tmbaio

Although Cold Prey 3 was meant to be a prequel, it succeeds more of being a slasher movie independent of the first two films.

When the film dives into the villain's background, several key questions generated from the first two films are answered. For example, it is obvious from the previous stories that the villain is a hunter. In Cold Prey 3 we see where he got that skill from. The film also explains how the villain avoided detection after his first homicides. As effective as these scenes are, they are covered in the opening moments & this is where the prequel portion of the film ends (Cold Prey 2, which was a "moments after" continuation of Cold Prey, went into the killer's background as much as this prequel). With its differing atmosphere from the first two films (there are no snow covered settings) & with the villain using a firearm for the only time in the series, you get the feeling that the creators of Cold Prey 3 wanted to to isolate the film from the preceding entries.

Although the brief background screen time will upset fans of the series, Cold Prey 3 makes up for it during the second half where a group of hikers are terrorized by the mentioned villain. Like its predecessors, Cold Prey 3 can be seen as a Norwegian version of Friday the 13th (with touches of Texas Chainsaw Massacre & Deliverance); but thankfully, not as over the top.

In conclusion, where Cold Prey 3 fails as a prequel, it succeeds as an above average terror-in-the-woods genre movie. As mentioned earlier, the film-makers may have purposely separated this movie from the earlier films, but they wisely chose to incorporate the elements which made Cold Prey & Cold Prey 2 popular with their fans: good photography, well staged action/chases & a solid cast of performers.