Tale of Vampires

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.

First of all, I like vampire movies, but in my opinion there are very few good ones out there. This is one of them. I was psyched when i heard that a Swedish vampire movie was coming out, just because it was Swedish. I had however not very high expectations on it, figuring that it was going to be a movie that took itself all to serious. This wasn't the case at all. The movie is made in a kind of "Shaun of the Dead"- style, meaning not much horror but more humor, and the humor is good. The acting is perhaps a bit stiff (don't know if it's intentional or just on account of them being bad) but i find that this ad to the comic effect. Overall, a very entertaining movie that should be viewed simply because it's a Swedish vampire movie, but deserves to be viewed because it's quite well made.

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.

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!

This is one of the best Swedish movies ever! It is however not a horror movie, it felt more like a black comedy with some smaller horror elements. The main story is about a girl that moves with her mother to a small town in the north of Sweden, where it is dark 24/7 during the winter. She tries to make friends at her new school, and meets a goth-girl called Vega. Strange things start happening in the town, people are found dead completely drained of blood, without any trace of any killer. Anyway, this is a great movie, it has good effects and good music. The only thing I can really complain about is some of the actors, who reminds me very much of amateurs. Overall however this was a really enjoyable movie, I laughed a lot and so did the whole audience at the theater. I saw it at the Arctic Light Film Festival in Kiruna, February 2006. Great movie!