‘The Frozen Ground’ Trailer: Nicolas Cage Hunts a Serial Killer

The true crime serial killer movie is about as played out as any genre in movie history, but nothing seems to be stopping 'em. The latest "ripped from the headlines" movie is 'The Frozen Ground,' which casts everyone's favorite lunatic Nicolas Cage as an Alaskan state trooper hunting down a serial killer played by John Cusack. Vanessa Hudgens is also there, but who cares about Vanessa Hudgens when you have a Cage and a Cusack? Anyway, the first trailer for the film has arrived.

With both Cage and Cusack both bringing the crazy, can 'The Frozen Ground' separate itself from the rest of the true crime pack? If the trailer is any indication, no. Movies like 'Zodiac' set bar for this genre impossibly high and low-rent, generic affairs like this can't just skim by anymore. If we're lucky, there will be just enough concerned-Nicolas-Cage-face and John Cusack overacting to make this thing watchable in a guilty pleasure sort of way.

But ugh. Vanessa Hudgens. Here's the synopsis:

Alaskan State Trooper Jack Halcombe sets out to end the murderous rampage of Robert Hansen, a serial killer who has gone unnoticed for 13 years. As the bodies of street girls start to pile up in Anchorage, fear strikes a chord with the public. Risking his life, Halcombe goes on a personal manhunt to find the killer before the next body surfaces. When a seventeen year old escapee reveals key information about the case, Halcombe is finally on the trail of the killer. But will he catch him in time to save the next victim?

'The Frozen Ground' will arrive in theaters on August 23rd, 2013.