I find it kind of funny how next month a film titled 30 Days of Night, that is based on a graphic novel will be released theatrically has the same concept as this film; Frostbitten. Both films are the focus of a blood sucking feud that takes place when the sun don’t shine on a certain area of the earth for one month out of the year. Frostbitten takes place in the northern territory of Sweden, while I believe 30 Days of Night takes place in Alaska. Anyway, while the concepts are the same, the stories are very different. Where 30 Days of Night seems to be a straight forward story. Frostbitten actually has a more complex story.
Frostbitten is a film that was shot in Sweden and the movie is actually in the native language with English subtitles. While subtitles usually don’t bother me, for this film they did as I found it hard to keep pace with the story and read at the same time. The film starts off with a young family settling into a new town in the northern area of Sweden. A place where during one mouth of the winter season it remains dark outside, 24 hours a day. Pretty much the town has a dark secret as a group of demon like blood suckers emerge to experiment, recruit, and feed on the living.
The script for this film is pretty good. From what I’ve been told this is the first vampire film that was ever made in Sweden, their seems to be a lack of them I guess over there. What I liked about what screenwriter Daniel Ojanlatva did was add elements of humor in with the horror. The humor is mostly added within the dialogue, which was not only very well written, but the lines used were clever ones and fit the characters well. speaking of characters, the script does an alright job with developing them. The story however could of used a bit of work in the beginning as I felt that the script did not develop the basis of the story within the first ten minutes. However as time passed the story gradually came together, and panned out at the end.
In terms of acting it’s always kind of hard to really judge the actors of a film that speak a language that you don’t understand. However if I were to go by their action and the way in which their delivery of dialogue on screen was; then I’d have to say the acting in the film is not half bad. Only one performance really stood out for me however and that was actress Grete Havnesköld who played Saga in the film. Her performance was pretty good and was the only one that really stood out. The rest of the cast was pretty good, but the performances were nothing that really stood out.
The films production value is actually pretty good. The set design is alright, but it does give off a feel that many will compared to that of a direct to television movie, but it’s not that bad. The effects are pretty decent, and why there is a lot of blood and some gore here and there, it’s nothing that so over the top that we’re grossed out by it. There is also some CGI that’s nothing great, but it works.
Overall, Frostbitten is not the best movie, but it’s not bad either. The film starts off a bit slow but makes it way though better waters as it moves along. It’s not your typical vampire film, as it does have a plot that is full of good humor and some blood spilling action. I’ll even go as far as saying that Frostbitten is better than the majority of direct to video vampire films that have hit DVD in the past months. It’s not your typical vampire film, and does have some originality to it. If you liked vampire flicks such as John Carpenter’s Vampires and the likes of The Omega Man, you might enjoy this one.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
