Movie Review: Cold Prey

Synopsis: Five twenty-somethings on a snowboarding vacation are forced to take shelter in an abandoned hotel when one of them breaks his leg and their car is too far away for them to reach by nightfall. Unbeknown to them, someone is still living in the hotel, and getting home or even surviving the stay isn't as easy as they thought.

This is pretty much just a straight-up slasher flick from Norway (called Fritt Vilt), but it's well done. It starts out with some beautiful cinematography of a snowy Norway mountain landscape and goes cliched as possible toward isolating our victims (cell phones don't get a signal here!) in the old abandoned hotel. The old building is great though and works at being pretty creepy. The setting reminded me a bit of The Shining.

Right out of the slasher handbook, they don't really let you see much of the killer, only flashes, until later in the film. He's got his own mask (a snowmask) and his own weapon (a pickax) and is pretty stealthy, despite his large size. He's not big on speech (in fact I don't believe he uttered a word) and that's how I like my big brutes. I don't need funny quips, but prefer a Jason or Michael Myers.

I liked the characters in the film and they do a pretty good job of building their personalities so I cared for them a bit. Most were very likable, one is the typical jerk. The 2 leading ladies were both hot, so that's a plus. It actually drags a bit maybe while they're doing some character development and set-up as too much time goes by before the fun starts, but once it starts the pace is good. The kills aren't particularly creative either, but there's some suspense and jump scares and it's all believable action.

Nothing about this film blew me away by any means, but it's a pretty fun, stylish slasher flick. It doesn't bring anything new to the genre, it's just well done. Kudos to the Norwegians.

6.5/10