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Five
friends on a weekend get-away are freestyle
snowboarding down the Norwegian mountains when one
of them ends up breaking his leg. They find an old,
abandoned ski-resort in the middle of nowhere and
decide to seek shelter there for the night, only to
try to get back to the car in the morning. But as the
night unfolds, the friends soon discover that the
hotel has a mysterious past, and it doesn't take long
before they realize that they're not alone in the old
hotel. With no help in sight, the friends find themselves
running from a psychopath with a pick-axe.
Norway isn't exactly well known for their horror movies.
In fact, while both Sweden and Denmark have produced
quite a few horror flicks over the years, Norway only
has four or five real horror movies on their record,
and they're not exactly movies to brag about either
(with the obvious exception of Villmark aka Dark Woods).
However, their latest horror effort, a slasher flick
set in the snowy Norwegian mountains, might just change
their reputation in the horror industry.
Cold Prey (or Fritt Vilt as it's originally called)
is not an original slasher flick in any way - nor does
it try to be. Instead of focusing their effort on
trying to come up with original and ludicrous twists
that make no sense, the guys behind Cold Prey obviously
focused on creating an incredibly creepy atmosphere,
a fast pace and scaring the shit out of the audience
(excuse my language).
The story revolves around five twenty-something’s who
go to the mountains for a vacation of extreme
snowboarding. Naturally, things quickly go wrong when
one of the guys breaks his leg. They seek shelter in
an abandoned hotel (which is very reminiscent of the
one in The Shining - something they actually pointed
out rather than trying to hide) and it seems as if
everything is going to be just fine. What they don't
know is that a psychopathic serial killer with a
pick-axe is living in the basement of the old hotel,
and he does not feel like having any visitors.
Sure, it's as predictable as can be but Cold Prey is
one hell of a slasher flick. In fact, I'll even go
as far as saying that this was the best slasher flick
that I've seen this whole year. From the moment things
start to go wrong, you're practically glued to the
screen due to all the suspense. It occasionally lets
up for a couple of laughs (that by the way really worked,
no cheap gags to be found in here) only to scare the
living hell out of you moments later.
This is director Roar Uthaug's first full length
feature and man is it an impressive one. The movie
is beautifully shot with interesting and original
angles as well as beautiful cinematography. The
entire movie has the grey, dirty feeling to it which
is very popular right now - and it really works.
It doesn't exaggerate the use of colours either (like
See No Evil did), but lets up every now and then
with some powerful contrasts. I guess I don't need
to say this but the movie was simply beautiful to
look at - a real treat for the eye.
I was also really impressed by how good the acting was.
The entire cast is relatively unknown, and only two
of them had been in feature movies before so it was
surprising to see them pull off such strong performances.
Oh and before I forget it, the killer, god damn that
has got to be the best outfit for a killer that I've
seen in years. Not only is he huge and has a pick-axe,
but the mask is incredibly creepy (haunting even).
Naturally, this wasn't a flawless movie though and as
a slasher fan I was quite disappointed to see that it
was so dry in the gore department. There is a lot of
blood puddles etc, but there's no real gore to be found
in here - even if the death scenes were tentatively
really gory. It's a shame that the theatrical version
was the uncut version because I did feel that it would
have been an absolutely perfect movie had it had more
gore in it.
Still, for just this once, I'm going to overlook that
because I haven't had such a great time in a cinema
in a long time. The cinema was packed with annoying
teens with beeping cell-phones, but even they sat
quietly, biting their nails during most of the movie.
Do not miss this slasher flick as it's the most
competent and genuinely slasher flick that you'll see
in a long time. And for those of you who wonder; Yes,
I do love Shredder, and yes Cold Prey definitely
surpassed that in just about every way.
A weak impalement, some blood splatter and a couple
of corpses. I was really disappointed in this section.
The soundtrack sounded like a million bucks and added
a whole lot to the atmosphere of the movie. The rock
music was also quite nice even though I felt it was
a bit tame. Overall, the score was still an A+.
I actually dare to say that Cold Prey is the best
slasher flick of the year. It has all the right
ingredients and knows how to use them. Sure, it might
be a bit too dry in the gore department, but the
tension, the atmosphere and the scares definitely
made up for that. Whatever you do, don't miss this
slasher opus from Norway. I headed in with really
high expectations, and it still surpassed them!
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