Presos no Gelo 3: O Início

"These Norwegians definitely know how to generate the right mood for an atmospheric and nightmarishly intense horror film. When is the last time a slasher actually scared you? There's another entry on the way, apparently a prequel set in the 1980's. I, for one, cannot wait!"

The above quote is actually copy/pasted from my own user comment for "Cold Prey II", written somewhere late 2010, when I saw the first two films back-to-back. As you can read, I was very much impressed with this new slasher franchise – especially part two – and eagerly anticipated the third entry/prequel. Unfortunately now I have to temper my enthusiasm, because I have seen the prequel and it's without exaggerating one of the biggest disappointments in years. The refreshing and genuinely suspenseful format has sadly turned into just another mundane and hugely derivative stalk & slash picture without any added value whatsoever. What made the first two movies so exceptional that is missing here? Well, two vital aspects are missing, in fact, namely an extraordinary setting and amiable characters. The first two "Cold Prey" movies were covered with snowy landscapes and largely took place in creepy isolated settings, first an abandoned skiing resort and second a nearly abandoned hospital, and it was one of these rare cases where the main characters were identifiable and sympathetic people that you didn't necessarily wish they died in such barbaric way (but they nevertheless did, of course). The prequel takes place in and around the same skiing resort, but presumably in a much warmer season, as the teenage protagonists go camping in the surrounding woods and sleep under a clear sky without tents. Woods are a much more commonplace and familiar setting for slasher movies and, even though the Norwegian forests and streams are a lot more astounding than American ones, it's not sufficient enough to excel. Even more unfortunate is the fact that the lead characters have become standard "Americanized" stereotypes, including gun-crazy machos and hormones-overloaded skinny dippers. The script also nearly doesn't take enough advantage out of the prequel opportunities. "Cold Prey II" already hinted at a very fascinating background of the killer, a mentally disabled savage dumped by his parents near ravine in the midst of winter, but the prequel inexplicably doesn't explore the basic events any further. After a brief intro set in 1976, which is the best part of the entire film, the film fast forwards twelve years to the late 80's without giving any more clarifications regarding the killer's persona, so I'm actually not even considering as an authentic prequel. Just a redundant episode between the origins and the later films. Not only does "Cold Prey III" not exploit the advantages of the prequel format, it doesn't even grab the opportunity to make this a genuine 80's throwback movie. There are very few elements reminding us that the story takes place in the 1980's, except for the fact that one of the teenage characters listens to horrible punk-rock music on a prehistoric and bright yellow walkman device. Add to this several more dreadful sub genre clichés, clumsy editing, weak acting performances and unimaginative (again, especially in comparison to the previous installments) cinematography and we've got ourselves a very dumb and unmemorable slasher that even would have looked uninspired in the 80's already. There's a fair portion of brutality and gory effects, but those things you can nowadays even find in average TV-series, so don't bother.

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!

When I set out to watch the final film of the Fritt Vilt trilogy, I had no idea it was going to be a prequel, and by that redeem itself from the total failure I had expected. After the first film presented the Mountain Man as a surprisingly human slasher (not in character and bahaviour of course, but in his level of strength and fortitude), the second one made him into too much of a Jason Voorhees kind of creature, beginning with the fact that he had survived the ending of the first film.

Fritt Vilt 3 proved to be quite a pleasant surprise in a few aspects. Being a prequel, it had already been known that Mountain Man was going to win, so that had been supposed to be left was a little guess work as to how. First of all - the film really didn't follow the "Hollywood" rules of Slasher-Horror. Personally I was wrong with all guesses that mattered - who was going to die first (the characters weren't exactly Hollywood stereotypes of Slashers either so that made it a little hard to guess), who was going to be the last survivor and how would the story end. The ending, while remaining true to the previous two titles and not having any twists or shocks, really wasn't what I had expected, and was a pleasant surprise.

All in all, the film gave us everything expected of a prequel, answered all the relevant questions about the Mountain Man that had been left unanswered by the first two titles (with the exception of the story behind Mountain Man's weapon of choice in the first two). and was just as good as the first (no Ingrid Bolsø Berdal though, unfortunately). The second was still my favorite, and I'm glad I got to see this Norwegian Horror trilogy.

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.

The prequel to "Fritt vilt" and "Fritt vilt II" is telling about how the whole thing started up in Jotunheimen. It does, but being a prequel tells already that no one survives. That's one less that you normally have. That's the only thing not repeating itself in this movie. Not too well played by the youngsters, too "kitchy", to lame and too boring, I'm afraid.

The only thing which is really fun in the movie is the 80'ies songs they've pulled out of the darkness. Kim Wilde's "You keep me hanging on" is a great in-joke. Another is the nods to "Deliverance" and other classic "horror"-flicks.

The two first in this series was quite fresh, especially with Bolsøe Berdal, who made an excellent job. There's no Berdal here, I'm afraid.

The worst is some obvious mistakes in making this a nightmare. Up in the mountain close to winter, it's cold! The actors forget this, running around with barely no clothes on. No one (!) is making even the smallest shudder. even when the wind blows a door on rusty hinges repeatedly, while there's no wind in the trees.

Though being a bit boring, the 90 minutes went on quite fast. That's a sign on the good half. Slashing of humans is this films upgrade from the first two. The bad boy really goes hunting. as you might understand, this being a prequel, he gets nicer by the years...