I recently watched my first Norwegian film recently, Insomnia, thanks to the recent release from Second Sight, and now I've been able to expand that number even further thanks to their latest release, collecting together the three Norwegian slasher films Cold Prey.
Originally released at a time where bland remakes and gory torture porn were the headline horror offerings from big studios, Cold Prey gave viewers something a little different; a smaller scale slasher movie that felt more in line with the iconic franchises of the past, yet managed to deliver it with a visual flare and style that felt refreshing and new to those not used to Norwegian cinema.
The first Cold Prey follows a group of friends who travel to the Jotunheimen mountains in the middle of winter to go snowboarding. One of the group, Morten Tobias (Rolf Kristian Larsen) takes a nasty fall down the mountain and ends up breaking his leg. With the nearest town too far to reach before night falls, the group decide to take shelter in an old hotel nestled in the mountains. The five of them are able to care for Morten Tobias' wound as best as they can, stay warm, and even find some alcohol inside to help while away the long night.
Disturbingly, however, they find evidence of the lodge having been abandoned decades before after the owners young son went missing in the mountains a few weeks before the parents were killed in an apparent avalanche whilst searching for him. As the group explore the sprawling building someone else is watching them. This hulking, fur clad figure, enters the hotel and begins to hunt the group through its halls, picking them off one by one with traps and his pickaxe.
The second film picks up almost immediately where the first film leaves off, with the lone survivor of the massacre, Jannicke (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) found wandering the mountain roads, barely alive. Taken to a hospital in the small town of Otta, the police question her as to what happened. When a search party is sent up into the mountains they discover the icy grave of her friends, and the monstrous Mountain Man (Robert Follin) responsible for killing them. When the bodies are brought back to the hospital Jannicke is faced once again with the trauma that she just lived through. But, when the Mountain Man begins to show signs of life the hospital staff work to revive him; a decision that will lead to a new night of terror and the Mountain Man works his way through the hospital, targeting doctors, patients, law enforcement, and Jannicke once again.
The third film decides to move to the past, telling a prequel story instead of trying to somehow justify the return of the Mountain Man a second time (something that would be even harder to explain away following the conclusion of the second movie). The film opens with flashbacks to the Mountain Man's childhood, where it's shown that his parents tried to kill him in the mountains due to his psychopathic tendencies. However, after surviving their murder attempt he returns home and kills his own parents, vanishing with their bodies. Twelve years late, the Mountain Man remains hidden in the wilderness of the Jotunheimen National Park, where a group of young friends are travelling to, wanting to check out the long abandoned hotel with strange rumours attached to it.
Despite not staying in the hotel, and leaving it almost immediately (a pretty smart choice for horror protagonists), the group still attract the attention of the Mountain Man, and begin to fall prey to the traps he's left out in the wood. As the group realise that someone is hunting them down they attempt to make their way back to safety. Unfortunately for them, the Mountain Man has been hunting in the forest for years, and now that he's decided to switch from animals to humans he won't abandon his prey.
Cold Prey isn't really anything new or original when you look at the bare bones of it. It's a group of friends with very broad, archetypal characteristics who travel to a remote location, go somewhere they shouldn't, and then get picked off one by one. It's adhering to the expectations of the slasher genre, even if it has a Norwegian flavour to it. What makes the film stand apart from other on offer, especially against other horror films of the era, is how visually unique the film feels. Where the US is offering things like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes remakes, and new slasher franchises like Wrong Turn, films set in warm summer locations such as the forest and deserts, seeing a movie shift to the middle of winter, to the cold barren wilderness of the Norwegian mountains feels like the complete tonal opposite.
The new type of setting offers what feels like more realism in some ways too. Our protagonists can't just head for the nearest road and try to get help because the road is miles of trekking over the mountains away, and no one is using them anyway. They have to break into the abandoned building they find because if they don't they'll freeze to death outside, meaning they don't have to go into the obvious murder house simply because they're curious idiots. Where other films have their group of victims making stupid choices because they need to for the story here it feels like the creators are trying to justify why things are happening, which leads to a much more grounded and relatable story. Plus, just having the amazing visuals of the snow covered mountains is such a pleasant change that gives the movie its own character.
I also have to give the franchise points for trying something different with each movie too. The choice to shift location from an isolated mountain resort to a small town in the sequel is a bold move. Yes, there's still a sense of isolation in some ways thanks to the small hospital that's in the middle of closing down so only has a handful of staff for even fewer patients, and the snow and darkness outside gives the impression that it's cut off from the rest of the world, but it's still in a place where our protagonists can literally flee the building, run down the street to someone's house and ask for help, or where a dozen police can turn up to help (something that does actually happen in the movie). Considering most horror franchises will try and stick to the same kind of formula for several films before opening up the world, taking things from a distant isolated location to a more populated one, Cold Prey made the bold choice to do that.
This willingness to change their formula is also present in the third film in the series. Set decades before the events of the first film, Cold Prey 3 changes things up by moving from winter to summer. This simple shift in season changes the bleak white wilderness of snow covered mountains to luscious green forests and grassland. This immediately gives the prequel film a flavour of its own, making it instantly unique from the others just at a simple glance. I found the locations that were used for the third film to be the most gorgeous of the trilogy, presenting an amazing look at some of the stunning wilderness that Norway has to offer. And whilst the third film might be more limited in terms of its storytelling (we know that anyone who sees the Mountain Man has to die as he's an unknown entity in the other films) this simple change in visual style keeps it fresh and interesting.
Alongside the films each movie comes with brand new audio commentaries on each of the films that feature directors, actors, and film academics who offer some fantastic insight not only into the making of the franchise, but also on Norwegian cinema as a whole. The first film has the most extra features to accompany it, featuring some original behind the scenes videos, an alternate ending, new interviews with cast and crew, visual effects breakdowns, and two short films. The second movie also comes with new cast and crew interviews, cut scenes, and original behind the scenes featurettes, whilst the third film sadly only has some short original behind the scenes features to go alongside the commentary track.
On a whole, I really enjoyed the Cold Prey Trilogy. It was a lot of fun to discover horror cinema from a country where I'd never experienced it before. They stood out against other films of the era, and made me come away wanting to see more of what Norway has to offer, especially in genres that I love. This new blu-ray set offers a fantastic way to either discover these films for the first time, or add an updated version to your home collection.
The Cold Prey Trilogy Limited Edition Blu-ray set is available now from Second Sight.
