Tina Willis
Different writers, different director, and different actors, then from the first two Cold Prey films. It was a noble attempt, and hard acts to follow. It wasn't terrible, by any means, but it wasn't as well done as the previous two movies. In the second film, it is alluded to that little boy, Gunnar (who would grow up to be the killer)had been involved in a rash of mutilating and mass killing animals. And that was why the parents attempted to solve the problem, by killing the child. Not the greatest of motivations, but okay, it made sense. In THIS movie, it shows the parents being cruel. The local cops estranged brother Jon, shown cutting into a cat, is all of a sudden now the one possibly involved in the animal abuses. Why they even added this character only muddled things up for me. The score appropriate if not a bit unforgettable. Subtitles not as good either. Misspelling, sentences that didn't make sense,translations not well done.(ie: "Does anyone have mosquito spray?" answer "I just took my game with me." (Bad screenplay,or bad translation, Im not sure) This movie has the characters doing stupid things for no reason, just to force an encounter with the killer. So typical of low quality slasher films. Since the setting is in the outdoors, and so much room to run, it doesn't create the amount of tension as the first two movies. Gorgeous country tho!! The acting was well enough done. Although it took quite a bit of time with the characters getting to know them, which I appreciated in the first movies, these characters weren't as likable. I couldn't tell you exactly what the difference was, but the endearing character qualities of the first two was missing in this one. No twists or surprises. Special effects blood etc, were well done and realistic.Pace drawn out and slow. And still Better then many movies in this genre.
acidburn-10
When I first heard that they were making a third "Cold Prey" movie, which pre dates the first two showing a back story on the killer, I was actually quite pleased, as we only saw glimpses in the first two. I am a big fan of the first two and wrote glowing reviews for them rating them 10 and 9, but this one I only rate 5, because quite frankly I was really disappointed.Okay the beginning opened up quite well, when we finally get to see what happened to his parents and the way they treated him, but that was over in 10 minutes and then it cuts to a group of teens camping in the nearby woods. I was hoping the third would somehow capture both positive aspects of each film, but sadly, Cold Prey 3 turned out to be your pretty standard backwoods slasher that we've seen several times before.Another complaint is that this one is set in summer time which kinda defeats the object of being called "Cold Prey" There's even a clichéd scene where some of the characters decide to go skinny dipping in a lake, which seems to be some sort of requirement in backwoods slashers for some odd reason. Speaking of characters, none of them are likable, in my opinion. With the little development we're given for each person, it leaves us with little reason to care whether they'll somehow survive through the ordeal.All in all "Cold Prey 3" isn't a particularly bad film, as a stand alone it would have been pretty good, it just lacks the brilliance the first two, so I hope it's now come to an end.
tmbaio
Although Cold Prey 3 was meant to be a prequel, it succeeds more of being a slasher movie independent of the first two films. When the film dives into the villain's background, several key questions generated from the first two films are answered. For example, it is obvious from the previous stories that the villain is a hunter. In Cold Prey 3 we see where he got that skill from. The film also explains how the villain avoided detection after his first homicides. As effective as these scenes are, they are covered in the opening moments & this is where the prequel portion of the film ends (Cold Prey 2, which was a "moments after" continuation of Cold Prey, went into the killer's background as much as this prequel). With its differing atmosphere from the first two films (there are no snow covered settings) & with the villain using a firearm for the only time in the series, you get the feeling that the creators of Cold Prey 3 wanted to to isolate the film from the preceding entries. Although the brief background screen time will upset fans of the series, Cold Prey 3 makes up for it during the second half where a group of hikers are terrorized by the mentioned villain. Like its predecessors, Cold Prey 3 can be seen as a Norwegian version of Friday the 13th (with touches of Texas Chainsaw Massacre & Deliverance); but thankfully, not as over the top. In conclusion, where Cold Prey 3 fails as a prequel, it succeeds as an above average terror-in-the-woods genre movie. As mentioned earlier, the film-makers may have purposely separated this movie from the earlier films, but they wisely chose to incorporate the elements which made Cold Prey & Cold Prey 2 popular with their fans: good photography, well staged action/chases & a solid cast of performers.
Nan00k
Being a horror fan, I view slashers as the lowest of the sub-genres. Utterly formulaic, they are simply vehicles for new ways to off "red shirt" characters. The first two Fritt Vilt films bucked that trend by giving us characters we cared about, and thus were affected when they died. Christ, I even shed a tear one time over ***SPOILER*** Audhild the nurse in part II. That is why the first two are my favorite slashers. I gave the first one a 7/10 and the sequel an 8/10. This one does no bucking, only carrying on, and thus a 5/10.After the characters, I would say the next weakest aspect of this film is the editing. Well, either that, or they omitted crucial shots while filming. Either way, there are several sequences that are shot and/or cut in such a way as to make me sit up and go "huh?" The movie looked great, just like the first two, although I thought there were a couple scenes that were way too dark, but that could be my copy. I generally liked the 80s soundtrack, but in the score, there were a couple moments of way to overused "OMG, here comes the killer" music.Oh, and jump scares? In my Fritt Vilt? Just like the Godfather films, I am just going to ignore part 3.
AD
