La choza del lobo

A group of young students is on ski training in mountains. There are only one passage to chalet: telpher. They soon discover one of them is additional. And food is less and less. Adult trainers seem to be rather strange, too -- they love snow and cold, they want someone of young people would try to kill another one and maybe they are from outer space. Young people must discover truth, to help themselves and escape. Excellent psychology horror.

I really doubt that this film was made in 1967. It looks more like 80s

A movie shown perhaps twice a year on Czech TV, popular with the teenage and pre-teen audience. A very poor script and a cast of mostly amateurs do not combine to make this a particularly interesting movie for adults. The movie is salvaged by an excellent performance by the beautiful Radka Slavikova as Emilka.

An entry into the horror genre from legendary Czech director Vera Chytilova involving a group of teenagers in a remote ski lodge in the mountains, one that quickly distinguishes itself from others with this kind of premise. For one thing, it's cast with teenagers playing teenagers (as opposed to the 20-somethings typical to American films), which gave it authenticity in the mannerisms and appearance of these characters. For another, while the kids are in danger and strange things begin to happen, we really have no idea where this is going to go, in contrast to films that simply have one person after another being brutally murdered. So, I liked those things about it.

I also liked the depth of meaning underpinning the drama. It's a study in human nature, how people tend to turn on one another, particularly when under great stress. In this case that comes from the camp supervisors, who give them a requirement that of the eleven teenagers, one of them must be sacrificed, and then coolly sit back and observe. There are clear parallels to authoritarian governments here, something Chytilová was all too familiar with over the two decades that followed the Soviet crackdown of the Prague Spring, which give the film another dimension.

As a drama it also has its moments, like the writhing around in the snow and the scene with the snowman, but its story also felt a big fragmentary and not quite fully formed. It was also a mixed bag on the visual effects and edits, with some of them a little rough around the edges, like zooms that seemed random. However, the atmosphere created feels so incredibly real that when shock moments occur, they really pop, as opposed to films that feel manufactured. Worth seeing.

The story of WHY I'm reviewing this film is actually more interesting than the film itself. For several years, my mate and I were urged - stalked, in fact - by a mutual internet friend to seek out "Wolf's Hole" because, in his not-so-humble opinion, it qualifies as a unique and must-see masterpiece. So, my mate moved heaven and earth to finally stumble upon a qualitative copy in the original Czech language with English subtitles, only to find out, well... that it's an indescribably bizarre and underwhelming movie.

So, Rondal, if you are reading this: the review is dedicated to you. To this day I still haven't figured out whether you were pulling our leg or that you honestly consider "Wolf's Hole" a great film.

One thing I'll gladly admit, though, is that "Wolf's Hole" contains a couple of impressive moments and nice examples of building up tension and atmosphere. The opening sequences, for instance, follow the camera moving unsteadily over snowy grounds while ominous music is playing. For a moment, I had some hope we stumbled upon a hidden horror masterpiece for sure. After that, the impression gets raised it'll be a typical 80s slasher. A group of 11 teenagers (including stereotypes like the rebellious girl, the momma's boy, and the loud-mouthed jock) go up the mountain for a private skiing camp. There are three instructors, two of which are barely older than the group members themselves, and they behave peculiar to say the least. The instructors seem very upset the group exists of 11 teenagers rather than the foreseen 10, and the supplies and sheltering conditions are subpar.

Everything that comes next is strange and confusing, but not necessarily intriguing. The instructors may or may not be extraterrestrial, but never make quite clear what their intentions are. Are they here to study typical teenage behavior? Are they here to kill them? Or to force them to kill each other? Is the whole thing an allegory on the contemporary Czechoslovakian society? Anyone's guesses are as good as mine. The group doesn't do much, except for secretly smoking in the lodge and start food-fights, and the cute girl-instructor goes out at night to roll in the snow.

There's one - just ONE - notable moment involving a snowman, and - being a safety advisor myself - the most horrifying thing I observed was the ramshackle and mortally dangerous cable lift that transports eleven people (+ 1 dog) at once.