Cold Storage was first released in Mexico and Brazil on January 29, 2026, and in the United States by Samuel Goldwyn Films on February 13. StudioCanal is releasing Cold Storage in Poland on February 6, in France on February 18, in Germany on February 19,[5] in the United Kingdom on February 20,[6] and in New Zealand on March 12.[7] The film received generally positive reviews from critics.
Plot
In 1979, space station Skylab is decomissioned through atmospheric reentry, but an oxygen tank survives and lands on Western Australia. A farmer takes it and makes a makeshift Skylab museum around it.
In 2005, biochemist Dr. Hero Martins goes along with Pentagon bioterror operatives Robert Quinn and Trini Romano to the tank, that turned out to have gone into space carrying an infectious fungus for study, and days before the three arrived a heavily mutated fungus found a way out of the tank as the farmer attempted cleaning it, prompting the fungus to infect and kill him and many men in the surrounding area. Martins takes a sample of the fungus, before a patch that she stepped on corrodes the boots of her hazmat suit, infects Martins and starts controlling her activities before Trini kills her. The military incinerate the farm and the corpses while the sample is taken to an underground cold storage vault at the Atchison Storage Facility in Kansas.
In the intervening years, the government has sealed the vault and rented the ground level section to a self storage company. In the present day, elderly client Ma Rooney enters her storage unit intent on comitting suicide, and night guards Travis and Naomi start hearing a beeping alarm and try to discover its source. It turns out to be an alert for a malfunction in the vault's systems caused by a rise in temperatures, prompting Robert to be contacted in his Raleigh, North Carolina home by a military officer who when asked for a name, nicknames herself "Abigail". Knowing the dangers brought by the fungus, which is already breaking out of the vault, Robert asks the military for transportations. Once in Kansas he is received by Trini, who drives him to pick up a device in her home.
Travis and Naomi head towards the sealed vault, where an infected rat king is outside the door separating them from a rapidly growing fungus trying to break out. Outside, Naomi's ex-boyfriend Mike arrives in his car, and a strain of the fungus that managed to get outside infecting a cockroach enters the trunk, infecting Mike's dead cat. Once Mike lets the revived cat out, it kills itself impaling its head in an antenna, spreading remains that infect both Mike and a deer. Returning to the ground level, Travis and Naomi see Mike and the deer have entered, and while the deer swells and explodes, Mike pursues them hoping to spread the fungus before the duo hides in one of the storage units. They call the military, and Abigail redirects them to Robert, who tells that he is arriving and advises them to remain hidden.
However, manager Griffin arrives with a biker gang to take smuggled televisions from storage. Travis and Naomi leave their hiding spot wanting to warn them to flee, but Mike arrives before and infects the gang members as Griffin runs away. As he turns towards the duo, they are saved by Ma Rooney. They get outside and find Robert, who gives them a dirty bomb to be put outside the vault door to destroy the whole facility from within and eliminate any trace of the fungus. As the duo place the bomb, killing one of the infected along the way, Robert kills an escaping infected, making him fall on his back and find himself unable to get up. Griffin gets outside and tries to steal Robert's car keys when an arriving Trini kills him. Travis and Naomi then appear and get along with Robert into Trini's car, and they drive away right as the bomb explodes.
Days later, Travis is spending time with Naomi and her daughter, while Robert is in the hospital, seeing news reports praising him for preventing the outbreak while condemning the military for nearly causing it. A visiting Abigail admits this happened because she leaked Robert's reports on the fungus to the press.
The final shot is a deer vomiting akin to the other infected, implying at the fungus surviving.
In May 2022, it was announced that Liam Neeson and Joe Keery will star in the film and that StudioCanal would fully finance the film.[9] In October 2022, it was announced that Georgina Campbell joined the cast.[8] In March 2023, it was announced that Sosie Bacon was added to the cast and that filming began in Italy and Morocco.[10]
Release
In April 2025, Samuel Goldwyn Films acquired North American rights to the film.[12]Cold Storage was first released in Mexico and Brazil on January 29, 2026,[13][14] and then in the United States on February 13, 2026.[15]
Reception
Cold Storage received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, with some praising the film's humour and inventiveness, while others criticizing the pace, CGI and unfavoribly comparing it to previous zombie comedy horror classic The Return of the Living Dead (1985). On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 76% of 34 critics' reviews are positive.[16]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 62 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[17]
Brazilian critic Isabela Boscov praised the film, saying it exceeded her expectations: "Few things give me so much joy as a B-movie with an authentic B soul". [18] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter commented: "To its credit, this is a movie that knows better than to take itself too seriously. It’s painless enough though could have been more than that with a thorough script polish."[19] Nate Richard, of Collider, gave a positive review and wrote, "Cold Storage is a far better movie than you'd expect, thanks to its clever script, committed cast, and energetic direction. If you are hankering to watch more of Joe Keery battling monsters in the wake of the Stranger Things finale, this is just what the doctor ordered." Jim Slotek from Original-Cyn gave it a B- and wrote, "Unfortunately, in Cold Storage, the first act sets too high a bar to maintain, and the rest, though watchable, is busy-ness punctuated by green splatter."
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