DVD Review: Cold Prey
Cold Prey (2006)
Studio: Anchor Bay
DVD Release Date: January 20, 2009
Directed By: Roar Uthaug
Cast: Ingrid Bolso Berdal, Rolf Kristian Larsen, Tomas Alf Larsen, Endre Martin Midtstigen, Victoria Winge
Brutal As Hell Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Review By: Jude Felton
Five friends head off into the snow covered mountains of rural Norway for a spot of snowboarding. Their fun is short lived though, as one of the party has an accident which results in him breaking his leg. Being out in the middle of nowhere you just know that their cell phones won’t get a signal, and they are too far from their car to carry the injured friend there. Whilst trying to think of a solution they spy a building that isn’t too far away, and deciding it is for the best, make their way there.
Upon arriving they find it to be an abandoned ski lodge, one that seemingly hasn’t been touched or used for many years. Making the most of things though the friends make the injured fella as comfortable as possible, before deciding to spend the night there and then trying to find help the following morning. Well, things are never quite that straight forward in a horror movie let alone a slasher flick, for essentially that is what this is, and they soon come to realise that they are not alone in the lodge.
The locale for this slasher flick may be a refreshing change, the Norwegian landscape is quite breathtaking at times, but could this movie manage to escape the familiar trappings of countless other films of its kind? To tell the truth, not really, it is just a case of seeing who, if anyone, will survive to the end. That being said it was a quite enjoyable ride getting there. The cast are an amiable lot and the raport between them is quite refreshing as they throw about the decent dialogue. You’ll actually care about these friends, well most of them as there is a couple who seem intent on making themselves victims as early as possible.
So, when the horror does arrive I did find myself rooting for our intrepid snowboarders. Sure, they make a few dodgy decisions here and there, and the movie does go into the usual pick them off one by one routine but that is pretty much what I expected. What works well here though is the fact that the movie relies more on using the atmosphere inside the lodge to move the movie forward rather than focusing on the death scenes, which are nothing remarkable.
Had Cold Prey been set in your typical slasher location it probably wouldn’t have worked at all, instead it would have just gotten lost amidst a myriad of other similar movies. Setting it in the bleak snowy landscape does wonders for the movie though, and due to this I found myself enjoying it.
Cold Prey certainly isn’t anything new, and it doesn’t really offer any new twists on the slasher sub-genre, however, it is well made and well performed. Obviously the folk in Norway enjoyed it too as last year saw a sequel hit the big screens in its homeland, to which I guess we will get to see it in the not too distant future all going well.
Predictable to a point but well executed, Cold Prey is a solid slasher flick that I will be watching again.
