Cold Prey (2006): Norway’s Take on 90’s Horror Done Right

Scandinavians seem to have a penchant for rock music and extreme sports…as well as formulaic slashers, but who’s complaining?

Although Cold Prey feels like it could have been made in the late 90’s, in the vein of I Know What You Did Last Summer and Urban Legend, its likeable characters, suspenseful moments, and awesome location make me forget all about the trite slashers stateside. When a group of friends hit the mountain for some snowboarding action, one of them accidentally breaks his leg. With dark approaching and the weather worsening, they seek refuge in an abandoned hotel until morning. The setup works quite well. Not only do we have a character who is handicapped from the beginning, but we have a location that can become just as much the enemy as the unknown figure stalking them. The remoteness of the mountain-top hotel ensures that there will be no reception for cell phones and that running for help in the open snow is futile.

Snow-eating grins...har har

What makes Cold Prey enjoyable is not a high death count, gore, or even action. The characters are what had me engaged throughout the first and second acts, which are somewhat uneventful in terms of horror. The Final Girl’s relationship with her boyfriend seems quite real—not perfect, but not “on the rocks.” Even the sexed up characters that make out the entire time are more than a gratuitous ticket for nudity. The obligatory sex scene is cut short, because the girl who has appeared to be going for it throughout the film wants to take it slow with her new boyfriend. The Final Girl and her boyfriend are the only ones who have sex, and it’s offscreen, so we can’t count on the normal slasher rules to guide us through the film. The chap with the broken leg is also quite likeable, cracking jokes in the midst of a lot of pain. What is also appreciated regarding the characters is their general sense of intelligence. When they enter the abandoned hotel, they don’t immediately start smashing things and fornicating in the dark rooms. They are actually…dare I say it…somewhat responsible, trying to be safe and careful with their surroundings. When the horror action occurs, their smarts don’t dwindle. It was refreshing to see enjoyable, mature 20-somethings for once.

At least she didn't have to choose between 
the flashlight and the gun...
Yes Doom, I'm talking to you

Towards the end of the second act, the real action starts up. The tools the filmmakers had already used set up the suspense well enough that I was fearing for the characters wholeheartedly. The editing and ramped up style of the kill scenes were somewhat distracting. With a more traditional approach, especially since the EFX makeup was nothing impressive, the horror elements of Cold Prey would have been so much better. My fondness for the characters was leading me through, having me worried for them despite some clunky cinematography. What also helped was the appearance of the perpetrator. Cloaked in a heavy fur coat and snow mask, the massive body of the killer was intimidating…even if it did look a little like the getup from Urban Legend. The hulk of a human stalking them in the sterile white landscape sold the film on its own, as the feeling of entrapment was suffocating.

Ever hear the urban legend about the Norwegian kids who go snowboarding on an isolated mountain,

only to find themselves trapped in an abandonned hotel, where a masked figure stalks them one by one?
Yeah...me neither.

Cold Prey really soars in the third act, as it builds to a powerful climax. There are plenty of clever set pieces, intense moments, and kick-ass struggles. I was rooting for the characters the entire way and when one of them died, I was genuinely upset about it. While I wasn’t too keen on the big reveal in the end—which was hardly a reveal by the way, I still found Cold Prey to be unique enough to stand on its own, even if it may be waist-deep in the fallout of modern American slashers.