Cold Prey

Introduction

A group of five friends head into the Norwegian mountains for some off piste snowboarding and, once they get there and finish the arduous climb to see mother nature has in store, they are amazed and can't wait to get going. The fun comes to an abrupt halt when one of them, Morten Tobias, lands awkwardly and suffers a compound fracture of his fibula. Strapping him to a makeshift sled, the others drag him to the only building in sight.

The building turns out to be an abandoned hotel so Morten Tobias takes advantage of the free booze to numb the pain whilst the others set about exploring and get the electricity turned on. Although the others separate into two couples, there are tensions which are exacerbated when they discover a room that suggests that someone has been living there.

As the hours wear on, something from the hotel's past begins to stalk the group, reducing their numbers silently and viciously using brute force and an ice axe. Once they figure out what is going on, it's a fight for survival that they know not all will live through.

Video

Shot on location, this looks incredible with amazing exterior shots - the actors braving the elements for some scenes - and the scenes inside the lodge are clear even in the more dimly lit parts. The special effects makeup and prosthetics are superb and do a great job with the gore and violence.

Audio

An extremely effective surround track with all the speakers used well - subtle noises from the rears and front surrounds keep you off balance and unnerved and the jumps, when they come, are delivered to great effect.

The forced English subtitles - the dialogue is Norwegian with no dub option - are very good with only two errors: Morten Tobias says he feels "super" but the subtitles say "great" and, when a door slams shut, the subtitles say it was due to a "draught".

Extra Features

A fairly lengthy and interesting making of, again in Norwegian with English subs, is the sole supplementary material and is a decent look behind the scenes at how the stunts were done, the perils and benefits of shooting on location and digging a four meter crevasse for the ending.

Conclusion

Cold Prey (Fritt vilt) is a refreshing entry into the slightly stale slasher film subgenre with well developed characters, solid acting, a realistic bad guy and superb violence and gore. It does follow the conventions to a point, with the almost compulsory 'final girl' and the killer who seems to possess near superhuman strength and powers of recovery.

I really enjoyed the film, the second Scandinavian horror I'd seen in a week (after Dark Floors) and the comparisons that are made with Friday the 13th and The Burning are justified and I'd even go so far as to say that this was better made and more satisfactory than Sean Cunningham's genre classic.

Roar Uthrug (great name for a horror film director!) has a keen visual style and is someone to look out for as he really has a future if he continues with work like this. If you like horror films this is one to watch, whether on its own or as part of the Cold Prey Box Set which contains the sequel.