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The current film club watch is Fritt Vilt (Cold Prey) from 2006. I hadn't tried Norwegian-flavour horror yet, so was intrigued by what our fine Nordic friends could offer.
We are Norwegie. We have the snow.
Oh, how I love a horror movie with snow. There are few things gorily prettier than the contrast of bright red living blood and stark white dead snow. This, combined with the atmosphere of isolation and claustrophobia the white wilderness brings, are used to effect here with a simple stalker-slasher film that I actually enjoyed quite a bit, despite it's predictability and formulaic script.
At first the characters seem cliched; the sweet but troubled couple, the other, new and horny couple, and the goofy single guy who wanks a lot but never gets the girl. This young group are typical horror movie fare - carefree friends away for the weekend, doing something outdoorsy in perilous conditions, no-one knows where they are.......and BOOM! Ain't there always some motherfucker who goes and breaks their leg, trashing best-laid plans and sealing their doom? And doesn't that broken leg always look manky and need to be snapped back into place with an uber-gross squelch? Yups!
So they hole up in an abandoned hotel with lots of long, spooky-as-shit hallways, twitchy lights and eerie old music (methinks someone has much love for The Shining. If I see creepy twins I'm outta here). The group separates...and hell yes! The fuckery and stalkiness and lack of working phones and and big old hulking dude in animal furs who likes ice-picks and blood-blood begins.
Me rikey the blood-blood. No rikey the brushing of teeth so much.
I was on edge at the beginning in this film, expecting to be scared, then got a little bored and yawny as they started to get offed. But then, I found the characters growing on me like most slasher film victims don't. I'm not sure if it was the writing or the actors, but I really came to like them, particularly Jannicke (Ingrid Bolso Berdal) and Morten Tobias (Rolf Kristian Larsen). Mikal, however, was a douche, and stayed a douche the whole time.
Jannicke and Morten Tobias are surprised by the blood-blood...
...while Mikal expresses doucheness in the spooky hallways
Jannicke is a great strong female character, adding to all the awesome hardcore females that are popping up in foreign horror. She has mad Macguyver "hey let's superglue his broken leg!" skills and a tough determination that had me yelling "GO JANNICKE!" in a bad Norwegian accent in full support of her. I highly recommend doing this as you watch.
I know nought about shotguns but I will still try to blow your face off, pal!
And though I wanted to punch Morten Tobias (the broken-leg guy) at first, I found him more and more endearing as the movie went on, and actually have a bit of a crush on him now. The love story between the two, while only hinted at, brings a human element that makes these characters deeper than they at first seem -- these two made the movie real, and made me feel for them, and wonder what I might do when faced with their predicament. I screamed encouragement at the TV quite a bit, and I really really REALLY wanted them to survive the inevitable show-down with the stabby-stabby Snow Man.
It surprised me how much I liked this movie, and how many small moments broke my heart, which sets it apart from the typical. But the ending just confused, and kind of disappointed me. I liked the fact you were encouraged to pity the killer's plight but there were too many disconnected plot elements. The fire in the room? The hotel being abandoned? The weird parents with the missing son? It all just reeked of a sequel set-up and I hate that crap. There is actually a sequel AND a prequel for this film, but I couldn't give much of a shite about either. I would probably watch the sequel if only to be bedazzled by the awesomeness of Jannicke once more. GO JANNICKE!
Over all, I would watch this film again, and recommend it to horror lovers. I wasn't particularly scared by it, but there's just something about it, a haunting quality that has stayed with me....and now me hungry for more Norwegie blood-blood moofies!
Morten Tobias, caaaaaall myyyyyy naaaaaaaaame!
To read more about Final Girl and her film club, click on this and show her love!
Hey, fellow horror-dork blogger!
ReplyDeleteI've actually managed to complete 2 or 3 film club reviews in the past five years. I'm going to try to pay more attention.
I loved your write-up. TEAM JANNICKE!
Oh hi there Miss Mary!
ReplyDeleteI've been reading your blog too, which I quite like, but I can't find your write-up on Cold Prey....?
Thanks so much for the compliment. A little bit of love from a stranger goes a long long way....sorry, I didn't mean that to sound as creepy as it does!
Oh and I notice you hang out at the Alamo Drafthouse! Bizarre, as I had never heard of them until I read about their awesome "turn your phone off" message and put it in this blog recently. Spooky coincidence goodness.
I look forward to reading more!