- Jack, a writer who goes to a remote meat cooler, where his agent has set it up for him, to be locked in for five days so he can meet his deadline while he writes the ending to his book.
- Based on true events, BELOW ZERO is a thriller with a 'Fargo' feel. It is the story of 'Jack the Hack', a less than average, but once successful screenwriter who now faces writer's block. Desperate to meet a career-saving deadline and lock out the distractions of his troubled life, Jack arranges to be left alone and locked inside a meat cooler, with only vegetarian meals and his imagination to inspire him. As the temperature drops, the lines between reality and fiction blur, and Jack's script comes dangerously to life. Will he make the most important deadline of his career? Or is Jack 'just a hack'? While writing the script, the actual screenwriter and producer of BELOW ZERO, Signe Olynyk, arranged to have herself physically locked in the meat freezer of an abandoned, remote slaughterhouse. That's partly how this story developed. It was filmed at the same location.—Anonymous
- This movie is based on a true story. It's about Jack, a writer who goes to a remote meat cooler where his agent has set it up for him to be locked in a meat locker for five days so he can meet his deadline while he writes the ending to his book, at Jack's request mind you. But while there the lines are blurred between reality and imagination as you see what he see's while writing his book. Are the people he met on the way there really who they say they are or is his imagination playing tricks on him? Are people dying a grisly death by the way of the 'butcher' he wrote about?—Michael Hallows Eve
- Jack is an aspiring screenwriter whose goal is to write a movie about a man locked in a freezer. To do this, he needs to be locked in a freezer himself, and he travels to a remote area to do this. It is already cold where Jack goes, but he needs to be even colder. Penny, the quirky woman who picks him up, has an accent straight out of the movie "Fargo", and a son who won't talk; his father took off years ago because he couldn't accept a son who was "different". Whatever Jack needs, she will provide; Jack's agent has provided all the directions. They go to an old slaughterhouse and Jack goes right to work in the freezer, which Penny locks unexpectedly. Jack wants out, but Penny has been told he has to stay there for five days. It isn't cold, though ... yet.
As Jack works, the movie that he is writing is shown. It's quite dreary; everything looks green, while in the "real world" of the freezer, everything looks blue. Frank (Jack) drives a tow truck and his friend Marty works at the garage. According to the credits, the same actor playing Marty is supposedly Jack's agent. Frank has an accident inspired by an incident with cows that Jack and Penny had. He has to go in search of a phone, and there isn't much around. He finds an isolated dump of a butcher shop which looks quite familiar, and a demented butcher named Gunnar violently attacking his meat. Gunnar has a creepy son who won't talk. Frank manages to find the phone and call Marty. When Marty calls back, Gunnar angrily says Frank isn't there; he believes this to be true, as Frank is hiding. As Jack makes script changes, the film "rewinds", and other techniques are used later for rewrites.
Occasionally the action returns to the "real world", where Jack faces one crisis after another. He ends up using a great-looking old typewriter for his writing at one point. Eventually, Jack is under pressure to produce as the thermostat starts getting lowered.
Back in the movie within a movie, Frank discovers Paige, who is being held prisoner. And Marty shows up eventually but doesn't exactly have a positive experience with Gunnar.
In a flashback more is learned about the other character which the actor playing Gunnar was. He's very different but still scary looking.
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