'F#*?ing city people'
Syversen's debut follows in a long tradition of horror movies where a group of unsuspecting travellers stray into the unfamiliar territory of a band of murderous natives. Accordingly shot in homage to seventies slasher movies, this Norwegian equivalent to 'Wrong Turn' is set in 1974, and with its use of hand-held cameras and close-ups, together with the haunting notes of a hunting horn, occasionally offers a far more chilling tale of a fight for survival in the backwoods. This more realistic sense of threat is accentuated by the depiction of the hunters as everyday rustic types, much in the vein of 'Deliverance'. The feel of the period is not only provided by the musical score, with the opening track taken from David Hess' soundtrack for Wes Craven's 1972 budget slasher, 'the Last House on the Left', but also by the tone of colour in which the film is shot. At the outset, the four characters, en route to their final break prior to starting their academic studies, offer potential for development which the story- line lets slip. This is especially true of the abusive boyfriend of the lead character, though the audience should still relish when he gets his just desserts. Aside from a genuine early shock at the roadside execution of one of the main protagonists, played incidentally by Syversen's co-writer and assistant director, Nini Bull Robsahm, the story- line's reliance on the common plot devices of this genre eventually detract from the overall impact of the movie. Furthermore, it requires a bit of a leap of the imagination to accept that the main female protagonist can so easily transform herself from a screaming and shivering wreck to a female 'Robin Hood' in terms of her sudden found skills with a bow and arrows. Having passively endured the abuse of her boyfriend, this becomes even harder to accept as credible. In addition, the director in attempting to put their own spin on the commonplace final ploy of whether the final survivor has reached safety or not, offers an inconclusive and tentative ending.
Syversen's debut follows in a long tradition of horror movies where a group of unsuspecting travellers stray into the unfamiliar territory of a band of murderous natives. Accordingly shot in homage to seventies slasher movies, this Norwegian equivalent to 'Wrong Turn' is set in 1974, and with its use of hand-held cameras and close-ups, together with the haunting notes of a hunting horn, occasionally offers a far more chilling tale of a fight for survival in the backwoods. This more realistic sense of threat is accentuated by the depiction of the hunters as everyday rustic types, much in the vein of 'Deliverance'. The feel of the period is not only provided by the musical score, with the opening track taken from David Hess' soundtrack for Wes Craven's 1972 budget slasher, 'the Last House on the Left', but also by the tone of colour in which the film is shot. At the outset, the four characters, en route to their final break prior to starting their academic studies, offer potential for development which the story- line lets slip. This is especially true of the abusive boyfriend of the lead character, though the audience should still relish when he gets his just desserts. Aside from a genuine early shock at the roadside execution of one of the main protagonists, played incidentally by Syversen's co-writer and assistant director, Nini Bull Robsahm, the story- line's reliance on the common plot devices of this genre eventually detract from the overall impact of the movie. Furthermore, it requires a bit of a leap of the imagination to accept that the main female protagonist can so easily transform herself from a screaming and shivering wreck to a female 'Robin Hood' in terms of her sudden found skills with a bow and arrows. Having passively endured the abuse of her boyfriend, this becomes even harder to accept as credible. In addition, the director in attempting to put their own spin on the commonplace final ploy of whether the final survivor has reached safety or not, offers an inconclusive and tentative ending.