By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

The comedy-horror subgenre comes with a considerable degree of difficulty: both genres tend to undercut each other. Even the single masterpiece to emerge from this unholy union —Gremlins, of course— is more likely to make you laugh than shriek.

Cold Storage gives it the old college try and, at times, pulls it off. Based on the pulpy bestseller by David Koepp (who also wrote the script), the film makes the gore register by going extra gnarly and pads the cast with three highly respected British thespians slumming it with gusto.

The year is 2005. In the debris of a decommissioned space station, an extraterrestrial fungus causes havoc in a small Australian town, killing the entire population. The outbreak is contained by a pair of shadowy bioterror operatives (Academy Award nominees Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville), who ship the lifeform to the U.S. and freeze it, presumably for eternity.

Twenty years later, thanks to global warming and Pentagon ineptitude, a leak springs. An alarm sounds, unheard by anyone except Travis (Joe Keery, the most tolerable cast member in Stranger Things), the night watchman at a storage depot. Alongside his new partner (Georgina Campbell, Barbarian) and an old lady living in a storage unit (89-year-old Academy Award winner Vanessa Redgrave), they become the front line in the effort to contain the breach. However… let’s just say other humans prove more dangerous than the alien fungi.

Directed by TV veteran Jonny Campbell, Cold Storage unfolds at breakneck speed. I could have used a more deliberate pace, but given the material, it’s a defensible choice. Joe Keery and Georgina Campbell are delightful as the plucky leads and carry the film with ease.

At times, Cold Storage’s ambitions clash with its limited budget — and it shows. Having read the book, it’s also clear the role of climate change has been minimized in pursuit of a wider audience. The cop-out stings a little. But then again, this is a movie in which Vanessa Redgrave — absent from screens for eight years — gets to blow up a zombie. You can get your environmental kicks elsewhere. ★★★☆☆

Cold Storage is now playing everywhere.