Reviewed by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Rolf Kristian Larsen, Tomas Alf Larsen, Endre Martin Midtstigen, Viktoria Winge, Rune Melby,
Erik Skjeggedal, Tonie Lunde, Hallvard Holmen
Written by Thomas Moldestad & Roar Uthaug
UK certification 18 | UK RRP £17.99
DVD Region 2 | Runtime 97 minutes
Directed by Roar Uthaug
It hasn't been a great year for horror buffs. We've seen Rob Zombie effectively kill off the Halloween series with his utterly shite "reimagining" of the original. We've seen the "torture porn" subgenre sink to new lows with Elisha Cuthbert's ridiculous Captivity. And now comes this very pedestrian slasher/stalker flick from Norway.
Five young friends are heading into the mountains for a weekend of snowboarding — two couples (one new, one not-so-new) and a single bloke who's dating his right hand. And we'll have no jokes about Norwegian Wood, thank you very much. Said single bloke breaks his leg (luckily it wasn't his right arm, or else he'd be rather lonely). It's too late, and too far, to try to get down the mountain to the village, but luckily, just over a ridge, they find an old abandoned ski lodge. And so our intrepid heroes ignore rule 437 of horror movies: never, ever enter an abandoned building. They build a fire, get the power on and get settled in for the night. Taking a look around, they find an old guestbook that hasn't had an entry since 1975. And the final entry? "We hope you find your boy." AHA! A kid missing in the mountains since the mid '70s? I think I know who the killer is!
Yes, the kid has grown up and now lives in the basement of the ski lodge. Oh, and he's also a crazy killer who takes care of unwelcome visitors with a pickaxe. Cue the usual slasher-film shenanigans with all the usual scenarios and cliches. Yawn. Sadly, there are not enough scares or surprises here for those who like suspense. And there's not enough blood and gore for those who like their horror films messy. The acting is definitely up to scratch (all the main cast do a fine job) and the production values are high — great cinematography, good direction and some interesting camerawork. But it's all for naught, because a couple of times I found myself nodding off at the sheer boredom of it all. This film is a decent watch for insomniacs, but I really can't recommend it for anyone else. It's a real shame that it follows the Hollywood conventions instead of blazing its own path in a new direction, because the potential was certainly there.
EXTRAS * Just a making of documentary and the theatrical trailer.