Cold Storage

Cold Storage 2026 Review: Popcorn Horror Done Right

AT A GLANCE

Cold Storage 2026 review: a smart but familiar B-movie throwback that delivers campy performances, gooey splatter, and wry sci-fi wit with infectious enthusiasm. Joe Keery and Georgina Campbell are the real reason to watch. Liam Neeson is there for the poster.

Cold Storage 2026 Review: A Gleefully Dumb Horror Comedy That Knows Exactly What It Is

Cold Storage 2026 review verdict: a solid popcorn watch, nothing more, nothing less. From the Beach Boys-scored title sequence to the wildly over-the-top explosive finale, Cold Storage is a gleefully anarchic and visceral hoot that is clearly designed as a showcase for the charismatic Joe Keery. Director Jonny Campbell, adapting David Koepp’s own novel with Koepp himself writing the screenplay, delivers a horror comedy that never pretends to be anything deeper than it is. That self-awareness is exactly what keeps it working across its brisk 98-minute runtime.

What Is Cold Storage?

When Skylab crashed to Earth in 1979, NASA thought it had recovered every piece. They were wrong. An uncollected piece of debris emitted a gnarly, green, tendrilly fungus that almost instantly infected all humans in the immediate vicinity, causing their bodies to explode. A government containment team led by Liam Neeson’s Robert Quinn and Lesley Manville’s dry-witted Trini Romano managed to freeze the parasite and seal it in a secure underground facility. Decades later, that facility is buried under a self-storage company, overseen by two minimum-wage night-shift employees who absolutely did not sign up for any of this.

Teacake (Joe Keery) and Naomi (Georgina Campbell) are the unlikely heroes confronted with a super-fungus that defies all laws of physics and makes its host do totally obscene things to ensure it spreads onto new unsuspecting victims, from climbing onto roofs to commit suicide to exploding spontaneously in fountains of infectious fungal sludge. It is exactly as ridiculous as it sounds. That is the point.

The Experience

Cold Storage commits to its B-movie premise with the kind of enthusiasm that is very easy to get on board with. The vibe goes from super serious to super silly, and it works. The film opens with a genuinely tense prologue, establishes its two leads quickly and effectively, and then lets the fungal chaos loose with increasing escalation across the second and third acts.

The zombie-style horror is handled well with a mix of practical and digital effects that blend the terrifying and the goofy. The movie has a good pace and the story flows quickly with time flying by. For a horror comedy, pacing is everything, and Cold Storage largely gets it right. It never sits still long enough for the thin plot to become a problem.

Joe Keery and Georgina Campbell were perfectly cast. The pair were completely believable together as the unlikely world-saving duo and fully embodied their characters, from Naomi’s curiosity and determination to Teacake overcoming his fear to keep his friend safe. Their chemistry is the film’s greatest asset, and every scene they share has an easy, natural rhythm that elevates the material around them.

What Works

Joe Keery and Georgina Campbell have been paired really well as an unlikely couple of misfits confronted with a super-fungus. The plot is just about sufficiently convenient to register as camp and a tiny bit stupid while never truly prompting the viewer to reject it. That balance, dumb enough to be fun but not so dumb it collapses, is harder to achieve than it looks. The leads are the reason it holds.

The script and direction clearly understand the kind of story they are telling and do not try to disguise it as something deeper than it is. That is why it ultimately works so well. The zombie animals in particular are a highlight. Some hilariously bad CGI animals appear alongside some disgusting fungal zombie explosions, and the whole package delivers exactly what the trailer promised.

The initial mystery kept audiences on the edge of their seats, and the unpredictability is refreshing. It is like a zombie movie, but refreshingly different — an all-out fun and entertaining comedy horror.

What Doesn’t

The CGI is the film’s most consistent weak point across every review platform, and your eyes will notice it. A movie like this would have benefited vastly from traditional practical gore and blood effects instead of CGI, which even in 2026 looks quite jarring. Cold Storage could have been a modern-day spiritual descendant of Peter Jackson-meets-Troma filmmaking and was only a few cards short of achieving that.

Liam Neeson is the other sticking point. While some reviewers found his deadpan delivery amusing, the broader consensus lands closer to your own read. He is cashing in a paycheck in a role that never challenges him and exists primarily to add a recognizable name to the marketing. The Neeson character is underwritten and generic, and the film would have been better served giving that screen time to its two leads.

The story is deliberately thin. Entertaining but forgettable once the credits roll, easily overshadowed by older films that did it better. This is not a film that rewards thinking about. It is a film that rewards turning your brain off and enjoying the ride.

Verdict

Cold Storage is the definition of a great popcorn movie. Fun while it is happening, quickly forgotten after, and best watched with a group who knows what they signed up for. Joe Keery and Georgina Campbell carry it with genuine charm and chemistry. The fungal zombie sequences are exactly as gross and ridiculous as advertised. The CGI undercuts the practical effects more often than it should, and Liam Neeson is there to sell tickets rather than deliver a performance.

Having fun with Cold Storage is surprisingly easy. That is the verdict. Go in expecting 98 minutes of gleefully dumb sci-fi horror comedy with two very likable leads and exploding fungal zombies and you will have a great time.