COLD PREY TRILOGY (2006-2010)
Limited Edition Blu-ray Box Set
The Nordic slasher trilogy Cold Prey I-III arrive on a region B locked Blu-ray set from Second Sight Films, presenting all three films in 1080p HD, with a host of extras including new commentaries, interviews, delayed scenes, bloopers, trailers and more, housed in a handsome Limited Edition box set that includes a rigid slipcase, 120-page booklet, and art cards.
COLD PREY (2006)
Label: Second Sight Films
Region Code: B
Rating: Cert. 18
Duration: 97 Minutes 23 Seconds
Audio: Norwegian DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Mats Stenberg
Cast: Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Johanna Morck, Kim Wifladt, Marthe Snorresdotter Rovik, Fridtjov Sahein
Norwegian snowbound slasher Cold Prey (2006) aka Fritt Viltis, directed by Roar Uthaug (Troll) a fun mid-'00s throwback to old school '80s slasher flicks, in it a group of five thrill-seeking snowboarders trek to a remote area of the mountains of Jotunheimen for a weekend of fun, but find themselves in for not quite the sort of killer weekend they had envisioned. We have couples Jannicke (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Chernobyl Diaries) and Eirik (Tomas Alf Larsen, Troll Hunter), Mikal (Endre Martin Midtstigen) and Ingunn (Viktoria Winge), with jokester Tobias (Rolf Kristian Larsen, Netflix's Lillyhammer). The snow is perfect, the weather is terrific, the snowboarding is fantastic, and then Tobias breaks his ankle. With bad weather moving in and the trek back to the vehicle looking risky they take shelter in a seemingly abandoned ski lodge, which according tot he guest book they find, has not been used since 1975. The impromptu accommodations are just fine, it's a little creepy, there are a few unsettling clues that something weird happened there years earlier, like a collection of personal belonging, ID's and trinkets that are much more recent than 1975, but they make the best of it. It's poor pretty Ingunn that goes first, while exploring the hallways alone she encounters a masked mountain man carrying a pickaxe who kills her. The next day no one has noticed she is missing yet and Erik sets out on skis to find help alone, and happens across her body in the snow before the mountain man ambushes him as well. The film did not set out to re-write the slasher formula by any means, but i remember at the time in 2006 it was quite a refreshing throwback to the slashers of yore, and it still has that post-Scream 90's sheen to it, but the snowbound location was somewhat unique for the time. For years fans have wanted a snowbound set Friday the 13th flick, and while that never materialized snowbound slashers were not exactly unique either, before this we had Blood Tracks (1985), Iced (1989), and more recently the underappreciated snowboard slasher Shredder (2003). as I said, Cold Prey did not attempt to reinvent the wheel, but it did do what it did very well. The cast of characters are likable, even though some are flawed you don't want to see them get skewered by the pickaxe either, they are relatable and familiar archetypes. There's good chemistry and some interesting character dynamics at play, they do just enough to flesh them out so you feel a little something for them before the kill count starts up properly, they're not just simply attractive people being killed. The snowbound setting is gorgeous, with cinematography by Daniel Voldeheim (Ragnarok), the snow-covered mountainous terrain with it's scenic frigid surrounding and snow-capped peaks and drifts looks amazing. The only thing I really have to say negative about it that the color is heavily desaturated giving the film an almost monochromatic appearance in places, that's a stylistic choice I found myself coming back to several times, not a fan.
The kills potent but not exactly gorefest, and there are only five people so the kill count is pretty low, too. When Ingunn get the pickaxe so brutally you feel it in your bones, but the actual gore is minimal, which is true for most of the film, the most impactful bit of nasty work is Tobia's compound fracture, that made me wince for sure. Other kills include the use of a bear trap and a neck snap, but the pick-axe is the main weapon. Getting back to the look of the 'Mountain man' killer, I love the look, obviously it's a scary big looking dude wearing mountain man gear, including a facemask and goggles, and when he's carrying that pick-axe, well, that's scary stuff, not someone I would want to encounter, in the mold of My Blood Valentine.
Also, this flick also has a bad-ass final girl who is clever and resourceful, not inherently bad-ass from the get-go, but she rises to the occasion when things get desperate, determined to survive when her friends have fallen. If you have not yet seen Cold Prey and you're an old school slasher fan you are missing out, it might not have the T&A and extreme gore of some of the 80s stuff, but it is finely tuned and executed to perfection with solid suspense and stalk and and slash tension, plus we get characters we actually give a damn about which gives their deaths some actual weight, these are not throwaway characters, even though most of them do get thrown down an icy crevasse.
COLD PREY II (2008)
Label: Second Sight Films
Region Code: B
Rating: Cert. 18
Duration: 89 Minutes 47 Seconds
Audio: Norwegian DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Mats Stenberg
Cast: Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Johanna Morck, Kim Wifladt, Marthe Snorresdotter Rovik, Fridtjov Sahein
If you love snowbound horror and slashers then you best prepare yourself for an extended horror-gasm because the sequel to the Danish slasher entry COLD PREY (2006) is about to make you pop your top! I loved the furst film and this one maintains the same level of quality throughout, it's atmospheric, tense, and features not just a main character you actually feel something for but a whole cast of side characters, too! On a purely visual level we get a a gorgeous snow-set mountaintop setting plus a very cool pick-ax wielding slasher villain hacking away at 20-somethings, what's not to love?
The sequel Cold Prey II (2008), aka Fritt vilt II, is directed by Mats Stenberg, who surprisingly has not directed anything else after this. This sequel follows the Halloween II (1981) slasher-sequel mold, and picks up almost immediately following the events of the first film, with our final girl Jannicke (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) picked-up by forest ranger Ole (Kim Wifladt) who finds her wandering, frost-bitten and confused alongside the road, with the officer nearly running her down in the process. In a state of shock and uncommunicative she is transported to a hospital where she tells the cops the startling tale of what happened to her and her friends on the mountaintop, telling them where they can find the bodies of her friend. The authorities send a detail up to the mountain to the crevice in the ice where the corpses were thrown, and indeed her story checks out, there's a lot of bodies down there, including that of the 'mountain man'.
All the bodies are brought back to the hospital by the authorities for identification and for autopsy purposes. When Jannicke is brought to the morgue to identify her friends bodies she sees that the killer's body is among them and goes into a justified rage, attacking the corpse and pounding the bejeezus out of the corpse. A short time later the hulking serial killer springs back to life, 'natch, to finish off Jannicke, who only just barely escaped him in the first installment.
The similarities to Halloween II is a pretty obvious, it's an homage without question, I mean we have a direct sequel picking up exactly where the last one left off, we have a strangely desolate hospital setting, and the drugged-out survivor girl who has to evade a marauding killer who seems unstoppable. We don't quite get a Loomis character, but I think collectively he's represented, plus we do have the Plice Chief Einar (Per Schaanning) who puts two and two together and figures out that this killer is probably the one responsible for the string of disappearances on the mountain for the last several decades.
Like the first film this is frosty slasher-nirvana and has a great retro-feel, too. Much like the first installment there's plenty of slow lingering shots and eerie atmosphere bolstered by a creepy score and some effective sound design while exploring the creepy corridors of the empty hospital, and this is a great looking slasher, even better than the first in my opinion, the color is more natural looking and not desaturated this time around.
While the character development this time around is pretty minimal we do at least get some minor character introductions that give the deaths so weight, mothing too deep but they're quite likable. The officers, the hospital staff and a small child named Daniel whom befriends our heroine all enter into the picture, and when the blood starts flowing you feel it, you dread it even, there's a real sense of menace and it's appreciated.
Ingrid Bolsø Berdal as our returning heroine is pretty fantastic, she starts of struggling with physical weakness and the effects of being strung out on sedatives, but again, when the mountain man returns with a vengeance she again rises tot he occasion, and with this film we get not just one final girl, but two, as she is joined in the finale by another strong woman, Dr. Camilla (Marthe Snorresdotter Rovik).
In regard to our baddie the 'mountain man' we do get some expanded back story from via the cop who investigated a missing person report years ago at that ski resort, some newspaper clippings and whatnot. It's not a perfect info dump but it's not offensively expository either.
The kills are again superbly executed without resorting to torture-porn gratuitous excesses, there's still some restraint shown, but it one-ups the first film. We have a slashed throat, a brutal shower room brain-bashing (minus a few point for a lack of nudity), a vertebrae shattering neck snap, and a great finale that takes us back to the remote mountaintop hotel where it all started. I would say that this one, while starting off as somewhat of a slow-burn slasher nicely ramps up the action with a very satisfying conclusion.
COLD PREY III (2010)
Label: Second Sight Films
Region Code: B
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 97 Minutes 25 Seconds
Audio: Norwegian DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Mikkel Brænne Sandemose
Cast: Ida Marie Bakkerud, Kim S. Falck-Jørgensen, Nils Johnson
The sequel Cold Prey III is directed by Mikkel Brænne Sandemose (Ragnarok) is a prequel, the film is not just a throwback to the 80's slashers, but it takes place in the 1980's. Aside from the decade difference, the film is also set in the autumn, with a group of adventurous teenagers heading into the Jotunheimen National Park to visit the abandoned ski hotel said to be the site of several disappearances.
Siri (Julie Rusti), Knut (Sturla Rui), Magne (Pål Stokka), Simen (Arthur Berning, The Wave), Hedda (Ida Marie Bakkerud) and Anders (Kim S. Falck-Jørgensen) visit an abandoned hotel in the Norwegian woods, only to find themselves hunted by the psychotic 'mountain man' killer through the rugged terrain of the mountains, while also having to evade murderous local Jon (Nils Johnson, Orion's Belt),who has mysterious ties to the masked killer.
When this arrived in 2010 prequel-sequels were not yet super-commonplace, the only ones that really spring to mind are The Godfather Part II (1974), Back to the Future III (1990), Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004), and Hannibal Rising (2006), so it was still a pretty novel concept when this arrived. Having it non-snowbound was certainly a choice given the film's title is Cold Prey III, but keep in mind that the original Nordic titles is Fritt Viltis, which translates to Open Season, so perhaps not so strange in that respect.
This one is not quite to par when stacked up against the first two installments, it's still a well-made survival slasher though, the change of season allows for some enjoyment of the area when it's not snowed-over, with plenty of gorgeous autumnal scenery around the Jotunheimen National Park, it's still plenty green but you can feel the cold creeping in, the pursuit through the river and caves is pretty terrific, too. I think what keeps this from being at the same level of the first two installments is is moves pretty fast, so we don't get quite so much time to get to know the characters before the bloodshed starts, and they are slightly less likable or sympathetic as a result.
We get even more backstory for the mountain man this time around, too, including a prologue of him as a child being mistreated by an indifferent mother and a sadistic step-father, with a very Halloween-esque origin story of him killing both of his abusive parents after they unsuccessfully attempted to kill him by throwing down the icy crevasse.
As far as the kills, when they are actually a bit more gruesome that the previous films, but there is no signature pick-axe this time, maybe the mountain man just hadn't dis overed it as weapon at this point, but he does use an elaborate trap early on here, capturing Siri and Knut in a spiked pitfall trap, with most of the other kills being stabbing with knives, a machete, and screwdrivers, he even pulls out the bow and arrow at a certain point during the river chase, which I quite liked, and one guy has his head impaled on a protruding tree branch.
Audio/Video: All three films get region B locked discs from Second Sight Films, presented in 1080p HD framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. I did not see any information about the transfer for these HD presentations, but compared to the Cold Prey and Cold Prey II DVD's that own, these are significant leaps in quality over those. This was actually my first time watching the third film which was quite hard to track down on disc, at least in a English-friendly version. The HD image quality looks wonderful, grain is well-managed, texture and details are pleasing, skin tones look good, and colors look accurate to me, though I've already stated I am not a fan of the desaturated look of the first film.
Audio for all three come by way of Norwegian DTS-HD MA 5.1 with optional English subtitles. The tracks are clean and well-balanced, dialogue is nicely prioritized, there are no issues with hiss or distortion, and the score and atmospherics all fare well, in the mix. The original US Starz! DVD release of Cold Prey had a English-dub option, that is not carried over for this release.
Extras for this set include new Audio Commentaries by director Roar Uthaug and actor Ingrid Bolsø Berdal for Cold Prey, director Mats Stenberg for Cold Prey II, and Christer Andresen & Phillip Escott for Cold Prey III.
We also get a several brand new interviews and archival extras, too, for Cold Prey we have the 22-min This is the Vibe: Interview with director Roar Uthaug who speaks about the genesis of film, his love of slasher, it being his first feature, and pitching it as it as the TCM remake set in the freezing cold. Also discussed is the financing and casting of the film, the importance of character development, the design of the killer, location scouting, and staying at the resort they were filming at. He also talks about creating the vibe, some of the more challenging shots, his favorite scenes, and the film's reception internationally, and how its success opened doors for him. Next up is the 19-min Draw the Process: Interview with actor Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, who the audition process for the film, her characters hair color, working with the tight knit crew and cast, the rehearsals, developing her character, how the film had a large ad campaign in Norway, Archival extras include a 56-min Behind the Scenes, 11-min Car Scenes, 9-min Bloopers, plus the director's Short Films, the 2-min Mountain Rose Runs Amok, and the 4-min An Evening in the Green, plus the 4-min Bloodlights "One Eye Open" Music Video.
Extras for Cold Prey II are also quite plentiful, we get the 32-min A Blessing and A Curse - Interview with director Stenberg who was working as a commercial director for Fatafilms before getting this gig, how he thinks he was well suited for the sequel, the script process, influences from other films and assorted homages. He also notes his favorite scenes, the most difficult sequences, and the differences between directing features versus commercials. He also speaks of the fine tuning of the edit for maximum effect, how it was received when released, and how being a Swede making a Norwegian film might be why he didn't get to tour it on the festival circuit, and how he did not really take advantage of the positive buzz to his benefit, noting that he has not directed a feature since. Next, the 11-min Dissociation: Interview with actor Ingrid Bolsø Berdal who right up front says that strangely she has less memory of making the sequel than the first film, but she remembers being quite excited going into it. She discusses her approach to the sequel versus the first film, the benefits of shooting a single location, and remembering shooting particular sequences, including the breaking the car window scene, which proved rather difficult. The 4-min Stepping Aside: Interview with associate producer Roar Uthaug is a brief interview wherein the first film's director talks about having made his slasher film, then stepped aside and moved onto producing, bringing on director Mats Stenberg who was a commercial director and quite enthusiastic about the project. extras for the sequel are buttoned-up with a 34-min Behind the Scenes featurette, 3-min of Bloopers, which are always fun, plus 5-min of Extended/Deleted Scenes.
The prequel third film gets short shrift on extras, aside form the aforementioned new commentary we only get a 8-min of archival Behind the Scenes footage.
The 3-disc release arrives in a Rigid Slipcase featuring new artwork by James Neal. Inside there's a tri-fold, six panel digipak with clear disc trays housing the three Blu-ray discs. We also get a 120-page Illustrated Booklet with new writing/appreciations by film critics Matt Donato and Paul Lé’s, The Hysteria Live's Podcast co-host JA Kerswell, Vinegar Syndrome's Justin LaLiberty, author/podcaster Ariel Power-Schaub and Mondo Digital's Nathaniel Thompson. Also tucked away inside are four Art Cards featuring the James Neal artwork.
Special Features:
Disc 1: Cold Prey
• NEW! Audio Commentary with director Roar Uthaug and actor Ingrid Bolsø Berdal
• NEW! This is the Vibe: Interview with director Roar Uthaug (22:21)
• NEW! Draw the Process: Interview with actor Ingrid Bolsø Berdal (18:55)
• Behind the Scenes (55:43)
• Car Scenes (11:01)
• Bloopers (8:45).
• Short Film: Mountain Rose Runs Amok (2:18)
• Short Film: An Evening in the Green (3:44)
• Music Video: Bloodlights "One Eye Open" (4:02)
Disc 2: Cold Prey II
• NEW! Audio Commentary with director Mats Stenberg
• NEW! A Blessing and A Curse - Interview with director Stenberg (31:58)
• NEW! Dissociation: Interview with actor Ingrid Bolsø Berdal (10:44)
• NEW! Stepping Aside: Interview with associate producer Roar Uthaug (4:07)
• Behind the Scenes (34:07)
• Bloopers (3:09)
• Extended / Deleted Scenes (5:29)
Disc 3: Cold Prey III
• NEW! Audio commentary by musician Christer Andresen and entertainment professional Phillip Escott
• Behind the Scenes (7:30)
Limited Edition Contents
• Rigid slipcase with new artwork by James Neal
• 120-page book with new essays by Matt Donato, JA Kerswell, Justin LaLiberty, Paul Lé’s Ariel Power-Schaub
and Nathaniel Thompson
• Five collectors' art cards
This 3-film set is a terrific celebration of what I would consider to be a criminally underappreciated Nordic slasher trilogy. The Cold Prey films are solid throwbacks to the golden age of slashers. Second Sight Films have done the excellent work bringing all three films to Blu-ray with English-friendly versions that look stellar and have a terrific set of extras, if you're a slasher fan you need this. Keep in mind, this set if confirmed region B locked, so if you are not region-free capable you may have to wait for someone else to hopefully step up to the plate with a U.S. edition, or maybe just do yourself a favor and buy a region-free player already, you're missing out on some good stuff.
Screenshots from the Second Sigh Films Blu-rays:
COLD PREY
COLD PREY III
