Movie Review: Fritt Vilt (Cold Prey)

Fritt Vilt (Cold Prey)

Rating:  

Directed By: Roar Uthaug

Starring: Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Rolf Kristian Larsen

Plot Synopsis:

Five teenage snowboarders are forced to spend the night in a mysteriously abandoned ski lodge. Except somebody – or something – already lives there. It is huge, savage and unstoppable…and now it’s pissed off. But if you think this is going to be the usual ‘trapped teens stalked by a maniac’ movie, you’re dead wrong.

From the first chilling kill to the final horrific twist, prepare yourself for the smart, intense and award-winning European sensation that has terrified audiences around the world and put the edge back into the body-count genre.

Review:

Slasher movies are never going to win any awards for plot or characterization.  What separates the multitude of films in this sub-genre of Horror is the execution.  The most recent Friday the 13th remake comes to mind as well as it’s classic original and films like John Carpenter’s Halloween.  Young adults or teens stalked by unstoppable killer.

In the Norwegian slasher entry Fritt Vilt (translated, Cold Prey) you have the basic Slasher plot, but with the frigid Norwegian mountain terrain as a major backdrop.  Plus, I think any movie in a foreign language automatically makes it seem “artistic”

What Fritt Vilt has going for it is not the plot.  Write that off immediately.  The element that makes this film so good is the return to classic conventions; that being a reliance on character, mood and tension and not on “creative kills” or buckets of gore.  The lack of gore has been criticized by some, however I think that is what separates this movie from the rest of recent Slasher flicks.  We’re more invested in these characters and their struggle to survive than waiting with baited breath for the next ditz to get offed.  These are real, believable characters and the tension comes from us wanting them to survive.

Now, I’m all for the campy “Friday the 13th” like over-the-top Horror flicks.  But it’s refreshing when a movie like Fritt Vilt comes along and offers up some genuine scares (I think I jumped about 3 times … and I never jump at these things), top notch cinematography, and really solid acting.  Highly recommended.

Not rated. This movie has not been rated by the MPAA.  But recommended for Mature audiences for violence, disturbing images and language.

Related posts:

1. Movie Review: Murder Party
2. Movie Review: Stuck
3. Movie Review: Laid to Rest
4. Movie Review: The Strangers
5. Movie Review: Let The Right One In

Tags: Cold Prey, Foreign, Fritt Vilt, Horror, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Movie Review, Roar Uthaug, Rolf Kristian Larsen, Slasher

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 14th, 2009 at 10:08 pm and is filed under DVD Reviews, Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.