Cold Prey has been one of those movies that I’ve heard plenty about but never watched. Thanks to the $5 stack of flicks at HMV, I finally got to check it out.
Called one of the best modern Norwegian horror movies and said to turn the slasher genre upside down, I was ready for something spectacular. What I got was very typical stuff, a predictable ending, and a slasher film that wasn’t any different from every other slasher flick out there.
I’ll give it credit, it’s certainly better than many other slasher flicks. They get churned out more than zombie films so there’s always plenty of crap thrown in there. The one thing that manages to rise it up beyond the level of terribly generic is the characters.
They’re actually not that stupid or annoying. They’re also not stereotypes. It’s not what you’re used to seeing in just about every slasher flick around, especially now. It also helped that Viktoria Winge is just about the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen. She plays Ingunn, who would have been the horny slut if this were Friday the 13th. Too bad she’s not hanging around too long in this one. The story follows five friends who are off into the mountains to do some snowboarding. When Morten (Rolf Kristian Larsen) breaks his leg, the group has to find shelter quickly. They come across an abandoned hotel and get ready to spend the night there. Things take a turn for the worse when they realize that they’re not the only ones there.
Seriously, a group of friends can't go anywhere without getting all chopped up.
All the actors do a great job and the writing doesn’t leave them doing dumb things or spouting dialogue that makes you cringe, it’s too bad there wasn’t more put into the overall plot. The opening scene of the film is a kid running through the snow. He’s got a birthmark over his eye. He falls into a ditch and someone is kicking snow onto him, trying to bury him. Can you guess who the killer is? All it took was that scene for me to know what was going on here. There still manages to be a revelation at the end of the film but it just didn’t really seem to matter. I see there’s actually a prequel as part of the Cold Prey trilogy so maybe that will make these facts a bit more interesting.
They wouldn't let me be in that Die Hard movie so I came out here.
I guess I was overlooking the fact that this is a slasher flick. Had I really remembered that as I was watching, I wouldn’t have been so disappointed. In terms of that sub-genre of flicks, Cold Prey is quite well done. There’s some incredible scenery on display, some great kills, even if one of them involves my favorite character, and a suitable ending that got a bit confusing. It’s just not the great flick that everyone makes it out to be. I guess when you have a slasher flick that isn’t filled with the most obnoxious teenagers ever, that constitutes a smash hit.
Only a few things lift this one beyond generic slasher, but at the heart, that’s exactly what this is, a generic slasher. Better than average while still being average really. I’ll give it to Viktoria Winge for really keeping me interested in this one.
In the shadows – Will
Is that REALY the poster for the film? Really?
Ugh… They lost me with a poster!