We have been following the making of the Norwegian horror film Rovdyr for a while now and today the Blu Ray release came through my mailbox after it was delayed for a couple of months.
Scandinavia in the last few years have been emerging as an area to look out for when it comes to horror, just like France who's young directors have been churning out some of the most gruesome horror films of this decade. Norway has been dipping its toes in to the crimson waters with Fritt Vilt which got great reviews and now two years later the horror hit Rovdyr by Patrik Syversen burst on the scene with its hard hitting violence and breakneck pace.
The plot is as follows. Four young people travel through the forest grown inland of Norway in the 70's, the siblings Mia and Jørgen, Camilla and her boyfriend Roger, who is a bit of a dick. They travel by van and on one of their rest stops they are heckled by backwood hicks and a frightened young woman asks them for a lift. The majority of the group think that taking on this hitchhiker is not a good idea but Roger decides they will since it is his car they are driving. When a ominous looking Land-rover passes them by on the road the young woman freaks out and then things spiral out of control in the most gruesome manner. Hunted by nearly unseen killers the group has to fight for the their survival and find their way back to civilization. So in short; Teenagers travel through the countryside. Meet bad people by chance. Are fucked. That's it.
Now this film is far from original in its plot, almost identical to The Texas Chains Saw Massacre, with the opening act especially similar to the remake. The characters are paper thin, you know nothing about them other than Roger is a dick, Jørgen is a bit of a geek and that the two girls are friends but that didn't bother me at all. I don't care if filmmakers use tried and true stories to make their films, this is a 70's style slasher gore film that wears it's colors proudly on its sleeve. What is more important to me when it comes to horror rather than a original story is how the filmmaker handles the material and Patrik Syversen does it splendidly. Sure I like originality once in a while but that doesn't stop me from enjoying a film even if I've seen everything in it a hundred times before. The film is entertaining, tense and the speed of the whole thing, only a scant 76 minutes, makes the thing gripping, exciting and a few times surprising.
The blood flows freely and surprisingly nasty and one could put the film in the ranks of the countless "Torture Porn" epics that have mostly tormented their viewers rather than their characters in the past if one wanted but the sheer intensity of Rovdyr puts it slightly above the others. The film keeps you on edge the whole time and doesn't let go.
The actors do their job well, all pretty likable and what I noticed instantly was that they all looked like they belonged in the 70's, unlike the TCM remake which looked like it took place last year.
The setting is very simple, woods as far as the eye can see and the HD camera captures it splendidly with muted brownish green colors and deep, dark reds.
So all in all this was an entertaining romp that didn't overstay its welcome. It will not make much mark on the genre as a whole other than to establish Patrik Syversen as a talent to look out for.