What better way to get in the spirit of Halloween than by watching Nordic horror? I recently watched Cold Prey and while it is not the greatest thriller ever made, it definitely does not disappoint fans of the horror genre. This film seems like one that would be on the "foreign" category of Netflix and seen by no one, but in all honesty, it should be getting more attention. Even though it is spoken originally in Norwegian, the English dub is not too bad. The plot of this film is suspenseful, thrilling, and deserves much of the praise that it has received.
There are many great aspects of this film that make it so original and appealing. For starters, almost all of the horror film stereotypes were broken. In most horror films, the very sexually active woman is typically the first to die by the hands of the monster, and the clean-cut virgin girl is always the last one alive, usually escaping to tell her story. In Cold Prey, however, the very first victim of the monster is the virgin girl who refuses to have sex with her boyfriend. This was very surprising, especially since the only one to survive in the end was the polar opposite. The last one to live was the sexually-active woman and this is almost never seen in this genre because of its "shaming" of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. Another aspect that I thoroughly enjoyed was the setting of this film. It was very original because not many films are able to effectively take place in the winter mountains of a foreign country. This film did it very well, however, as they did not have to incorporate any actual science-fiction monsters or avalanches to progress the story, which are typical of snow-mountain settings.
Speaking of the killer in the film, his actions were very interesting. I loved how his killings were very clean (in a sense) and he had a clear mission. He wanted to protect his snow lodge and, after killing the intruders, steal their belongings for himself. Often in many horror films, the monster just kills because it can, or because of its insatiable bloodlust. The monster in this film had a clear goal and the foreshadowing showed his backstory and why he became the way he is. The final scene where the monster was dumping the bodies into the cliff was very powerful for me, and I appreciated how it displayed the monster's cleanliness and sense of respect (in a weird way).
I do have a few concerns about this film though. Both of them happen to occur in the final act of the film, and they are just very confusing. My first is a very small complaint about the final fight scene between the monster and the man with the broken leg. He had a shotgun with one shell and, after wasting it on accident on his friend, he still held the gun and threatened to shoot the monster. If the killer lived in that lodge all of his life, it would seem like he would have a pretty decent knowledge of his inventory. The other problem with this film, in my opinion, was its very predictable plot twist, if you can call it that. In the beginning of the film when the protagonists are searching the lodge, they find pictures and articles about a young boy with a scar on his face that went missing in those mountains years before. It would seem very obvious that without any further explanation, that the killer would be the boy all grown up, possibly attempting to get revenge on his parents through his victims. So when the final girl ripped off his mask and showed the scar on his face, I was not surprised at all. This is the one typical trope that this film used, and I feel like they could have done a bit better at hiding the reveal.
Cold Prey is a very original and enthralling story that any fan of the horror genre should love. I would strongly recommend this film to anyone that is looking for a good story and a fun time on this spooky Halloween night.
My Rating: ★★★½
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