Centigrade (2020), directed by Brendan Walsh, is a survival thriller based loosely on true events. It tells the gripping, claustrophobic story of a married couple—Naomi and Matt—who find themselves trapped inside their car during a devastating snowstorm in the Norwegian wilderness. With Naomi heavily pregnant, the stakes are life and death, not only for them, but for the unborn child.
The entire film takes place inside the car, buried under snow and ice. As temperatures drop far below freezing and their supplies dwindle, the psychological pressure mounts. Naomi wants to act—dig, move, fight—but Matt insists they stay put and wait for rescue. As hours stretch into days and days into weeks, their physical strength fades, and emotional cracks deepen. Tension, fear, and love collide in what feels like a slow, frozen unraveling of human endurance.
Ultimately, Naomi gives birth inside the frozen car. Matt, succumbing to hypothermia and exhaustion, does not survive. The film closes with Naomi staggering through the snow, newborn in her arms, finally finding help.
Centigrade received mixed reviews upon release. Critics praised its intense atmosphere and committed performances, particularly by Genesis Rodriguez, whose portrayal of Naomi balances desperation with determination. However, others criticized the repetitive pacing and the thin development of the characters beyond their crisis. Still, as a minimalist survival story, the film leaves a deep emotional impact.
Set five years after the original, the fictional sequel follows Olivia, Naomi’s daughter, now a bright but emotionally guarded child. Naomi has rebuilt her life, but the trauma of that icy prison still haunts her. When a research team invites Naomi and Olivia back to Norway to help document climate changes in the region, they return to the same unforgiving landscape.
But when a freak weather event traps their research team in an underground ice cavern, history threatens to repeat itself. Naomi now finds herself in a reversed role—guiding not only her daughter, but a team of strangers through the kind of survival she once barely escaped.
The sequel would shift from the first film’s intimate two-character drama to a small ensemble story while retaining the core themes: survival, maternal instinct, and the psychological weight of nature. With Olivia representing a new generation raised in the shadow of trauma, Permafrost Echoes explores what we inherit—and what we must overcome.
