Blaming himself for not saving more people when the wave hit, Kristian (Kristoffer Joner) has moved back to Geiranger, and dedicates his time to researching other potential disasters. His estranged wife Idun (Ane Dahl Torp), who now works at the prestigious Radisson Blu Hotel, and their two kids, Sondre (Jonas Hoff Oftebro) and Julia (Edith Haagenrud-Sande), live in a small apartment in Oslo, waiting for the day Kristian decides to return to them.
That day may come sooner than expected; Kristian receives word that a colleague of his, geologist Konrad Lindblom, was killed while investigating a report on the Oslofjord Tunnel.
Fearing his colleague may have discovered a fault somehow connected to the tunnel, Kristian pays a visit to Lindblom’s house, where the late researcher’s adult daughter Marit (Kathrine Thorborg Johansen) is busy planning her father’s funeral and getting his affairs in order. She lets Kristian have a look at Lindblom’s research, which includes a map of recent seismic activity. It's then that he makes a frightening discovery: a major earthquake, strong enough to level Oslo, may be days away from striking!
Armed with this information, Kristian tries to warn Lindblom’s former supervisor, Johannes Løberg (Stig R. Amdan), that he should start thinking about evacuating the city, while also telling Inud and the kids to get out of Oslo as soon as possible. But much like what happened in Geiranger, nobody is prepared when the crippling earthquake finally hits.
As with The Wave, The Quake spends more time on its central characters than the disaster, and because we know them well enough, we’re just as invested in their plight this time around. As played by Joner, Kristian is a shell of his former self, a geologist who felt he missed an opportunity to save his neighbors three years earlier and has been beating himself up about it ever since, despite the reassurances of his family (and everyone else) that he was not to blame. We see just how far he’s fallen when, early on, young Julia visits him for a week in Geiranger, only to be sent home the day after her arrival by Kristian, who is in no state of mind to have company. We care about the Elkjord clan, all of whom are played by the same actors from The Wave, and we also sympathize with Marid, who was alienated from her workaholic father and teams up with Kristian to see for herself what her dad was trying to accomplish in his final days.
Of course, it’s the later scenes in The Quake that will take your breath away; the sight of the earthquake rolling into Oslo is impressive enough, but pales in comparison to the devastation it causes, especially to the Radisson Blu, where Kristian, Inud, Marit and Julia are trapped. There are some nail-biting moments scattered throughout the final act of The Quake, and plenty of drama as well.
The Quake is both a solid sequel to The Wave and a strong disaster film in its own right, and I recommend you watch both of these superb movies as soon as you can.
Rating: 8 out of 10
The first disaster film ever produced in Norway, The Wave manages to pull us in during these early moments by reminding us the chaos we are about to witness can - and actually did - happen. This gives The Wave a step-up on Roland Emmerich and company, whose The Day After Tomorrow and 2012 boasted million-dollar special effects and about $1.75 worth of believability.
Having accepted a new job with an oil company, geologist Kristian Elkjord (Kristoffer Joner) spends his last days in the small coastal town of Geiranger saying goodbye to co-workers and packing his family’s belongings. When it’s time to leave, Kristian, along with his teenage son Sondre (Jonas Hoff Oftebro) and young daughter Julia (Edith Haagenrud-Sande), heads to the docks to hop the ferry, while his wife Idun (Ane Dahl Torp), who works the desk at Geiranger’s swankiest hotel, will finish out her last few days on the job before joining them.
But a recent development concerning a nearby mountain, which could very well signal the beginning of a major rockslide, weighs heavy with Kristian, and causes him to make a quick detour, to beg his old boss Arvid (Fridtjov Såheim) to put emergency protocols into place.
Unfortunately, it’s too little too late; an enormous rockslide crashes into the surrounding fjord, sending a wall of water some 260 feet (80 meters) high barreling towards Geiranger, giving Kristian, Idun, and the kids – as well as everyone in town – exactly 10 minutes to reach higher ground.
The special effects generated by Uthaug and his team for The Wave, most notably the tsunami that threatens to wipe the town of Geiranger off the map, are damned effective (we get to see this tsunami, in all its destructive glory, several times before it makes landfall). Yet the reason we’re so terrified of this giant wave is only in part due to computer-generated wizardry; by the time the disaster hits, Uthaug has ensured we’re fully invested in his main characters. Thanks to the performances delivered by Joner, Dahl Torp, and the kids (especially young Edith Haagenrud-Sande), the Elkjord family is as likable as they come, and we hope and pray that, when the water finally recedes, all will be safe and sound.
Hollywood, and especially Mr. Emmerich, could learn a little something from The Wave: It’s possible to make a special effects-laden disaster film without sacrificing story and character development in the process.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Directed By: Tommy Wirkola
Starring: Vegar Hoel, Ørjan Gamst, Martin Starr
Tag line: "Heads up. They're back"
Trivia: Shot in both Norwegian and English
After a brief recap of what went down in Dead Snow, director Tommy Wirkola’s 2014 follow-up, Dead Snow 2: Red Vs. Dead, picks up exactly where that movie left off, with Martin (Vegar Hoel), who cut a portion of his own arm off after being bitten by a zombie, trapped in his car as undead Nazi commander Herzog (Ørjan Gamst) and a handful of his troops attack him on all sides.
What follows is an action-packed, sometimes hysterical sequence in which Herzog’s arm is also severed (it ends up falling into the passenger’s seat of Martin’s car). It’s a crazy opening scene, to be sure, but trust me when I tell you it isn’t half as insane as what’s to come!
Shortly after escaping the Nazis, Martin crashes his vehicle and is knocked unconscious. When he comes to, he finds himself handcuffed to a hospital bed. For some reason, the cops don’t believe his story about marauding dead Nazis, and are convinced Martin is the one who slaughtered his friends.
To make matters worse, the doctor tells Martin that he was able to re-attach his arm, not knowing that the limb he sewed on actually belonged to a zombie! Unable to control his new appendage, Martin inadvertently kills a few more people before finally stealing a car and speeding away.
Thus begins an adventure that sees Martin teaming up with three Americans: Daniel (Martin Starr); Monica (Jocelyn DeBoer); and Blake (Ingrid Haas), who call themselves the Zombie Squad. With the help of museum employee Glenn (Stig Frode Henriksen), Martin and his newfound pals attempt to stop Herzog’s army, which is about to unleash holy hell on a small Norwegian town.
Though heavily outnumbered, Martin uses his powerful new arm to even the odds a bit, leading to a showdown of epic proportions.
People die by the dozen in Dead Snow 2, usually in grisly fashion, and no group (not even children or the handicapped) is safe from the onslaught. Even a mother out walking her baby is fair game, and the level of violence that Herzog’s army inflicts on their victims is off the charts (one poor guy is beaten to death with a bathroom sink, while the intestines of another are used to siphon gas from a tour bus into a WWII-era tank). Rest assured, though, that Martin and his zombie arm make a hell of a strong team, and he even manages to raise a few undead soldiers of his own to battle Herzog (I dare not reveal more).
As for the Zombie Squad, they’re basically nerds (Monica quotes Star Wars every chance she gets), but those who remember the Outhouse scene in Dead Snow know that director Wirkola has a certain affection for genre fans / social misfits such as these, so don’t expect this trio to solely be used for comic effect. That role is instead filled by local police chief Gunga (Hallvard Holmen), who utters a few hilarious comments after realizing he and his men are caught in the middle of an all-out zombie war.
If I had to sum up Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead in a couple of words, it would be “glorious insanity”. It’s bloody, messy, gross, over-the-top, ridiculous, and just plain awesome. There’s no denying that 2009’s Dead Snow is an excellent zombie flick, but I have to tell you, once I watch Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead a few more times, there’s a damn good chance I’ll be ranking the sequel slightly ahead of the original
Directed By: Mats Stenberg
Starring: Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Marthe Snorresdotter Rovik, Kim Wifladt
Tag line: "The Nightmare Continues October 10th..."
Trivia: The opening weekend of this film was the best for any Norwegian movie in history
Following in the footsteps of 1981’s Halloween II, director Mats Stenberg’s Cold Prey II, a sequel to 2006’s Cold Prey, picks up almost immediately where the original left off. Having survived the massacre at the ski lodge, Jannicke (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) is found wandering along an abandoned road, covered in blood and carrying a pick axe. She’s taken to the local hospital, where she tells the authorities the terrifying tale of what happened to her and her cohorts.
While investigating her story, the police locate the bodies of Jannicke’s friends, as well as that of their killer (Rune Melby), all of whom are transported to the hospital for autopsies.
But as Jannicke is trying to come to terms with the horror of it all, the hospital staff, which includes doctor-in-training Camilla (Marthe Snorresdotter Rovik), makes a startling discovery while examining the bodies, a realization that kicks off yet another night of murder and mayhem.
Cold Prey II is an interesting mix, a strong continuation of the original film that also takes the story in a different direction. Whereas Cold Prey relied as much on the elements, as well as the isolation of its main characters, to build a suspenseful tale, Cold Prey II puts the focus squarely on the killer himself. And just like the first movie, he’s a force to be reckoned with, a cold-blooded murderer who uses anything at his disposal to finish his victims off (in a particularly grisly scene, he attacks one character with a fire extinguisher). Cold Prey II even gives the audience a little background info on the killer, attempting to explain what it is that drives him to commit these murders (a local doctor tells a chilling story of what transpired the day the killer was born).
Featuring some incredibly tense scenes set inside a hospital (yet another similarity it shares with ‘81s Halloween II) and a handful of gory kills, Cold Prey II is a solid sequel, not to mention one of the finest slasher films to come along in the last 10 years.
Directed By: Roar Uthaug
Starring: Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Rolf Kristian Larsen, Tomas Alf Larsen
Tag line: "You'll Catch Your Death"
Trivia: At the 2007 Grossmann film and wine festival, the film received the "Vicious Cat Award"
Cold Prey, director Roar Uthaug’s 2006 horror film, is the story of five friends who go out of their way to find a ski slope off the beaten path, only to end up as targets for a deranged killer.
The problem arises when one of the five, Morten Tobias (Rolf Kristian Larsen), breaks his leg while snowboarding. Stranded in the middle of nowhere, the friends stumble upon an abandoned ski lodge, where they make themselves at home. It isn’t until later that they discover someone already lives there, and he’s not too happy to have company.
Movies like John Carpenter’s The Thing, Kubrick’s The Shining, and even the recent Dead Snow have used wintry settings to spectacular effect, essentially cutting their main characters off from the outside world. In Cold Prey, there’s an early scene where the five friends, having just arrived at the “perfect slope”, reach the top of the mountain and take a moment to marvel at the snowy landscape. Shot in the Scandinavian Mountains of Jotunheimen, Norway, the area is, indeed, beautiful, but we also get a sense of just how alone they are, something that hits home the moment Morten breaks his leg
When Jannicke (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) sets the leg (the bone was protruding through the skin), Morten lets out a scream, at which point director Uthaug cuts to a quick montage of the surrounding area, allowing us to hear the echo rattling around the desolate hills until it finally dissipates. Throughout the film, Uthaug relies on shots of the landscape to drive home the fact that these five are completely on their own, left to deal with a situation none of them anticipated.
Of course, it’s nothing compared to what’s waiting for them once they find shelter, at which point Cold Prey switches gears and becomes a standard slasher flick, placing its characters in a remote location where they are stalked by an unknown killer. He even has a pretty nasty weapon - a pick-axe - and the ability to sneak up on you when you least expect it.
Sure, the formula is nothing new; it’s been used maybe a hundred times before, in at least as many movies. But there’s a reason for that: it works! And in the case of Cold Prey, the winter setting adds to the tension, making the elements as much an adversary as the killer.
Norway has turned out a number of fine horror films in recent years, including 2009’s Dead Snow and Thale in 2012. Cold Prey should definitely be added to that list. Do yourself a favor and check it out.
Directed By: Aleksander Nordaas
Starring: Silje Reinåmo, Erlend Nervold, Jon Sigve Skard
Tag line: "In a cellar, dark and deep, I lay my dearest down to sleep; A secret they would like to keep"
Trivia: Director Nordaas shot the majority of this film in his father's basement
A perplexing mystery for much of its running time, director Aleksander Nordaas' 2012 film Thale might prove a frustrating experience for some viewers. Yet, in the end, it protects its secrets in such an intriguing way that you can't help but want to know more.
When the police are done carrying out an investigation, they call guys like Leo (Jon Sigve Skard) and Elvis (Erlend Nervold) to mop up the scene. Employed as forensic cleaners, these good pals have seen it all, but even they aren't prepared for what's waiting for them at their next job.
Sent to a remote lakeside cabin to search for the remains of a recently deceased man, the two find a hidden entrance that leads to a basement laboratory. There, they discover a naked young woman (Silje Reinåmo) hiding in a bathtub. She's unable to speak, but thanks to some audio tapes left behind by the deceased, they learn that the girl's name is Thale, and that she's been in this underground bunker for well over 20 years.
As the two attempt to communicate with her, they make yet another startling discovery: Thale, who possesses unique powers, may not be entirely human
Produced on an incredibly low-budget (most of the film was shot in a basement belonging to director Nordaas' father), Thale spends the majority of its first half raising a number of questions, which it is in no hurry to answer. Where did Thale come from? Why was she kept in this cellar? To what experiments was she subjected? Who was conducting them? Who, or what, is watching them from the woods? Even Elvis and Leo seem to be hiding something, like why does Elvis continually ignore his ringing cell phone
The riddles surrounding the two pals are eventually solved, while Thale herself remains an enigma throughout much of the film. Yet the fact there are so many unanswered questions leads to a few surprises along the way, including a finale that caught me completely off-guard.
A well-crafted blend of fantasy and modern horror, Thale might not answer all queries it poses, but it answers enough of them to keep your curiosity piqued.
Directed By: Tommy Wirkola
Starring: Jeppe Laursen, Charlotte Frogner, Jenny Skavlan
Tag line: "Ein! Zwei! Die!"
Trivia: Originally it was going to be called "Rød Snø" (or Red Snow in English), as an homage to the Swedish/Norwegian mini-series with the same name
Dead Snow opens on a moonlit night. It's a snow-covered landscape, and a young woman is running through the woods as Edvard Grieg's classic “In The Hall of the Mountain King” fills the soundtrack. The girl is obviously being chased, though we have no idea who... or what... is after her. We will eventually learn that this twentysomething's name is Sara (Ane Dahl Torp), and she was on her way to a cabin to meet some friends.
Alas, Sara never got there.
Queue the opening credits, and let the carnage begin!
Sara's friends, seven in all, arrive at the cabin the next morning for a little rest and relaxation over the Easter holiday. The group has come prepared, with plenty of beer, a couple of snowmobiles, and even a few board games. But they won't have as much free time as they'd hoped.
That first night, a strange man (Bjorn Sundquist) pays the friends a visit, and warns them that this is no place to kick back and relax. Apparently, during World War II, a rather nasty platoon of Nazis occupied a nearby town, where they terrorized the locals. As the war drew to a close, the people fought back, driving the Nazis into these very hills, where, assumedly, they all froze to death.
But as these seven visitors will soon discover, not even death can keep a Nazi down!
I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but just on case, Dead Snow is about Nazi zombies. But unlike your everyday, Romero-like undead, these Nazis are neither slow-witted nor slow on their feet. They look every bit like zombies (save their uniforms), yet act like soldiers. They are hybrids, if you will, creatures with a ravenous craving for human flesh that have also retained their military instincts. Even the stranger who warned the friends, a man fully aware of the danger, proves no match for these zombified remnants of the Third Reich; after setting up a tent for the night, the stranger doesn't even get a shot off before his throat is cut, and the undead make a meal of his intestines.
Under the leadership of their barbarous commander, Herzog (Orjan Gamst), these Nazi Zombies (or maybe Zombie Nazis? I'm not sure which is right) remain the tight-knit unit they were some 50+ years earlier. Only now, they're a lot harder to kill.
Dead Snow moves along at a great pace, is well-acted, at times hilarious (there's a seduction scene in an outhouse you won't soon forget), and provides ample helpings of blood and guts for fans who like their horror messy. If you love a good undead story, you won't want to miss Dead Snow. It's one of the best of the decade!
