| Author | Message | ||
     Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
Just wondering if anyone else has yet seen this excellent Norwegian entry in the slasher genre. If not, it's well worth chasing down. Quite apart from anything else, it shows by being really good why so many horror films are such crap. It's got an excellent script that gives us characters with relationships, rather than knife-fodder with excuses to get naked, and a long, menacing buildup before the violence kicks off. It's also got a superb cast who can genuinely act and do some justice to the characters, and a director (Roar Uthaug) who does justice to all of the above- and to the eerily beautiful icy winter snowscape that provides the setting. Picked it up from Fopp in Manchester for just £3, too. Fun that cheap shouldn't be legal. Here's a trailer... http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XP67UvrTteA&feature=related Sadly couldn't get one with subtitles. A sequel has also been released, and I have to say it don't look back either. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
Ahem. 'don't look bad', that should've read. Freudian slip or what? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
That looks bloody great - and I'm a sucker for horror filmsset in snowy wastes. Just ordered it.  Btw, mate - I'll give you a call over the weekend. Just got your voicemail - sorry I missed you. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
No worries, mate. You won't regret it. Ordering Cold Prey or ringing me at the weekend, that is. Well, maybe the second one. Just a bit. In the last seconds before.... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
 | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
Just watched COLD PREY and enjoyed it a lot - creepy, intelligent (for the most part), well acted and beautifully shout. Well worth the fiver I paid for it - and it was the subtitled version too. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
Had a feeling you might, old bean. 'Twas a partial inspiration for Witchland, after all... | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.168.4.162 |
I keep having this idea for a rural council estate slasher. Keep wanting it to have a Wicker Man atmosphere and folk music and weird scenery. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Simond and I have a great idea for a British slasher called WITCHLAND...and we're writing it! | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Is that where the werewolves live? | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.4.190 |
That's Witch-ever Land. Where they whine, hoot and howl, what? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Bargain: http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/9137150/Cold-Prey-1-2-/Product.html The first film was excellent, and I have the sequel ordered, but this price for both films is pretty decent. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 85.158.139.99 |
Looks like a good price - cheers for the link, Zed... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Last night I watched COLD PREY 2, and it was even better than the first film. A solid, well-acted slasher with some nice nuances of character to make you care about the potential victims. It also contains a nice splash of pathos, which helps elevate the piece. | ||
| Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts) Username: Tom_alaerts Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.78.35.170 |
I hesitated for quite some time if I should order the version with the 2 films, while I don't like classic slasher movies, but all these comments just may push me to order... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Tom, if you don't like the classic slasher set-up, you might be dissapointed with these. They are played straight, with none of the smug, self-referential stuff that taints Hollywood slashers. Good old-fashioned suspense, with a hint of gore. I have a real weakness for slasher films, and love watching foreign takes on this much-maligned U.S. sub genre. My favourte is a Danish film, Ole Bornedal's "Nattevagten" - or, "Nightwatch". | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.39.214 |
I watched another film called Night Watch last week by Kazakhstan-born film director Timur Bekmambetov. Have you seen that one Zed? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Yeah, I've seen that and the first sequel, and was dissapointed with both. I really, really wanted to like them, but something didn't quite scan. Great ideas, nice visuals...but no real heart. The sequel, "Daywatch" is actually quite terrible. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
Any idea if they're filming the third book - Twilight watch? The commentary on the DVD gives some clues. from the sounds of it the entire plot of the books have been drastically changed. The bit where he goes to the witch at the start doesn't happen in the books apparently. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
The first fim wasn't bad, but the second is incomprehensible. I've watched it twice and still don't know what went on... :-/ | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
At the end, nothing had happened (in either film) because they hit a reset switch basically. that annoyed me. | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 145.229.156.40 |
The last straight stalk 'n' kill non-referential slasher movie I saw that really impressed me was Michelle Soavi's 'Stage Fright'. And that was way back in 1987. I mean how many truly decent ones have there been since then? | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
seven and a half | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 145.229.156.40 |
I'm dying to know what they are... | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
Just watched Cold Prey: Resurrection. (Aka Cold Prey 2, but I like the other title better.) Cold Prey was one of the best psychological horror movies I've seen in years. It was always going to be a tough act to follow. I'm not usually a great fan of horror sequels, with certain honourable exceptions, so the film really had to prove itself as far as I was concerned. And as I watched, it began to look like the sequel was going to be a weaker rehash of the original. For perhaps five minutes. When Zed said Resurrection was an even better film than the original, I had my doubts, but after watching it, all doubts are gone. Cold Prey: Resurrection is simply fucking brilliant. Rivetting, terrifying, moving... there are beautiful touches of dread and emotion throughout, but to say anything about them would be to spoil the film. Anyone who's considering getting the double disc set, consider no more. Just do it. And if you're not considering it, then start. Seriously. Even if you don't normally like slasher movies, these two are a first-rate double-bill. I think I've already picked what I'm going to be watching this Halloween... | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 87.228.137.86 |
Well, you've all sold me - I just got the 2-disk set from Amazon. Really looking forward to these after what I've read. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.78.64.29 |
I'm going into Sheffield today to get the DVD with both films on from HMV for £12.99. By post £9.99 plus free postage. Wanting to watch them back to back tonight. | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
Just watched the first one and OH MY GOD. I can't remember the last time a movie made my heart pound like that! I'd prefer to have watched both movies back-to-back, but I really think I need a break after the first one. So with luck I'll see the sequel tomorrow. And can I just add that it's refreshing to see a slasher film made with such integrity? I agree fully with everything Simon says in the initial post - great script, great cast, real characters, believable story - it's a proper film that just happens to be suspenseful and scary as hell too. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.78.69.150 |
Totally agree Niki! I think Simon will be is relieved we like it I'm going to watch Cold Prey 2 Thursday, I think. | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
Looks like Simon's started a cult.  I won't post any spoilers if I see it before you, Ally! | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.78.69.150 |
Okeedokee Niki! | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.233.103 |
You're all going to make me watch this, aren't you?... I can feel my HES (High-Expectations Syndrome) setting in. I'll try to resist it, and go for it anyway - nothing I love better, nothing more soothing and relaxing, than a good slasher flick! | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
Do resist the HES, Craig. It's a solidly good film. It doesn't revolutionise the genre but it doesn't need to; it just does what it says on the tin. And Ingrid Bolsø Berdal is a terrific Final Girl, a sort of Norwegian Ripley. I loved her! | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
Hmmm... well, I have to say part 2 didn't impress me as much as the original. It's a highly watchable film in its own right, but whereas there wasn't a single incident in the first one of characters doing implausibly stupid things, I did find myself shouting a bit at people in this one. It felt a bit like a cross between Halloween 2 and Aliens. Still a cut above nearly everything in the Hollywood camp, but ultimately a disappointment after the original. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.16.77.239 |
Well, I don't know if it was my HES or not... but I wasn't bowled over. I do think it's definitely in the category of watchable - it's feature-film quality, not direct-to-dvd dreck. It's a good, fun watch... but something about this didn't tip it over the edge for me: nothing excelled beyond being a good entry in the genre - a good entry, not great. Slow to get going, and borrows too heavily (I felt) from so many other recent ones (THE DESCENT, THE RUINS, etc.). I didn't care for the characters a whit, and wished they died more bloodily. Sorry all, but the last (i.e., most recently made) great classic-genre-entry slasher flick I've seen remains the remake of BLACK CHRISTMAS, which is just underrated, brilliant, and undeserving of the calumny heaped upon it. I do hold out high hopes though for the remake of MY BLOODY VALENTINE, hitting dvd in a week... and hope springs eternal.... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Craig, you seem to have the classic Hollywood mentality, mate. The BLACK CHRISTMAS remake was horrible. The COLD PREY films, while not groundbreaking, are better than any American slasher of the past 20 years, IMHO (the best of these probably being the HILLS HAVE EYES remake, which was directed by a European). | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
I found the BLACK CHRISTMAS remake something of a guilty pleasure - like an EC comics reworking of the original. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
I certainly saw hinmts of that in the film, ramsey, but overall it didn't work for me. My recent guilty pleasures are the FINAL DESTINATION films. I actually thought these were excellent, and possess a gleeful love of the macabre in a similar way to the EC comics. Speaking of which, I just read the Cauld Lad of Hylton segment in ALICE IN WONDERLAND, told as an EC-style vignette. Brilliant. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.1.243 |
The FINAL DESTINATION films are wonderful, Zed - and BLACK CHRISTMAS was scripted/directed by the original screenwriter on those. BC had a kind of beauty to it, I found: the colors were rich and creamy, the camera loved every scene - the killings were brutally over-the-top, great splashes of monstrousness - the characters were all comic-book garish, but that as to their appearances, reactions, expressions - it had an exuberant energy, and took wicked glee in its killing sprees - though not as much glee as the FINAL DESTINATION films, which I'd have said were the best in years, except for the mere fact they came before BC. (And the THE HILLS HAVE EYES remake's pretty damn good too, btw.) COLD PREY is solid genre work - no doubt. It just didn't tip itself over the edge for me, into the "Wow!" realm. Pedestrian characters, pedestrian killer/method of killing (come on, an ice pick?... what happened to that set-up of the axe, its outline on the wall?...), pedestrian action scenes in rather pedestrian locations (a dull room, a stairwell, etc.). Cute actors, lovely to gaze upon, who did a great job with the material... my standards are just pretty high, I suppose.... | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
... my standards are just pretty high, I suppose.... Says the guy who likes Michael Bay???? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
 You walked right into that one, Craig. | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.32.69.29 |
I think it was a pickaxe, Craig, not an icepick. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.229.254 |
It was an ice pick on a very long pole. I want to see heads and limbs severed, bowels exposed, eyes gouged out, brains splattered, horrible massacres of all sorts - not the dull stabbing of a screaming wench.... Weber, Michael Bay is a horror film fan, and he does keep the genre alive, to some extent... careful whom you dis.... | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.196.79 |
How exactly do you suppose Michael Bay is keeping horror alive, Craig?! By producing a few crappy, unnecessary remakes? Has he made something great that I'm unaware of (and for the love of god, don't say The Hitcher!). If anything, I'd say he is encouraging genre films to remain boring and unimaginative. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
My twelve year old next door neighbour is a horror film fan. doesn't mean he has the foggiest idea how to make one. Michael Bay is raping the memories of several of the greatest horror films ever made - The Hitcher, the Birds etc. he needs to be stopped. | ||
| Simon Strantzas (Nomis) Username: Nomis Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 38.113.181.169 |
Let's not get too hyperbolic here. The original films still exist and are easily available. I'm not one of these people who condemn remakes (any more) or film version of books, just because they aren't the originals. Now, if Michael Bay is on a mission to destroy the prints of the original, a la Lucas, then we have something we can agree on. Otherwise, let him produce what he wants. I don't have to see it after all. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.196.79 |
Certainly, and I don't condemn films simply because of their remake status (although I think there is way too much of it going on). Nor do I particularly care which films he chooses to produce. I'm just curious about Craig's assertion that Michael Bay is in some way keeping horror alive. He's been involved in a small handful of remakes that range from mediocre to absolute trash. I don't see any great championing of the field in that. If he were genuinely interested in revitalising the genre, he could put his name to something with a bit more quality than the bloody Hitcher remake, don't you think?! When I think of people who are keeping the horror field fresh, I think of people like Ramsey, Guillermo Del Toro, Jaume Balaguero, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Cronenberg and others. But that's just me... | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
Going back to the Nightwatch references from earlier on in this thread,. I'm reading the book now and it is excellent. It actually messed with my dreams last night and that's really unusual. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Aspects of this discussion remind me why I despise horror films in general and 'slasher' films in particular. It has to do with the expectations that they fulfil, and how disappointed the male fanbase is when those expectations are not fulfilled. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Just to clarify: those expectations have nothing to do with atmosphere or a sense of the weird. They have to do with the exposure and mutilation of flesh. That's the USP and that defines the audience demographic. I'm sick of it. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.241.143 |
Joel, that's why films like COLD PREY are so refreshing - they're not about bodily mutilation, but sustained tension and the desire to scare. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.16.77.50 |
Joel, you should know - a small slasher film is going on right now in my room - someone's lodged my throbbing tongue deep into my fleshy cheek - and the resultant stimulation accounts for much of the juicy meat of my posts here.... As to Michael Bay... be glad he's making horror movies! I echo Simon's comments, what Lucas does is abomination compared to Bay's desire to make rollicking fun remakes of films - perhaps this vast fan base will go back and rediscover the originals?... Besides, I liked THE HITCHER, I liked TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE... I liked watching one maniac viciously mutilate innocent hitchhikers and another carve up wanton teens - ouch! Damn you, throbbing tongue, and piercéd cheek! | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.242.132 |
Craig, I'm easy to wind up. I'm sorry. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
Joel, I'd echo Zed's comments re Cold Prey. I'm getting to the point now where I tend to describe it (to the small number of people I haven't already raved about it to already) as 'psychological horror' rather than a 'slasher' movie. Simply because the association is automatically made with vicious misogynistic dreck made for, if not by, adolescents ridden with sexual guilt and sadism. There aren't that many films in the slasher category I genuinely like. Halloween and the original My Bloody Valentine... and I'm struggling to think of any others. Just Before Dawn, maybe. But arguably films like that fall outside the 'slasher' catgeory. There are great horror films that contain elements of the slasher t*mpl*te- Psycho springs to mind- but no-one would brand them slasher movies. I sometimes wonder if the weak characterisation of so many slashers isn't less the result of lazy scriptwriting as a prerequisite. Here are some women! Now they're naked! Now they're carved up! If the characters were presented with any depth, the viewer might feel some emotion other than gratification when they got butchered. I love the Cold Prey movies because they aren't like that. I was never in a moment's doubt as to whose side the director was on. Tellingly, a lot of the few negative reviews I've seen of the original film basically boiled down to 'Boring! Took too long to start with the killing!' and 'Not enough blood and gore!' Yes. Quite. Exactly why I liked it. I watched it again, a couple of weeks ago, with a friend who doesn't like psychological horror films, and slashers least of all. He loved it. It felt, he said, like a supernatural horror film, even though it wasn't. Another thing I liked about the sequel (SPOILER) was that it implied a supernatural dimension to the killer. But that's another post... | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
Ally and Niki- very glad you enjoyed the first film! Especially Niki, as you know people who can inflict severe punishment on those who displease you... I didn't find myself shouting at any of the characters, funnily enough. The one time Berdal's character does something suicidally stupid (SPOILER) is in a dream sequence, which is forgivable. The only note that didn't ring wholly true for me was a certain character who by rights should have been killed about seven times over but kept getting lucky or rescued at the last minute... Btw- just found out the other day that Ingrid Bolso Berdal (how did you manage to do that diagonal line through the 'o', Niki?!) won the Amanda Award (Norweigian equivalent of the Oscar) for the first film. Not surprising her performance should have had such an impact... | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.16.79.241 |
Craig, I'm easy to wind up. I'm sorry. Nah, don't mention it. Me, however, I tend to go overboard in my sarcasm - mea culpa, Joel. | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.28.34.132 |
(SPOILERS) I found myself shouting at: * Camilla for separating from Jannicke to go find the doctor. * the kid for not picking up on the obvious vibes that They Were In Danger. And for playing his game in the cupboard. * the cops for locking Jannicke in the car and then going inside to (ahem) save the day. * Jannicke for not shooting the killer when she was standing over him with a gun. Of course he was going to do the Michael Myers vanishing act! I was fine with her "him or me" mission to get him at the end, as she had nothing left to lose at that point, but it was just too implausible that he sneaked in behind her and waited for her to wake up before raising the axe. The fight that followed should have broken every bone in her body or at least knocked her out. And Camilla's reappearance was just a little too timely. (Advice: when you've finally "killed" the slasher film killer: blind him, blow his head off, cut him up into tiny pieces and then burn the parts. If he still comes back, kill yourself before he gets you in one of the sequels.) So I LOVED the first one, Simon, and enjoyed the second in spite of its flaws. The nightmare was solidly creepy too. Oh, and no special magic re: the ø - I just cut and pasted her name from the Wikipedia article. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182 |
I've been planning to watch the two together in a double bill at some point, maybe this weekend. Damn. Bet I'll notice the flaws this time. Mind you- MORE SPOILERS! I assumed the kid was just very self-absorbed. As for the cops, they seemed to be afflicted with a bad case of 'we know best' syndrome. Jannicke's the only person who REALLY knows how dangerous the killer is. Everyone else thinks they know, but they don't. (Btw, anyone know exactly what 'Fjellmannen' translates to in English? I'm guessing 'mountain man', but just wondered. It sounds so much better in Norwegian anyway!) So yeah- I guess she doesn't have much excuse for not firing a full clip of 9mm ammunition into him when he's down. As for Camilla... you know how I said there was one character who by rights should have been killed about seven times over..? Yep. Her. Dunno what it is, but I never seem to spot these things at the time! SPOILERS END. Good advice re dealing with the slasher film killer, btw. Only trouble is, being a bloke, I'm probably doomed from the get-go... traditionally, it's always the final GIRL who takes the slasher down. So I'm stuffed. Unless I'm in a gay slasher film maybe... now there's an idea for a new take on the subgenre. Glad you enjoyed them anyway! | ||
| Niki Flynn (Niki) Username: Niki Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.151.159.208 |
Hey, Hostel had a Final BOY. Granted, he got it in the first 5 minutes of the sequel, but then so did lots of Final Girls. Oh, and I loved the fact that (SPOILER) in Cold Prey the sexy young lovers might have lived longer if they HAD had sex! That was a nice touch. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
Isn't it fascinating how people can react differently to a film? I managed to see both Cold Prey movies over one of the wettest, nicest weekends I've had in ages but I'll just make a few comments on the first one, using Craig's to illustrate what I mean . Pedestrian characters Really? I actually found them quite endearing, particularly the chap who broke his leg, and of course the heroine (who mistakenly tried to set a compound fracture and close the wound but I forgave her as she was in the middle of nowhere) but even the other characters were no less than likeable and at no point did I want them to get killed. pedestrian killer No! Good killer! Would have been even better killer (for me) if they hadn't tried to explain his origins at all. The concept of something faceless, unstoppable and completely unreasonable always works so much better if there's no reason at all for what he's doing. method of killing (come on, an ice pick?... what happened to that set-up of the axe, its outline on the wall?...), It's not what you have, but what you do with it that counts. I think that minimising the murder weapons aids in suspension of disbelief - it's when they start getting Howitzers out that I (or at least my suspension of disbelief) tend to leave. pedestrian action scenes in rather pedestrian locations (a dull room, a stairwell, etc.). That location was bloody marvellous - how can you not love a deserted hotel in the middle of fucking nowhere, filmed with the kind of photography so washed out of all hope that we know these people are doomed well before they have the slightest inkling/ my standards are just pretty high, I suppose.... I worry sometimes that mine are too high. But the reason they are is because of films like this. I thought it was excellent. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Once again Lord P, you and I agree. I thought these wre lovely little films and can't wait to see them again. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
I thought Cold Prey 2 nowhere near as good as its predecessor. In fact it almost felt as if they had tried to make it more Hollywood (and the lighting they use for the hospital corridors was very reminiscent of the lighting schemes Rick Rosenthal was rightfully quite proud of in Halloween II). I didn't enjoy it as much for a number of reasons including more cliched, sillier characters, and a daft ending that stretched disbelief too far. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
I watched this at the weekend, along with Martyrs. Although Martyrs was more extreme, this one had the sympathetic characters. It's always a nice thing to watch a horror film that kills a cast of characters you like than the identikit teens who characterise most slasher films. When the cast of this type of movie is deliberately annoying, then the purpose of the film is to revel in the gore and enjoy the deaths, rather than actually to scare you. And with a horror film, I know which option I want to see. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
I'm not saying martyrs had identikit teens in it. I just sort of went off at a tangent. Martyrs was an extremely good, very shocking film that constantly surprised me. I reccommend it to anyone (with a strong stomach). It does suffer slightly from lack of sympathetic characters though. Spoiler The little old lady villain was fabulous | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
I found Martyrs very hard indeed to take, but I also thought that in some ways it was closer to The Nameless than Jaume's film. | ||
| Richard_gavin (Richard_gavin) Username: Richard_gavin Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 65.92.53.202 |
Strangely enough, I just saw Cold Prey for the first time this past weekend and enjoyed it a great deal. It had all the single-mindedness and menace of a slasher film without any of the detrimental excesses. Good stuff. I thought Martyrs was an extremely powerful film. I was worried when it shifted gears about halfway through, simply because I didn't want it to degenerate into Eli Roth territory, but that conceptual breakthrough at the climax when we learn the why of this horrific ordeal redeemed the whole movie. I don't think I'll be re-watching anytime soon though. Phew...definitely a tough film to take. My poor wife lasted a mere five or six minutes before having to leave the room. The connection between Martyrs and The Nameless never dawned on me until now, Ramsey. Interesting. I can certainly see your point. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.76.229 |
It's just the way his shorts ruck up when he sits down. (joke c/o Eddie Hitler and Richard Richard; Mick will get it) | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.118.49 |
Indeed! |