Luck by chance review

Taking its cue from the great slasher films of old (damn, I feel old for even calling slasher films old), the 2006 European horror hit Cold Prey (Fritt Vilt) is a fast, refreshingly fun thrill ride set in the frozen wilderness of Norway.

Like all good horror thrillers, our story begins with five twenty-something “teenagers” setting out for a weekend of leisurely sporting activities, brewskies, and (if they’re lucky) sex. Ignoring the tourist-trap ski resorts that are overflowing with people who are perfectly content to climb up a mountain only to slide right back down it over and over, the five friends instead opt to take on a secluded mountain that their bandleader Eirik (Tomas Alf Larsen) suggests.

Naturally, what would a horror movie be without the nerdy single bastard redheaded stepchild guy Morten Tobias (Rolf Kristian Larsen) breaking his leg, forcing the others to seek shelter before the rapidly approaching nightfall, er, falls?

Well, wouldn’t you know it? Just around the bend is a large abandoned ski lodge, smack dab in the middle of the Norwegian Alps. Score! But this isn’t your average large abandoned ski lodge smack dab in the middle of the Norwegian Alps, folks: this one was seemingly abandoned all at once — as if the entire population just suddenly up and vamoosed — way back in the year of our Jaws, 1975.

A thirty-year-old large abandoned ski lodge smack dab in the middle of the Norwegian Alps? Well, at least the magazines in the lobby are more up-to-date than the ones you find at the doctor’s office.

Well, despite Morten’s broken leg, this whole skiing excursion is really panning out for everyone: the newly together couple Ingunn and Mikal (Viktoria Winge and Endre Martin Midtstigen, respectively) have the chance to further explore their relationship, Eirik has the opportunity to work out a few details with his commitment-phobic girlfriend Jannicke (top-billed Ingrid Bolsø Berdal), and Morten himself can enjoy the pleasures of sitting on a couch in front of a roaring fireplace and sipping on the finest selection of aged liquor that a large abandoned ski lodge smack dab in the middle of the Norwegian Alps has to offer.

Yep, these kids have it going on for them, and they know it. Too bad for them that the deranged, barely human, murderous psychopath who happens to be living there doesn’t share their opinion.

Lesson learned: stay the fuck out of large abandoned ski lodges smack dab in the middle of the Norwegian Alps. As a matter of fact, stay the fuck out of Norway, period.

It’s rare that I find a post-1985 slasher film to be worth the cost of the three-cent disc it was pressed on, but director Roar Uthaug’s Cold Prey actually succeeded in thawing out the long-frozen adrenaline in my bloodstream and promptly sent it out for a brisk jog. But it wasn’t just me: Cold Prey fared quite well in its native Norway and the rest of Europe alike for its scares (both genuine and red-herring ones), winning itself an Amanda Award (Norway’s equivalent of an Oscar) for Best Actress (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) and earning an additional Nomination for Best Film.