The Frozen Ground (15, 90 mins) *** Starring Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, Vanessa Hudgens, Radha Mitchell, Dean Norris, 50 Cent, Kevin Dunn.

Detective Jack Halcombe (Nicolas Cage) is preparing to leave Anchorage with his wife Allie (Radha Mitchell) and children when he receives a call that the body of a young woman has been found in the icy wilderness. Soon after, Jack receives a file on Cindy Paulson (Vanessa Hudgens), a 17-year-old prostitute who claims that she escaped from the clutches of Robert Hansen (John Cusack), who held her hostage in his basement den and raped her. Jack interviews Cindy and is moved by her tearful testimony, his interest piqued when the young woman reveals: “He said there were seven girls before me and I was lucky because they usually stay for a week”. Convinced that Hansen is a dangerous serial killer, Jack works tirelessly to build a case against his prime suspect aided by Sergeant Lyle Haugsven (Dean Norris). Based on the real-life hunt for serial killer Robert Hansen, The Frozen Ground is a solid genre piece, which embraces hoary archetypes: the grizzled cop close to retirement, the working girl abused by the system, the family man with a sadistic streak.

Riddick (15, 119 mins) ** Starring Vin Diesel, Jordi Molla, Matt Nable, Katee Sackhoff, Dave Bautista, Bokeem Woodbine, Raoul Trujillo, Conrad Pla, Nolan Gerard Funk, Karl Urban

Hulking killing machine Riddick (Vin Diesel) is left for dead on a sun-scorched planet awash with alien predators. The mercenary’s only hope is to activate an emergency beacon and steal aboard a rescue ship. The beacon alerts bounty hunters to his position and they descend on the planet determined to kill Riddick and collect their fee. Santana (Jordi Molla) and his men are first to answer the distress signal and they set up sensors around their craft to track Riddick’s movements. A rival squad led by Boss Johns (Matt Nable) and his sassy sidekick Dahl (Katee Sackhoff) arrive next, but they have a slightly different agenda for wanting to track down their muscular prey. However, time is of the essence - a deadly storm approaches that will sweep across the surface of the planet, killing everything in its path. The third film in the Riddick series, which began in 2000 with the muscular sci-fi thriller Pitch Black, is the most dramatically unsatisfying chapter of the ongoing saga. This new instalment pares back the pyrotechnics, focusing on the lead character.