Cold Prey Trilogy
Directed by Roar Uthaug/Mats Stenberg/Mikkel Brænne Sandemose.
Starring Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Rolf Kristian Larsen, Tomas Alf Larsen, Robert Follin, Fridtjov Såheim, Marthe Snorresdotter Rovik, Kim Falck, Rune Melby, Julie Rusti, Nils Johnson, and Terje Ranes.
SYNOPSIS:
Limited edition box set containing the three Scandinavian mountain-set slashers.
And the hits just keep on coming thanks to Second Sight, who have now put the three chilly Cold Prey movies together in a limited-edition Blu-ray box set for you to watch while the weather outside is the hottest on record.
Originally released in 2006 amidst an avalanche of torture porn, remakes and sequels, Cold Prey was an original slasher not based on any existing property – which in itself was refreshing for the time – but the hook was that it was set in the snowy Norwegian mountains, which may not seem that revolutionary but how many other slashers made before this can you name that were set exclusively in the snow or used the setting as part of the story? Exactly (and no, Silent Night, Deadly Night doesn’t count).
But when we say Cold Prey was original, that really refers to the copyrights on it because aside from the setting, the movie follows the typical slasher movie structure. Five friends travel to a remote mountain in the frozen Norwegian countryside to have a snowboarding holiday, but not long after they start having fun Morten Tobias (Rolf Kristian Larsen) has a bad fall and breaks his leg. With the weather closing in and no phone reception, the group search for help and discover an abandoned hotel in the middle of nowhere so they take shelter there, and discover that the last booking in the register was in 1975, but if no one has been here for over 30 years then why is there fresh food and drink available? The answer comes in the form of the Mountain Man, a killer with a pickaxe who begins to pick the group off one by one.
Pretty much following the template laid down by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre – except for the hitchhiker – Cold Prey hits all the standard slasher movie beats as we are introduced to our Scooby Gang, where the couple in the front of the van are an item but there is a slight tension between them revolving around commitment, the other couple in the back seat are nuts about each other and can’t leave each other alone, plus we have Morten Tobias, who is a little geeky looking and admits to copious amounts of masturbation, so he is our comic relief.
After we’ve gotten to know them – and also confirm who the final character will be, because it is blindingly obvious – they arrive at the mountain, Morten Tobias has his accident and they get to the abandoned hotel where they turn on the power, get drunk and play loud music. You can keep your bingo card handy from now on as Cold Prey plays out exactly as you would expect as people wander off, pickaxe’s get swung and lots of blood get spilled, before the gang gets whittled down to the final two by the killer before the final stinger.
It might seem a bit unfair on Cold Prey to comment on how generic the plot is as there are a lot of good points to it. Yes, it might stick to the slasher movie rulebook a bit too much, but it does look fantastic and the filmmakers have captured some glorious aerial shots of the snowy mountains that give a proper sense of isolation. This being the 2000s, the colours are very washed out but this helps show up the blood against the almost-white set dressings and bright snow, and the Mountain Man does have something of a backstory that makes sense by the end of the movie. His look is nothing special but, again, this being the 2000s realism was what horror filmmakers were going for, and Cold Prey does a good job of using its locations well and having an almost cinema verite feel about some of the cinematography. It is just a shame it is a bit too predictable.
Nevertheless, Cold Prey was very successful upon release, so much so that Cold Prey II followed two years later, and if The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was the template for the first movie then the sequel went full-on Halloween II as the survivor from the previous movie is found and taken to a nearby hospital where the police are very interested in what happened. When they go to the site where the bodies were dumped they bring them all back to the hospital, including that of the Mountain Man, which sets off our survivor’s PTSD, especially when the police investigate who he is and discover that he was born dead and his heart miraculously started beating after four hours, effectively bringing him back to life – you can see where this is heading.
Much like its predecessor, Cold Prey II is a well-shot and put-together movie that looks great – even better than the first as it isn’t quite so washed-out – but it also doesn’t do anything we haven’t seen before. In a post-Scream world you could argue that not having a twist or a meta angle could be seen as a radical move, but Cold Prey II has nothing else going on except for echoing Halloween II with its main plot, and if it wasn’t for the fact that this series doesn’t have a Dr. Loomis character to give us exposition about the Mountain Man (although it comes close at one point) you could almost accuse this movie of plagiarism.
But lack of originality aside, Cold Prey II does have some great kills and slasher moments that make it worth sticking with, although the pacing is way off as this movie is shorter than the first but feels a lot longer, despite coming in at under 90 minutes. The newer characters aren’t as likeable as the first bunch (and they weren’t exactly the Elm Street children), and despite that movie going out of its way to tell you the mountain and hotel are totally isolated, in this movie it seems to be just up the track from the hospital as various characters just nip back and forth whenever they feel like it. Again, all the criticisms sound a bit harsh as Cold Prey II is a perfectly serviceable slasher movie but if you’re well-versed in slasher history and have at least seen all the Halloween and Friday the 13th movies then there is nothing new to see here.
And there is not a lot new to see in Cold Prey III from 2010 either, as this being a second sequel the filmmakers decided to go the prequel route and show us how the Mountain Man came to be. Beginning in 1976, we see the Mountain Man as a young boy and get the full backstory that the first movie gave us flashes of before shifting forward 12 years to 1988 and an excited young camper listening to Kim Wilde on his Walkman, because it’s 1988.
From here on in Cold Prey III plays out pretty much like the first movie where a new Scooby Gang of adventurous holidaymakers venture into the Norwegian mountains in the area where the abandoned hotel sits. Aware of the hotel and its history, they opt to camp in the woods as it is autumn and there is no snow on the ground. It isn’t long before the group splinter off into little cliques where the Mountain Man is able to pick them off, only in this movie he takes his victims to Jon (Nils Johnson), a recluse who lives in the mountains and whose estranged brother Einar (Terje Ranes) is the local sheriff.
Cold Prey III is as conventional as the previous two movies and fails to offer up anything we haven’t seen before, but at least in this case it is lifting from a movie in its own franchise rather than resorting to knocking off the classics. That said, it is probably the best of the bunch in terms of no-frills slasher kicks as it doesn’t try to use the setting as a selling point – and the mountains without snow on the ground look just as gorgeous as when they are covered – and the filmmakers have gone a bit easier with the colour saturation, giving Cold Prey III a slicker, cleaner look. The group of hiking ‘kids’ are probably the most likeable in the trilogy, especially Julie Rusti as Siri, whose doe-eyed appearance gives her the look of a potential victim you at least feel sorry for, and the introduction of Jon and Einar adds an extra dimension that wasn’t there before, although it isn’t really used to the full.
Each disc comes with its own special features, with Cold Prey containing the most as it includes short films and a music video as well as cast and crew audio commentaries, bloopers, deleted scenes and interviews. However, the interviews for Cold Prey II are a little more interesting as actor Ingrid Bolsø Berdal has quite a bit to say. The set also comes with 120-page book featuring essays and features on the films and art cards, all housed in a rigid slipcase featuring new artwork by James Neal.
Overall, this is a fantastic presentation of a fairly generic trilogy of slasher movies. None of them are terrible and for mainstream audiences who haven’t seen them before or aren’t aware of them then this set is the best place to become familiar with them, but for connoisseurs and hardcore slasher fans they are too workmanlike and tame compared to other movies from the same period. The snowy mountain setting is great, all three films are technically competent and visually representative of when they were made, but aside from a few decent, albeit unremarkable, kills there is nothing here that hasn’t been done before and with a greater sense of abandon. A nice set to own, but not one that will necessitate frequent rewatches.
Cold Prey – Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Cold Prey II – Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Cold Prey III – Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
