COLD STORAGE – The Movie Spoiler

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Spectre

We open to a shot of outer space and a text screen telling us the Skylab space station fell out of orbit in 1979 and mostly burned up in reentry with the Earth’s atmosphere. NASA presumably recovered all the remaining pieces but that turned out not to be the case…

18 YEARS BEFORE

Western Australia. A man races to a telephone at a gas station to make a call. We cut to Rome, Italy. Dr. Hero Martins (Sosie Bacon) receives the call. The man, desperate and out of breath, explains that he has called six separate times and kept getting shuffled to different people. After getting him to calm down, Martins learns that part of the Skylab station, an oxygen tank, was found in Australia and the man’s uncle had kept it as a tourist attraction. However, something has leaked from the tank and has caused everyone to start dying and they need help. As Martins tries to get more information, the call breaks up and she loses contact.

27 HOURS LATER

Martins, along with Robert Quinn (Liam Neeson) and Trini Romano (Leslie Manville) arrive in the small Australian town. Quinn asks about the Oxygen tank and Martins explains NASA put a special fungus inside to take into space, to see if a different atmosphere would alter it, and perhaps make cures. They suit up in hazmat gear and start to walk into the small deserted town, finding fourteen homes and twelve cars but no people.

After looking around a bit, Martins finds the oxygen tank and takes a close, careful look. Using a magnifying glass, she notices small hairline fractures, and green fungus leaking out of it. Seeing a bowl with soap and a sponge, Martin concludes the well meaning attempt of cleaning the tank caused a chemical reaction that made the fracture and leak possible. Asking Quinn for an assist, he holds on to her as she looks closer. Seeing the green fungus move and pulsate, it lunges, frightening her. She pulls back, seemingly safe, not noticing as a small amount hits the ground, which she steps on. The fungus, unknown to her, quickly begins to corrode the feet of her suit, get through, and begin to infect her.

Alerted by Romano, Quinn and Martins get onto the roof and find one of the townspeople, his entire chest cavity torn open. Looking around the roofs, they find the rest of the people, all dead from the fungus. Quinn, realizing they are in danger, tells Martins to quickly get her sample.

As they walk back to the car, Quinn and Romano debate where to store the samples. Robert suggests a bunker site in Kansas. Martins, however, is overtaken by the infection and vomits green fungus inside her suit. Martins runs to get away in the car, the fungus controlling her and directing her to infect others. Romano tries to shoot her, and Martins backs up trying to hit her. Quinn pushes Romano out of the way but injures his back in the process. Martins tries to shoot Romano while Quinn tries to reach her. With a final moment of lucidity, Martins pulls the air tube from her suit out and shoots into the gap, committing suicide.

The government, now understanding the threat, places the sample into custody and has the entire town firebombed. Taking it to a secure facility in Atchison, Kansas, the fungus is put in cold storage. 20 years pass and the facility and the threat are mostly forgotten. The upper levels of land are sold to a self storage facility.

Travis “Teacake” Meachum (Joe Kerry) drives to work, listening to a self help audio book about being a better, assertive person. As he arrives, he is confronted by his boss, Griffin (Gavin Spokes). Griffin wants his help with a night “job” that will be happening at the storage unit, but Travis refuses, trying to stay on the straight and narrow. After several failed attempts to get him on board, Griffin gives up and tells Travis he will be training the new girl and drives off on his motorcycle.

Sitting down to read, Travis watches the cameras and sees the new girl, Naomi Williams (Georgina Campbell). He notices something beeping inside the building but cannot pinpoint where it is coming from.

Later, Mrs. Rooney (Vanessa Redgrave) shows up, wanting to get inside her unit. Travis, trying to be friendly, comments on the weather, but Mrs. Rooney is curt and cold with the awkward Travis. Going down to her unit, she looks at a picture of her deceased husband (today was their anniversary) and pulls out a gun, intending to commit suicide. After a moment of hesitation, she decides to take a short nap before she makes that final decision.

Travis listens to his self help tapes again but still hears the beep again. Getting on the intercom, he calls out to Naomi to ask her opinion on it. Coming back to the lobby, she initially hears nothing. Travis introduces himself by his nickname “Teacake” but notes it is a long story. Naomi gets a phone call and has a quick, unpleasant conversation with the other person before hanging up. She tells Travis that it was the father of her child and that too is a long story. She soon hears the beeping noise as well and realizes Travis isn’t crazy.

At home in Raleigh North Carolina, Quinn gets a call from the government. Thinking it will be a false alarm, he tells his wife to go back to bed.

Travis and Naomi determine that the beeping noise is coming from behind a wall. Naomi convinces Travis to break through the drywall, noting they can fix it tomorrow before Griffin even knows. “Maybe it’s a smoke alarm or it’s something terrible,” Naomi jokes, wanting something interesting to happen. Travis however is hesitant noting he needs this job, and Naomi quickly figures out why; he’s an ex-con (Travis later telling her he unknowingly became a getaway driver for a robbery).

Back in North Carolina, Quinn retrieves a satellite phone from a safe and calls into a government center where a woman answers and explains the situation to him; the facility coolant alarm went off hours before. Angry that he wasn’t told earlier, and enraged that those in charge aren’t taking the situation seriously, Quinn tells the woman he is speaking to that he needs a plane to Kansas, a car waiting for him, and a list of materials as he is now retired and no longer has the equipment. Needing a name to refer to her as, the woman picks the codename Abigail (Ellora Tochira). Quinn tells Abigail that she needs to call Gordon Grey only for clearance for all the information. When Abigail is hesitant, Quinn tells her that this is the situation that she sacrificed respect and her personal life for; a moment to truly help the innocent when it counts.

Back in the storage facility, Travis and Naomi break through the wall and find a large control panel that monitors temperature. Naomi explains the intricacies of it, saying she is learning certain things as she is going to veterinary school. Seeing a map on the wall, Naomi realizes there is an entrance to the lower floors. Travis is resistant, and Naomi calls him out for it. Travis then tells her that he has spent his life easily agreeable with other people and it has led him into trouble. To illustrate his point he notes that Naomi and her “pretty eyes” made him want to break through the wall. He isn’t saying no per se but wants to think things through more often. Naomi is taken aback by his compliment and then asks if he’s ready to go or not. Realizing she will investigate with or without him, decides to follow her.

Outside, a man parks with his car, a gun in the passenger seat.

Down in the lower levels, Travis and Naomi find the pathway continuing through a janitor’s closet. Naomi notices that Travis talks a certain way, but Travis notes all the people he knows talk like that. Naomi says he is loquacious, and Travis digs the term, not entirely realizing at first it just means he talks a lot. Searching further, they find the ladder entrance to the lower levels and take the stairs down.

Outside, the man in the car tries to call Naomi again and leaves a message for her saying he is in trouble. The man, Mike (Aaron Heffernan) is Naomi’s ex-boyfriend and the father of her child. Stepping out the car with the gun, he goes to the trunk where he hears movement. Opening the trunk, he sees a seemingly dead cat come back to life (Mike had accidentally shot it). Looking closer, it is revealed that the cat’s head has been liquefied partly by the green fungus. It runs away from Mike onto the building, climbing an antenna. At the top, it impales itself through the skull on a sharp end, before exploding completely, coating Mike and a nearby deer in the fungus, infecting them.

In the underground tunnel, Naomi tells Travis about her daughter Sarah, who is six and who Naomi had when she was eighteen. Travis asks if she regretted having her so young, and Naomi, rather than be offended, realizes Travis is asking her from an human perspective, answering that no she ultimately didn’t, though it complicated things and made her have to grow up faster. Finding a lab door, Travis opens it and looks inside. They see the fungus over the door, and hear a rustling at the floor, in which a large group of infected rats are cannibalizing themselves. Naomi gets close to the lab door and almost touches it before Travis stops her. They both agree they’ve had enough fun and decide to leave the area immediately.

Outside the building, Mike vomits violently, fully infected. The fungus directs him to find Naomi. As he walks to the building, the infected deer joins him.

Quinn is on a plane to Kansas. He watches the video of Dr. Martins death, reminding himself how dangerous the fungus is. Getting a call, it is Abigail, he notes that due to the fact he has an escort on the plane means she did not clear everything with Gordon Grey. Abigail tells him Grey died over a year ago. When Quinn asks who is in charge, Jerabek (Richard Brake) takes over the call, thinking Quinn’s fear is overblown. Quinn counters that his numerous warnings about containment and temperature changes were ignored, and Jerabek is not taking the situation seriously. Jerabek tells him that they are only humoring his investigation due to Grey and expects a basic report, thinking Quinn is a joke.

“Up yours asshole,” Quinn says as he starts to hang up the phone.
“I’m still here,” Jerabek replies, annoyed.
“I know,” Quinn says, hanging up.

Abigail calls Quinn back on her cell phone, realizing that Jerabek is not taking the situation seriously and still wants to help. Quinn tells her to contact Romano to meet him in Kansas with a car and everything on a list he told her about including “Item Seven.” Jerabek comes by and Abigail fakes a pregnancy scare on the phone to distract him, which Quinn respects for her quick thinking.

Naomi looks up the acronym they saw on the initial panel they found and realizes it stands for Defense Threat Reduction Agency. As they go back up to the storage floors, Naomi sees a deer walking to the elevator. Travis sees it call the elevator and is flabbergasted. “That fucking deer just took the fucking elevator.” Travis ponders how that happened.

We soon see how. Years ago, the containment coolant in the facility started to go bad, causing the fungus to slowly creep out. Minutes before, a bug ate it, infecting it, and it crawled out of the facility, only to be crushed by Mike’s car. The fungus then latched onto his car tire, which moved to the trunk, and infected the cat, leading to its death and the infection of Mike and the deer.

Following it back up to the lobby (using the stairs) they watch as it begins to walk outside only for Travis to startle it. Turning around, it charges the two before Naomi pulls Travis out of the way. It then explodes, coating the lobby in gore. As they look at the mess in shock, they see Mike, even more infected. Mike sees Naomi and screams at her to open her mouth so he can vomit into it. The two understandably run back downstairs to hide. Travis opens a storage unit and nearly gets them caught by making noise. Mike tries to open the unit, but Naomi and Travis shut it on his fingers. Knowing they are currently trapped, they decide to call the military.

Quinn gets off the plane and is met with Romano. She tells him they have everything except “Item Seven” that they will have to pick up. In the car, Quinn gets a call from Abigail, who tells him a civilian call came through from the facility. Quinn talks to Naomi, telling her help is on the way, and tells her to keep Travis calm as he quickly believes him to be a liability due to his panicked nature. After several minutes, they hear noise, but it is too early for Quinn to have arrived. Travis realizes it is Griffin.

Griffin arrives with a crew and it is revealed his big “job” that he wanted Travis’ help on was stealing a bunch of high end TV’s from a storage unit. Griffin and the robbers go inside and see the hole in the wall and the gore. Griffin is beyond angry, and grabbing the intercom, tells Travis he is fired. Having a job to do, the group go around the mess into the unit downstairs and begin taking the TV’s up.

Quinn and Romano break into a house and retrieve a large knapsack from the basement. As they go to leave a man confronts them from the stairs with a shotgun. Romano defuses the situation, and it is revealed that the house belongs to Anthony, her estranged son. Anthony tells his mom that if his wife knew she was here, she’d kill them both. Romano apologizes and asks about Thanksgiving and her son says he will do what he can. Outside, it is revealed that Item Seven is a nuclear bomb. Quinn is amazed that Romano would hide it in the home of her grandchildren, but Romano notes it would be impossible for them to arm it anyway. Romano tells him to take her car and head over to the storage facility as she’d only slow them down and risk both of them getting killed.

Realizing Mike is still dangerous, Travis goes to leave the storage unit before Quinn arrives. Naomi tries to stop him but Travis tells her he just wants to do one good thing and help someone, even if it is Griffin and his thieves. Naomi decides to join him. Mike, meanwhile, attracted by the noise, goes to the unit where the thieves are stealing the TV’s. He then projectile vomits on three of the thieves, infecting them. Seeing this, Travis quickly shuts the door, keeping them out. As Mike goes to attack them, Mrs. Rooney who had woken up from all the noise, shoots Mike. His body explodes right after.

“Something wasn’t right about that young man,” Mrs. Rooney deadpans.

On the way to the facility, Quinn calls Abigail and tells her he needs satellite imaging of the facility and that infected humans will run hot on imaging and he needs to know how many people he may have to kill to curtail the spread of the fungus.

Griffin, hearing the gunshot, pulls out his gun, reveling in the opportunity to shoot someone.

After ushering Mrs. Rooney out of the building, Travis is confronted by Griffin and another man, Daryl (with Griffin accidentally shooting Travis in his haste). Forced to open the unit that holds the three infected thieves, Travis refuses to and locks it. Naomi arrives and sprays a fire extinguisher at them allowing Travis and her to flee outside. Daryl, freaked out, falls into a pile of fungus that used to be Mike and is infected.

The Rev, the main thief who has been outside the whole time, and hearing all the commotion and noise, decides to cut his losses, takes off in his truck and leaves alive with the few TV’s they had pulled out.

Seconds later, Travis and Naomi come into contact with Quinn who tells them what they will do next. The two of them will take the nuclear bomb down to the facility and set it. He will stay behind and watch for the infected. Though what they are doing is dangerous he makes them understand that he has to do the harder job; kill technically innocent people because they are infected with an incurable parasite that will destroy the world. The two understand and put on hazmat suits and agree to take the bomb. Quinn meanwhile, slashes the tires of all the vehicles, so no infected can get away.

Griffin, not understanding what danger he is in, tells one of the thieves he is locked out and needs his key, which he is given. After opening the door, Griffin then orders two of the thieves to head upstairs, while he watches another, Cuba, explode.

Abigail, watching the satellite feed, tells Quinn an infected is running up behind him. Quickly turning around, he fires on Daryl, killing him but the quick twist causes a horrible back spasm, keeping him on the ground. Quinn then showers the motorcycles of the thieves with bullets, blowing up one. Hearing Griffin behind him, he fires his gun, until he runs out of ammunition.

Down in the facility, Travis and Naomi set the bomb on the table, only to realize that Quinn set the timer before they left. They race for the stairs, as they were told the bomb has a malfunctioning timer that could either add time or subtract it. Realizing the suits will slow them down, they quickly remove them and get up the stairs.

Realizing Quinn is out of bullets, Griffin confronts him and looks for his car keys. A Trans Am arrives and out steps Romano, ordering Griffin to get off of Quinn. She then asks a single question to Quinn.

“Good to go?” she asks.

“Good to go,” Quinn replies.

Romano pulls out her gun, and shoots Griffin dead for being a threat. Moments later, Naomi and Travis arrive and berate him about lying about the timer; Quinn says he was “sure” they could get back in time. Getting in his car, they drive away fast with only seconds to spare. The bomb, whose timer had malfunctioned several times, finally goes off, incinerating the facility and everything around it for a mile. “Oh, my son’s car!” Romano notes, having left it behind in the confusion.

Days later, Quinn is healing in the hospital, watching Jerabek on the news being grilled for his attempt at covering up the outbreak. Quinn is declared a hero, and his memos that warned of the dangers were leaked to the public, causing a national outcry. Quinn laughs at Jerabek’s misfortune. A moment later, Abigail arrives (revealing her real name to be Ishani). She tells Quinn she leaked the information, not wanting the government to sweep their mistakes under the rug. Abigail thanks him for reminding her that she does her job to be there and help when no one else will.

In a park, Travis spends time with Naomi and her daughter Sarah. Travis finally tells her why his nickname is Teacake. Years before, he went to get some snacks with friends and teacakes were the only things left to buy so he took them, found out he enjoyed them, and thus was mocked by his friends by being given that nickname. He says he hadn’t heard his real name in years before she used it. Travis looks at her and she returns a glance, hinting at a future relationship between the two. In the end, the heroes survive and the dangerous fungus has been eradicated fully…

Not quite. In a final scene, we see a herd of deer. One turns to the camera and violently vomits out the green fungus; some of the fungus has survived…

After a deadly fungus is discovered in Australia, remnants of a Skylab Space station experiment gone wrong, Dr. Hero Martins (Sosie Bacon) loses her life to suicide after being infected. The government put her samples in cold storage and firebombed the town.

20 years later, the facility was forgotten, and a self-storage facility was built on top of it. Unassuming employees Travis (Joe Kerry) and Naomi (Georgina Williams) discover the lab, but initially do not understand the danger they are in. As the fungus spreads, it infects animals and people alike, including Mike, Naomi’s ex-boyfriend and a group of thieves brought there by their boss Griffin.

Robert Quinn (Liam Neeson), who was present the day Martins died, arrives and helps Travis and Nicole. The two plant a bomb while Quinn kills the infected. When cornered by Griffin, Quinn’s old teammate Romano kills him and the four escape the facility before the bomb explodes.

Travis and Naomi spend time with her daughter, and it is implied they begin a relationship. Quinn watches the news as he is declared a hero, while the military is condemned for ignoring the threat. However, the danger isn’t fully eradicated as we see in the final scene that an infected deer got away and has begun vomiting the green fungus…