For film fans of the slasher subgenre, Norway seems to be an unlikely nation to come to mind for movies which combine serial killing with atmosphere, suspense, and a mystery killer against a mountainous, snowy backdrop. There is very little gore in “Cold Prey” compared to slashers made during the early to mid-2000’s, such as “Wrong Turn” (2003) and the remake “Halloween” (2007). Yet the story fully engages the viewer and weaves the suspenseful mystery with moments of sheer terror the characters experience, knowing they are stuck in a shelter from where there is eventually no return from.
“Cold Prey” integrates elements of Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” with the standard 1980’s American slasher subgenre. What makes “Cold Prey” effective is not just the acting, but the cinematography, the concealment of the person committing the pickaxe murders, and the scenery itself. Norway has not made that many slasher films since this one, outside of “22” (2000), directed by Pål Aam and Eystein Hanssen. “Cold Prey” tells the story of a group of twentysomething-aged friends who hike up the snowy mountains in Norway during the wintertime to go snowboarding. One of them breaks his leg during an accident. Forced to find shelter, the group carries their injured friend to a desolate, abandoned hotel that was closed thirty years ago, sitting on top of a mountain peak. As they hunker down for the night as they try to stay warm, they soon learn they are not alone in the hotel, as they investigate a stack of newspaper clippings concerning strange events which took place years ago. Further investigation leads to more recent items collected in the lobby of the lodge which suggest they are not the most recent visitors. But what happened to the people who previously came here? There was no outside evidence of them which the five friends could find. The longer they stay at the lodge, the feeling of uneasiness increases.
Known as “Fritt Vilt” in its native language, “Cold Prey” is directed by Roar Uthaug (“Tomb Raider” 2018), with Norwegian actors Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Rolf Kristian Larsen, Viktoria Winge, Tomas Alf Larsen, Endre Martin Midtstigen, and Rune Melby as the killer. Like “Friday the 13th” (1980), this Norwegian slasher has a sole female survivor in Berdal, whose survival instinct is a match for the hulking Melby. The high-speed snowboarding at the start of the movie is enough to give the viewer an adrenaline rush in this well-paced atmospheric slasher and sets the story for further adrenaline when they come up against the unknown in such a cold, desolate mountainous region. Just like any other group of friends their age, they joke around, take care of the injured Rolf Kristian Larsen, and spend time looking through the empty rooms of the lodge without checking out the basement, which holds a deadly secret. They soon find out there is someone else staying at the lodge when they encounter the deceased body of Viktoria Winge in the snow outside the following morning.
Filmed at the highest peak of Jotunheimen in Norway, a 1,400 square mile mountainous area which makes up part of the Scandinavian Mountains, helicopters had to fly the filmmaking equipment to the top. Temperatures were below −13 degrees Fahrenheit. when the filming started. The lodge at the top of a mountain was shot at Leirvassbu Mountain Lodge, Bøverdalen, Lom, Innlandet, Norway.
Winner of several awards from Málaga International Week of Fantastic Cinema, Amanda Awards, and Kosmorama, Trondheim Internasjonale Filmfestival, “Cold Prey” is one slasher film to view during the cold and snowy winter months, with the doors locked tightly.
Image Credit: Norway and its glaciers, visited in 1851, by Forbes, James David. Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1853.
Zindbar Admin
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