Cold Prey (2006)
Review by Elaine Lamkin
This was my first experience watching a Norwegian horror film (and probably for any one else who has checked this little gem out). My history with horror and Norwegians had, to date, extended entirely of Kurt Russell’s character, MacReady, in The Thing, with his repeated references to the “Swedes” who had caused the helicopter/dog debacle at the US research camp:
MacReady: “Hey Sweden!!”
Copper: “They’re Norwegian, Mac.”
Now, courtesy of the wonderfully named Roar Uthaug, we have a nifty slasher film that looks amazing and has 20-something actors who can…brace yourself…really act. Cold Prey (aka Fritt Vilt ) opens with a flashback of a young boy being chased through the snow by…something…and the opening credits are over news reports and newspaper clippings of the many disappearances of skiers, hikers, campers, what-have-you in this part of Norway (reminded me a little of the opening credits of Rob Schmidt’s Wrong Turn). Flash forward 30 years and we have 5 friends setting off for a day of snowboarding: Ingrid Bolsø Berdal is Jannicke, the strong heroine, Tomas Alf Larsen is her boyfriend, Eirik, Viktoria Winge is Jannicke’s best friend, Ingunn and Endre Martin Midtstigen is HER boyfriend, Mikal. Rounding out the group is singleton Rolf Kristian Larsen as Morten, the character who inadvertently creates the bad situation the five find themselves in.
As one should expect in a horror film with LOTS of snow, mountains and young people snowboarding, Morten breaks his leg BADLY (think of Holly in The Descent). “Luckily” there is an old ski lodge nearby which the gang breaks into and prepares to spend the night as their SUV is parked WAAAYY down the mountain. I have to make an observation that this lodge could have been the setting for Kubrick’s The Shining, it was THAT reminiscent (especially in later shots during a snowstorm).
After setting Morten’s leg and scoping out their creepy surroundings – even when Eirik gets the electricity going, the hallways are still half-lit by flickering fluorescent lights and there is a bluish “gloom” over pretty much all of the night scenes – Mikal and Ingunn take off on their own for some fun and games while Jannicke and Eirik bed down in the huge lobby near Morten. At this point, the slow burn has been going on for a while – creepy rooms, friends trying to “scare” each other (what a waste of energy given what’s coming), Jannicke’s discovery of the lodge’s guestbook which indicates that a child disappeared from there in 1975, what’s in the basement, the snowstorm. But director Uthaug really makes this work as he has created characters that the viewer gets to know and actually care about. Sure, at first in the SUV, you think you’re watching a Norwegian version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake as Mikal and Ingunn are making out while Morten (Morgan?) makes snide comments on how long they’ve been dating and Jannicke and Eirik just look lovingly at each other and laugh along. But all is not as superficial as it seems with these characters.
Using some effective jump scares, things finally get rocking and rolling with the murder of the first group member. Realizing that someone is going to HAVE to get help as the phones are all dead and, of course, there’s no cellphone signal, Eirik rugs up and slogs off back to the car but…well, things don’t go well for Eirik. Now, with the injured Morten and one other friend, Jannicke takes charge and realizes that they are NOT alone in the lodge. But how to survive until help arrives is something else altogether – one old shot gun with one shell, complete unfamiliarity with the lodge’s layout and a seemingly unstoppable (and creepy) killer.
Shot on Super 16mm in Jotunheimen, Norway (aka the back end of nowhere), Cold Prey is a very effective slasher film. Much better than most of the stuff the US has been churning out these past few years. While there isn’t a ton of blood, there are some good “kills” and I was happy to not have to endure any gratuitous nudity. Especially given the climate – too friggin’ cold to get nekkid!! I don’t know what the budget was for this film but it doesn’t look like a krone was wasted. The cinematography by Daniel Voldheim is superb – all blues and gloom and snow. The soundtrack consists of what I assume is Norwegian rock music with an unsettling original score by Magnus Beite. And the story actually makes sense, especially at the end, when all is “revealed”. I was surprised to see that there is a sequel, Fritt Vilt 2, released in 2008 (but not directed by Roar Uthaug), and, like so many American slasher sequels, this one picks up almost immediately after the events in Cold Prey. And all of the cast returns, in some form or another. Don’t see that there has been a release in the US yet but then again, not many American horror fans have probably seen Cold Prey yet. So get to it!
Watch the trailer:
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