User reviews

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Bad focus from time to time. Lack of creativity.

EDITING: Pretty good considering the cinematography.

ACTING: Various

LIGHTING: Nice but i prefer fog and mist-lighting effects in horror movies.

MUSIC: Very well written and performed. Almost too good to work effectively together with some of the scenes. Gets too melodramatic at times, like the old silent films that scared the crap out the audience a long time ago.

DIRECTING: ?

VAMPIRES: Super nice! Realistic make up and CG.

SCARE: Bad timing in editing and bad choice of camera angles. If the movie tries to make the audience jump out of their seats with fear, we jump with laughter.

HUMOUR: Funny situations appear in the story. Maybe the next Swedish film project.

OPENING SCENE: Boring and not quite convincing.

SCRIPT: Correct thinking in structure but unfortunately, some of the characters feel superfluous. Vampire-Sebastian would be a lot more fun idea for a movie.

OTHER COMMENTS: They have overseen some of the best opportunities to capture beautiful and scary scenes involving white snow, fog and blood. Desipite the fact that the action is taking place in the middle of the cold winter, this wasn't used as a physical problem for the characters. I believe it was much colder for the slow working film crew than what was captured in the final result of the film. Where did all the money go?

When it's finally time for a Swedish horror whit a real budget it turns out to be, well not so good. Its a shame really cause this movie has been under production for many years so one had hoped they would give us , if not great, at least a good film. No luck there.

I have no idea what the director was thinking when he watched the final cut. The whole climax of the movie is horrible edited. We go from one scene to another and after a while you have lost track of what is happening, and you really don't care either. The acting is at times lousy, the one who gets away is Jonas Karlstöm who plays Sebastian. He makes the movie worth seeing.

The effects of the movie are great, nothing to complain about there. What bothers me the most is if this was the last Chance for Swedish horror.

Over here in Europe, and especially during the annual Horror & Fantasy Festivals all over the continent, "Frostbite" got endlessly praised and acclaimed as one of the most innovating and creative new vampire movies of the last few decades, but you honestly have to put all this eulogy into perspective a little. First of all because European horror critics understandably wish to promote our own stuff as opposed to that uninspired American "junk" and, secondly, because the guys behind the camera (director Anders Banke and producer Magnus Paulsson) used to be involved in the organization of the Swedish Fantasy Festival and thus the critics support each other. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of the horror-festivals and I'm grateful that I can go and watch a truckload of new cult stuff there every year, but this circle of European Fantasy Festivals is undeniably some sort of elite club. That being said, I don't intend to state "Frostbite" is a bad film or anything … It just isn't as original and refreshing as it pretends to be. Given the North-Swedish setting, the tag line and the synopsis, I was anticipating a sort of predecessor to "30 Days of Night" but it's actually something completely different. The story revolves on an obsessive doctor trying to create the ultimate breed of vampires ever since he himself became one during World War II. He invented these red pills to fine-tune vampirism, but they accidentally end up at a local teenager's house party and all the guests gradually transform into bloodthirsty monsters. "Frostbite" features a lot of ideas and simultaneously attempts to parody the horror genre, but unfortunately it only became a very incoherent, not-so-funny and seemingly finished horror movie. The intro-flashback is overlong and, in general, not a whole lot is happening during the first hour. The last half hour compensates for a lot, though, since the film becomes extremely gory, absurd and tasteless. The actual ending comes abruptly and makes no sense at all, but the foregoing house-party massacre is quite cool to watch. The special and make-up effects are excellent (clearly, most of the budget went there) and the acting performances of the primarily young and inexperienced cast members are more than adequate. "Frostbite" is definitely an interesting and potentially terrific film, but the writers nearly didn't make enough use of the location's possibilities and the polar night concept.

I had really high expectations about this movie, you know. I wanted soooo bad for it to be a great movie. Well, I was disappointed. I saw it at the Göteborg Film Festival, at the world premiere, and I didn't know if I was to laugh or cry when it was over. I was closer to crying.

Honestly, it wasn't a good movie. They meant it to be scary ... but people LAUGHED when it was supposed to be scary. Which makes it a comedy? Not really. If so, it must have been unintentional.

I do believe that it could have been a good movie. I mean, the script itself isn't all that bad ... when one thinks about it. But bad effects and MUMBLING from almost all the actors (I had a hard time hearing what was said, in like, half the movie!) makes it a bad movie. Easy as that.

At times, I just hid my face in my hands and mumbled "oh my god" to myself. Ashamed to be Swedish.

That's it then! No more vampire films coming from Sweden. Bye bye, future vampire films!

This movie starts with a flashback. A flashback were they talk German, but evidently you can hear (if you're familiar with the German language), that the actors are not Germans themselves. Just a trivia fact, for the beginning.

Because this doesn't hurt the movie, after the flashback you get to the present time and the movie kicks off. And that means it really get's going! It then starts out more as (teen-)comedy, just to evolve into a horror-comedy. The transition is pretty good and many jokes work, but unfortunately in the end (literally), the movie falls short. It just seems, that they run out of ideas or money ... or both, but this movie does not feel like it's finished. It's a shame then, because this could've been so much better, but it's still good!

It is nice to see some genre-movies produced in Sweden, finally. This is an ambitious project but somewhat let-down by (among other things) a low budget. The script is very enjoyable with funny set pieces and some good dialog which, unfortunately, is not always delivered well. The direction is lacking, some scenes are very awkwardly blocked, hardly rising above film-school level, and some of these things can not be blamed solely on the low budget. The ending is too abrupt, also. Much effort seems to have been put into the special effects, and they generally look very good. The score is symphonic, which is a really good choice, and it works well, although it is a bit overused. The sound is also really bad in some places, which add to the "film school"-feeling. The Russian music during the opening titles is really inspired and creates a nice atmosphere (reminiscent of Polanski's "The Fearless Vampire Killers). It is sad that the rest of the movie doesn't quite hold up. But it deserves to be praised for its ambition and just because it at least tries to be different from every other film produced in our, film standard-wise, mediocre country. It should have been a full Swedish "Lost Boys" but instead we got about 1/3 of it. (Hm, the IMDb comments spelling device makes suggestions identical to what I have typed, happen to anybody else?)

I saw this movie at the Göteborg film festival. I'm a bit of a vampire nut, and already knew I'd enjoy the movie if only for the fun of vampires speaking Swedish. However, it went far beyond my expectations. They actually put quite a lot of money into the special effects, not quite up to Hollywood levels, but definitely better than a b-level horror flick. The script was absolutely fantastic. It had all the right elements to make you laugh and really enjoy the movie, with the same not-entirely serious horror genre theme found in The Lost Boys. The audience was warm and receptive, and it was definitely worth every öre to see it.

I also dragged a friend to see it, who is not at all a fan of the genre, and he hasn't yet murdered me in my sleep, so I assume he wasn't lying when he said he enjoyed it.

There were a few things to complain about, but really, in this kind of movie you NEED some cheesy elements to throw your popcorn at. It just makes the movie more enjoyable.

I'm going to give it a 9, just because I know this movie won't appeal to everyone - but for god's sake, if you don't LIKE funny horror movies - don't watch them, instead of wasting your time going to see it (or rent it) and then bad mouthing a movie you knew would never have enjoyed anyhow. :Þ

And really, c'mon.. vampires.. speaking Swedish! Someone finally making use of the fact that half of Sweden lives in permanent darkness half the year. If I was a vampire, I'd be spending my winter vacations there.

"hey, stop throwing garden gnomes at me!"

If you're expecting a true horror movie, you'll be disappointed. This movie was hilarious. And that is exactly the way it was meant to be enjoyed, as a comedy horror (along the lines of "Shawn of the Dead"). The storyline that follows the daughter is better developed than the one with the mother, and plays for more laughs. I saw it courtesy of the Seattle International Film Festival, at midnight, with a theatre full of other vampire film lovers. My biggest complaint would be that it does take a little too long for the opening sequence (taking place during WWII, German with Swedish and English subtitles) to be explained. It's also the scariest part of the whole film. If you don't like horror films, this is a great one to see. Rent it and have a bunch of friends over.

I just watched the film in a small town in the southern of Sweden called Laholm and I must start this review by saying that I'm mighty impressed by this movie.

On my way in I cached a few words with a woman standing in line and I also tough I recognized a man in her company, but I could place him and later when they got up on "stage", to present the movie, it all came clear to me who they were. I had seen the man on TV doing an interview and if I just had tough of that earlier…

But anyway, on to the review.

To begin somewhere, I will start with the Visuals. I think the camera placement in the scenes were OK and with good colors. Sometimes it could seem like it was getting a bit out of focus but I think it was intended to add a good feel to it. The special effects were nice and not to flashy.

Then we come to the audio part. Music was really nice and fitting. The audio were clear and the dialog felt real.

On to the story. It was an interesting story with a great beginning as well as ending.

The feel. The whole thing felt very real, not at all Swedish and not to "Hollywood". I have heard that the movie were somewhat comical and when I heard I taught something like "No, not another silly comedy", but now after I've seen the film I must say that it had some funny moments but they all felt real and not silly comedy as you see in a lot of movies these days (Maybe the talking dogs were a bit to silly, but it were kind of cool the first time). Vampire movies are often either action, splatter or vampires-are-good movies but this movie had a good blend of events that made it unreleasable in any of these categories. It didn't feel like a Horror movie, walking home alone at midnight in a small dark "village" after seeing the movie were no problem, although I cached a glimpse over my shoulder once in a wile just to make sure. Also the fact that the producers of the film were there and presented the whole thing is always a bonus.

The Rating I give this movie 7/10… no, because of some circumstances 8/10.

The Circumstances ^ I don't like to compare movies to other movies from the same country, but I must say that this were really nice, not just for being a Swedish movie. And then maybe some people think vampire movies should be all dark and fogy and sure these are great movies to, but they shouldn't be compared to this one. There were some few things that I didn't like but they really were few and I think you can overlook one or two things in a movie and still think it is great.

//SteffeB

This movie has it all on paper.

Vampires, blood and gore. Special Effects, and good comedy. unfortunately it doesn't deliver. Although they seem to have a good basis of FXs, the dumb story, the bad acting and the poorly written dialog is laughable.

It hurts to see it sometime because it could've been so much better.

The only upside is that, it may be a starting point in better horror movies from our great country. Because the production were at least high valued. Next time with a good story and good actors it may really become the great horror flick we all been waiting for...

OK... seeing to comment made by slake09 it's obviously difficult for nonswedish people to judge the acting. Because seriously the acting in this movie is awful, and I actually know why. The makes of this movie are two real horror fanatics. They love horror and gore. So that's what they wanted to do. Sure there is no other Swedish movie in this genre, but this is not a good first. The script is horrible, it has no apparent structure and the main concept get's lost along the way entangled in all the effects, bad acting and quite bad comedy. The main concept is awesome, vampires in a place where it's dark for a whole month. But that timelock is mentioned just once or twice and then lost. You never get the feeling of suspense that premise could bring. This is a disappointment because I really had hopes for this film. As a filmmakerin Sweden myself I hoped that this would be an opening for the Swedish movie business to dare do something different. But sadly it just shows that we still don't have the knowledge to make genre flicks well. We still try to do it the American way instead of trying to find our own way. We don't have the budgets they do, so we have to bring something else into the equation, and "Frostbiten" does not. Quite the opposite, it sets us back, because now it's gonna be a long while before anyone dares to try it again.

To think I was once avoiding horror movies because I thought I was chicken. Hell, I now believe the real reason's cause there are so many bad horror movies out there, that it's just not worth the time and money to watch them on the big screen. This Swedish movie unfortunately, is one of them.

Frostbiten started off promisingly, with a link back to the horrors of WWII, where soldiers were being cut down in size by the enemies. They stumble onto an unused hut, but before they can get a good night's rest, they realize that there is something mysterious about the entire place, and got attacked by strange creatures. It's quite an extended scene before the opening title, but we get fast forwarded to today.

Mother and daughter Annika (Petra Nielsen) and Saga (Grete Havnesköld) come to a new town to start life anew, but before they get settled down, it's a mixed bag of incidents which see Annika uncovering a deep dark secret in the hospital she works in, and Saga's teenage friends getting high on an experimental drug without their knowledge, and get turned into vampires. So begins a battle on both fronts as they fend off vampire rejects from Underworld.

The story is nothing to shout about, being very weakly made up of lame excuses just to feature the vampires in various fang-sinking-into-necks opportunities. Plenty of things went wrong, right up until its ending, which tried to be too intelligent for its own good with a suggestive open ended ending, and it doesn't make much sense. At times, the movie's littered with humour, but in cheesy ways as it wasn't able to decide whether to be funny, or dead serious with the antics. It's nothing scary, but there were copious amounts of blood used to up the gore factor.

Come to think of it, certain production aspects turned out quite childish with its lack of attention to continuity issues, although there were some sparks of brilliance in its special effects department. Other than that, if you really want to experiment with a foreign language horror movie, just wait for the discs to arrive.

Considering it really had the makings of a great horror movie, I really got disappointed. Vampires, blood, night for a whole month in a pretty small town. Furthermore there aren't many good Swedish horror movies, so this one was really something I was looking forward to.

How wrong I was.. I mean -why, why, why?! Where did the budget go? Why don't write at least 25 pages of manuscript before start filming and why not hire a director while you're at it? Awful acting, sometimes good special effects but no more than in a half-decent B-movie. A good thought started it all, and the idea isn't all bad, but where did it all go? We need more odd and special, not just strange and intellectual pictures from Sweden, but sure a heck not more movies like this one.

After Let the Right One In, I was wary about approaching another Swedish vampire film. Surely it couldn't live up to the brilliance of that master piece. Well, it doesn't. But Frostbiten is a different kind of beast altogether. Frostbiten is a wonderful return to classical vampires. They hate garlic, don't have reflections etc. This lends itself well to the comic tone of the film. Even in a foreign language, this is instantly quotable and memorable. From lines such as "Stop throwing garden gnomes at me!" and a girl making an X rather than a crucifix, we have a film that doesn't take itself seriously, but isn't stupid either. The film does well to split up the adult world and the teen world. The teen world is basically filled with drugs and parties, lending itself as the perfect set-up for a massacre. Meanwhile, the adult world is filled with the backstory and the main plot thrust.The score and soundtrack work in perfect harmony. The film opens during the war, and the score has an eerie Gothic sound which seems as though is should be coming straight from a gramophone. The effects are perfect in my opinion. The mix of CG and make-up is almost indistinguishable. It comes across as an old classical stop-motion piece at times. The whole film was enjoyable in the same way as The Lost Boys. Fun, exciting and hilarious. Only, Frostbiten has talking dogs.

I tend to be the kind of person to give grades partly on ambition and partly on the result. So a movie with good ambitions but a dreadful final product can still get a reasonable grade. I found "Frostbiten" to have the ambition although the end result didn't really live up to the hype.

Vampire movies are not my favorite genre to say the least. Whether it's the anemic gay vampires of "Interview with Tom Cruise" (or whatever it was called?) or the macho vampires with silly accents in outings like "Van Helsing" or other action-movies. Usually Vampires work so much better when there is comedy involved so in that regard i think that this movie went the right way, focusing on comedy rather than horror.

So, what works? Well the effects are very good and the production values high, which is a very good start. The actors are a mixed offering with some veterans doing pretty well, the younger actors giving a mixed set of performances. From pretty good to quite awful. In the end though the acting is not bad enough to ruin the movie, nor is it good enough to leave a lasting impression (the only exception being Måns Nathanaelson who has some of the funniest scenes in the movie).

Something that did leave a lasting impression with me though was the lousy script. Which is a real shame. Considering that they had the proper effects, decent actors and a decent setting (northern Sweden with constant arctic night). Not that Swedish movies usually have the most coherent or interesting scripts, but a Vampire-comedy doesn't really require Shakespeare, just someone who can make a simple yet effective story. This movie fails quite miserably in that. Especially the ending is unusually pathetic.

So the ambitions were good, the results were not as good. What i would like next time they make a Swedish vampire movie is to see the film-makers really go crazy. Just go completely wild. That's what this movie needed, the good old "From Dusk till Dawn"-treatment where you start sensibly and finish senseless. To paraphrase the British SAS: Who dares wins!

Awful. I give it a '1'. The lowest value I could find.

The movie could have been great. After I've watched the first 10-15 minutes of it I gave the movie a fair chance. It caught me. A group of soldiers in a deep forest in Ukraina during WW2, looking for shelter during the night. (Man! This can be great, I thought).

Anyway, so far the movie seems to be great. Great acting and filming. THEN, all of a sudden, the movie jumps into modern time. And a complete disaster is a fact (only after 10 minutes or something like that). After I've watched the first half of the movie, I was starting to feeling sick. The acting was bad, the story was awful, the whole thing and idea was a disaster. I hated it.

Before I started to watch it, me and my friend I watched it with had a few movies we've promised ourselves to never watch again. A few of them were Dogma, ExistenZ and The Cube 2 (Hypercube?). These films, which I've hated for so long suddenly appeared as masterpieces. But I must give Frostbiten creds for their great effects! Sorry to tell you all that they have absolutely no use.

Frostbiten made me wanna commit suicide. I can't sleep at night, I can't watch Swedish movies any more - It killed me from the inside, and not because of the story or effects, only because of it's "worthlessity".

Do I recommend you to see it? Well, I'm sorry (or not), but I can't say 'yes' to that question.

I watched this movie without expecting too much since I had heard that it's not very good and since I didn't expect too much I wasn't very disappointed either. Why I watched it anyway was because it's the first Swedish vampire movie and being Swedish of course that's exciting and the other reason was that it was shot in my old hometown and I wanted to see if I recognized any of the locations. Which I did, the school scenes were shot at my old school.

So what can I say about this movie? That it had a lot of potential and could have been very good if done in another way. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be scary, gory or funny and that's the main flaw. If the focus had been on either making it a really scary horror movie or a vampire comedy I think something good might have come out of it. But it didn't because Frostbiten is a weird mixture of horror and comedy which unfortunately isn't working.

I also feel that the location isn't used as good as it could have been. Northern Sweden during the winter is cold and dark with snow, snow and more snow. There's also lots of wilderness and big forests. The perfect setting for a really creepy horror movie. But did we see any of that? No. Most of the film was set indoors with the climax of the film being another teenage party turning into a blood bath, which is terribly unoriginal. That could have worked if the focus was on comedy but since it wasn't (at least I don't think it was) it just turned cliché.

And the acting? Well some of the actors did good but for every good one there was one terrible. And the accent? I used to live in the northern Sweden and the way most of the actors talked and tried to imitate that accent is NOT the way people actually talk up there! If you're not from the northern Sweden you probably won't be bothered by that but if you are you'll find it silly and annoying.

So what was good about this movie? Well since I'm Swedish I can't trash a Swedish vampire movie completely. For me the thing I liked best about it just is that it's Swedish because there are no other movies like this here. As far as I know this is the first ever vampire movie made in Sweden and because of that it deserves a watch. It's quite entertaining as long as you don't expect too much of it. Another good thing was the special effects. I have nothing to complain about there.

Do I recommend this movie? Sure. Just don't expect to be scared or laugh a lot. It's OK in it's own way but nothing mind blowing.

Having read positive things about this flick I finally bought it on DVD in Denmark last year but only got around to actually watch it last night. I won't bother to go in to the plot but the biggest problem with this film is the terrible script and most of all the weak directing and editing. The director and editor simply don't know how to pull of a scare and all the potential horror scenes fizzle out with a limp whimper. The music doesn't evoke any horror and is to mellow to work in film like this.

What bugged me as well is that there is no reason for the film to take place in Northen Sweden as the story didn't take any advantages of the location, as the film took place in only one night.

A damn shame that Swedens first attempt at straight horror should be this turkey.