Holy shit, it’s cold! M.L. Miller aka the @$$hole formerly known as Ambush Bug here. Let’s continue the countdown fun with the Best Snow-Covered horror films for the chilly month of January. To be fair, I’m going to forgo repeating myself with Holiday horror films since we covered that last month.

The frigid air, the crunch of snow underfoot, and the contrast between red blood and pure white snow makes Snow-covered horror films one of my favorite sub-subgenre’s of horror. I’m going to count down the films that made me feel the chilliest while watching. As far as how I compiled this list? Well, there’s no real method to my special brand of madness. I’ll be counting down every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday through December to my favorite snow-covered horror film of the year. I’m sure there are some that I’ve missed, overlooked, or simply haven’t seen yet, but that’s what the comments section below is all about.

So let’s get to it! Chime in after the article and let me know what you think of the film, how on the nose or mind-numbingly wrong I am, and most importantly, come up with your own damn list…let’s go!

#7 – COLD PREY – #7

Why is COLD PREY #7? Because it’s a snappy little serial killer flick that doesn’t feel like an out of date dinosaur in the subgenre. Simply switching the locale to frosty Norway seems to really be all it takes to make a slasher feel crisp and fresh. Yes, the series petered out a bit and sometimes is a little too reminiscent of HALLOWEEN, but COLD PREY is one of the best slasher films in recent memory. You can find it here on DVD/BluRay and on Amazon here!

COLD PREY (2006)

aka FRITT VILT
Directed by Roar Uthaug
Written by Thomas Moldestad, Roar Uthaug, Martin Sundland, Jan Eirik Langoen, Magne Lyngner
Starring Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Rolf Kristian Larsen, Tomas Alf Larsen, Endre Martin Midtstigen, Viktoria Winge, Rune Melby, Erik Skjeggedal, Tonie Lunde, Hallvard Holmen
Find out more about this film here!

Since COLD PREY II is being released this week on DVD, I felt the need to go back and check out the first installment of the Norwegian slasher series. Many view COLD PREY to be one of the most perfect slasher films, and I have to agree the film does get a lot right, but nothing is perfect.

After a montage opener which feels a lot like SE7EN’s opening credits sequence, COLD PREY dives into what most will agree to be the typical opening moments of any slasher film. A group of rowdy kids decide to go off into a secluded area to party, drink, eat, and do some outdoor activities (which, in this case, is snowboarding). Most slasher films begin this way, giving us just enough character bits from the group of kids for us to distinguish them from one another as they get picked off one by one by the slasher. Nothing deep is understood about this group; one’s a jokester, two are horn dogs who can’t keep their hands and lips off of one another, and the last two have been in a relationship for a long time and are having difficulties. As the kids frolic in the snow one of them breaks his leg, which forces the kids to take shelter in an abandoned hotel.

Of course, this hotel isn’t completely abandoned as a hulking monster of a man with a penchant for sharp instruments resides there and doesn’t appreciate being disturbed as the kids make themselves at home, helping themselves to the leftover food, drink, and rooms in the hotel. Soon, as with most horror films, the killer whittles away the cast one by one until it’s down to the final girl battling the hulking man monster at the edge of a snowy crevasse.

The description I just mapped out isn’t anything different than the million other slasher films you and I have seen. It’s not that COLD PREY does anything specifically different than most slasher films; it’s that the film does all of the clichés very, very well. Though the buildup to the initial confrontation between the man monster and the kids doesn’t really begin until about a half hour in, when the pickaxe does start to swing, it hits the bull’s eye over and over again with brutal and bloody kills and non-stop action for almost a solid hour of run time.

The final moments of this film are extremely intense, made moreso with the nice acting from lead actress Ingrid Bolsø Berdal as Jannicke, who kicks all sorts of ass and is quite inventive in order to get away from the murderer. Though the monster’s motivation is hazy throughout, we are given clues as to his origins and the look of the slasher, especially set with the snowy locale, makes this for a fantastic place to set a horror film. The revelation in the end is also somewhat vague, but does answer some questions posed in the beginning, but not all.

I can understand why folks love COLD PREY. It’s a really great slasher film, but don’t go into it expecting brand new things. You’re going to see everything you’ve seen before, but what you are going to see is going to be done extremely well. COLD PREY was quite the phenomenon, spawning two sequels, which aren’t half bad either.

If you like what I wrote above, help me out and buy it on Amazon here

THE COUNTDOWN SO FAR…
#14 – THE LAST WINTER
#13 – THE DARK BELOW
#12 – POD
#11 – EXTINCTION
#10 – DEVIL’S PASS
#9 – MUTANTES
#8 – TROLLHUNTER
#7 – COLD PREY

M.L. Miller goes by many names—Ambush Bug, Mark L. Miller, hey you jerk over there! He’s an original @$$Hole/wordslinger/writer of wrongs/reviewer/interviewer/editor of MLMILLERWRITES.COM. Follow Mark on the Twitters @Mark_L_Miller.

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