Cold Prey III

Four years ago I gave a glowing review to the first real Norwegian horror movie ever (unless you count Villmark which was more of a thriller or the DTV crap "22" which was more like a bad nightmare). Cold Prey blew my mind. Sure, to most of you it's probably a mediocre slasher flick but to me it raised the bar for Norwegian movies.

Maybe this is why the first one was a success. The second one was okay-ish. A bit too much action and not enough horror if you ask me but still a solid entry. Now we have the third, supposedly (and hopefully) final entry in this franchise and I have to say with a heavy heart that this was a disappointment to the extreme.

What is supposed to be a prequel comes off as a sloppy dtv-remake of the first one - without the snow - or the hotel. The dialogues seem to be copied and pasted from the first movie and even the characters are similar (only this time we have a bunch of REALLY bad actors without any real characteristics). These actors were so bad that I cringed in the seat as it was so uncomfortable watching them deliver their basic dialogues. The first 5 minutes or so are prequel-ish but the movie really doesn't explain anything. It felt as if the crew wasn't allowed to shoot inside the hotel this time so instead it took place in the woods and in two small houses near the hotel (??????).

This is less Friday the 13th and more Wrong Turn - but without the actual excitement. Imagine Cold Prey meets Wrong Turn meets Manhunt (yes, this could indeed very well have been the sequel to Manhunt aka Rovdyr, that might actually have made more sense as this felt nothing like the first two Cold Prey movies).

I won't go on about it but if you want a very standard DTV slasher from the 80s that somehow was forgotten and crawled onto the big screen 25 years later - here you have it. The mediocre slasher flick that everyone will forget within a year. Too bad, this franchise had so much potential.

Slasher movies might try to be cute (see first part of the Cold Prey series or High Tension for that matter), but this is as down and dirty as you might expect it to be. It is also exactly what you think it will be throughout. In other words: It is dire predictable. It's still nicely done and all, you just can see where it is heading (actually you might know where it is heading before it even begins). If you don't let that spoil your "enjoyment" of the movie, you are good to go.

In this case, it is not really necessary to have seen the other two movies of the "franchise". Actually you might be better off not having seen them. Slasher fans will enjoy this (I guess most did enjoy the first one too), but for everyone else this might prove to not be enough of anything to make them wanna watch it through

When I first heard that they were making a third "Cold Prey" movie, which pre dates the first two showing a back story on the killer, I was actually quite pleased, as we only saw glimpses in the first two. I am a big fan of the first two and wrote glowing reviews for them rating them 10 and 9, but this one I only rate 5, because quite frankly I was really disappointed.

Okay the beginning opened up quite well, when we finally get to see what happened to his parents and the way they treated him, but that was over in 10 minutes and then it cuts to a group of teens camping in the nearby woods. I was hoping the third would somehow capture both positive aspects of each film, but sadly, Cold Prey 3 turned out to be your pretty standard backwoods slasher that we've seen several times before.

Another complaint is that this one is set in summer time which kinda defeats the object of being called "Cold Prey" There's even a clichéd scene where some of the characters decide to go skinny dipping in a lake, which seems to be some sort of requirement in backwoods slashers for some odd reason. Speaking of characters, none of them are likable, in my opinion. With the little development we're given for each person, it leaves us with little reason to care whether they'll somehow survive through the ordeal.

All in all "Cold Prey 3" isn't a particularly bad film, as a stand alone it would have been pretty good, it just lacks the brilliance the first two, so I hope it's now come to an end.

In 1976, in Jotunheimen, an abused boy stabs to death his mother Sigrid and his stepfather Gunnar in an abandoned hotel and the family is considered missing by the local Sheriff Einar (Terje Ranes) and authorities.

Twelve years later, the teenagers Hedda (Ida Marie Bakkerud) and her boyfriend Anders (Kim S. Falck-Jørgensen), Siri (Julie Rusti), Knut (Sturla Valldal Rui), Magne (Pål Stokka) and Simen (Arthur Berning) take a lift with Sheriff Einar telling that they will hike in the woods. However they go to the abandoned hotel expecting to spend the night in the place but they find dust and rats and prefer to stay camping in the woods.

In the morning, Siri and Knut fall into a trap of the eremite hunter Jon (Nils Johnson) and Knut is seriously wounded. Siri climbs the hole to seek for help to Knut, but she is captured by Jon while a stranger kills Knut. Soon the teenagers are hunted down by the creepy serial-killer.

"Fritt Vilt III" is an unoriginal slasher movie with the usual clichés. The only thing different in this movie is the language, since it is spoken in Norwegian. The rest is the usual stupidities of this genre, when the victims always take the most imbecile decision and the serial- killer is indestructible. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Presos no Gelo III – O Início" ("Trapped in the Ice III – The Beginning")

Ignore the negative review - this is an excellent prequel, and a great background story on how it all started. I enjoyed it a lot, I think most of the people rating here thought this is a spin-off or a sequel. Watch it you'll surely love it if you are a cold prey fan!