a game of chess. Hansen was almost like a lawyer in how well he knew the law and what he could and couldn’t get away with. I think that comes through with this sort of cat and mouse game that Cusack portrays so well in those scenes. It was like two forces, in a way, on different sides, the yin and yang. Both of them are scary but they’re on different sides of the law.”
But then there’s Vanessa Hudgens. Talk about a pleasant surprise. As Cindy Paulson, Hudgens captures a multiplicity of emotional beats that draw one into the character. Meeting with the real Paulson numerous times and having intimate discussions with her, standout for Hudgens was “Just how brave she was to really open up to me and Scott the way that she did. She told us stuff that she’s never told anyone else before. It was a bit of an emotional roller coaster. I kind of held my breath through a lot of her stories. . .She’s a fighter and she’s a survivor and she’s very strong. . .There’s this childlike aspect about her that she had as well. She still had wonderment of the world and it was really refreshing and really beautiful to see that.” Hudgens succinctly brings all of that into her performance. And as with Cage and Cusack, scenes pairing Cage and Hudgens are also emotive and strong as Hudgens lets us see shifts of power and emotion at their most bare. One shortcoming, however, comes with her accent and vocal inflection which intermittently falter, clouding enunciation.
Strong supporting performance comes from Kevin Dunn as Halcombe’s right-hand man, Lt. Jent. Going beyond believability, Dunn brings a palpable fear and frustration to the role and the film as the man heading up the search at Hansen’s home while Cage’s Halcombe pulls out all the stops in the interrogation to delay a possible release of the killer.
Interesting is the storytelling strategy employed by Walker in the film’s structure. Creating a wonderful sense of urgency in terms of procedural and evidentiary aspects of a criminal investigation, instead of backtracking with a “whodunit” manhunt, Walker dives in head first, shows us who the killer is and takes on the time sensitive journey of getting the evidence to make an arrest. Important to Walker, and reflected in the film is that “I wanted it to have a sense of immediacy and of what it was like. When Glenn Flothe came on the case, I compacted what he did. He came on [the case] and within four weeks he had the guy caught. In my mind, I tried to collapse that in to about two weeks and then take two big events that happened about one year before and six months after and bring those in. . .It’s gonna be a police procedure, there’s gonna be an enormous amount of detail and information about a load of cases, so how do you keep that interesting and keep it moving. I try never to have sort of them all sitting around having a conversation about all the details. There has to be walking, there has to be movement, they have to be going somewhere to keep the energy going.”
Kudos to Scott Walker for spending some time addressing the issuance of a search warrant in the Hansen investigation. While key to his arrest and capture, the resulting far reaching societal benefits are often overlooked or unknown to the public. A noted part of criminal law and police procedure is the obtaining and issuance of search warrants. Often difficult when circumstances and evidence to support same are “slim at best”, thanks to the case of serial killer Robert Hansen, a warrant based on serial killer profiling is now possible. Particularly beneficial in instances involving these type of heinous crimes, this landmark case law has become an essential tool within the legal system and it’s all due thanks to the efforts of Alaska State Trooper Detective Glenn Flothe and FBI agents Roy Hazelwood and Joe Douglas. It was Flothe who called on the FBI for help in obtaining the evidence to arrest then suspected serial killer Robert Hansen and thanks to their combined efforts, were able to articulate for the first time in history, a 48 page warrant based on a serial killer profile.
A real technical standout is Sarah Boyd’s editing. Superlative. Fast paced, quick, rapid. You feel the urgency of the situation and know the clock is ticking. And thanks to the story construction, through the editing we not only live out Cindy’s nightmare but that of those victims not as fortunate. Cinematographer Patrick Murguia delivers a beautiful cold steely noir palette that is enticingly attractive. Adding to the tonal bandwidth is Walker’s insistence on shooting in Anchorage, in the specific places where the victims’ bodies were found, where the story takes place. “This story needs to be told in the place that the events happened with as many locales involved as possible because it’s their story; that’s the story behind the story.” Murguia’s visuals beautifully compliment the emotional tone. Embracing the locale, everything is distinct, varied – upper middle class neighborhood where Halcombe lives; bright lights and color downtown in the seedier sections which Murguia accentuates with lighting and striation of color, adding depth and texture and grit to the “dirtiness” of the story. Thanks to unseasonal snowfall, Mother Nature lends a hand as helicopter shots capture the Arctic tundra (where Hansen buried all of the bodes) really embracing “THE FROZEN GROUND.” Yet, as distinct as each element is, everything seamlessly blends and you feel the symbiosis amongst all of it. Beautifully structured. Great contrast is created with Hansen’s warm and seemingly inviting dungeon/den.
When it comes to Hansen’s home and particularly the “den” where he held his victims captive and raped them before killing them in the tundra, production designer Clark Hunter more than shows his mettle. Initially intending to shoot in the actual room (and with permission to do so) in Hansen’s house which according to Walker, “hadn’t changed in 26 years”, ultimately issues arose precluding the location which forced Hunter to recreate it for filming. Relying on photos from 1983 as well as Paulson’s recollections of her imprisonment, the room is chillingly accurate, right down to the hole in a post where victims were chained. Interesting are the stuffed animal heads surrounding the entire room – a metaphoric fortress of guards but also witnesses to validate Hansen’s self-perceived power.
Key to the truthfulness of emotion and tension of THE FROZEN GROUND is the respect that cast and crew had for the victims and their families. A journey showing the world the truth of what happened in Alaska while embracing and honoring not only the victims but a community that was rocked to its very core, “Everyone on the set throughout the entire shoot was very aware that this is real, what we’re depicting actually happened all the time.”
Nerve-wracking, nail biting and blood curdling, THE FROZEN GROUND will send chills down your spine while warming your heart.
Written and Directed by Scott Walker
Cast: Nic Cage, John Cusack, Vanessa Hudgens
