Let the Right One In (2008) - Horror Film Review

I saw Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In a long time ago originally, likely very soon after it came out. It has been over a decade at least, so with the film coming to digital platforms in the UK and Ireland, I felt it was time to revisit the cult classic. Directed by Tomas Alfredson (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and written by John Ajvide Lindqvist, this slow burn coming of age vampire movie was nominated for a BAFTA, and had seventy six wins and fifty eight nominations in total worldwide.

It takes place entirely in a small Swedish town in winter, most of the scenes taking place at night or in the evening. Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) is a twelve year old loner whose only attention at school is from the local bullies. One evening he meets a strange twelve year old girl named Eli (Lina Leandersson) who tells him that she recently moved into the next door apartment from his. With the hopes of finally having a friend, Oskar begins to spend more time with the girl despite her not really giving much information about who she is. Elsewhere, there is a series of murders in the small town, that unknown to Oskar is related to Eli. She is actually a vampire, with her ward getting too elderly to supply her with her regular blood supply (he being the one doing the killing), she has turned to Oskar, seeing something common with him due to both their social isolation, but not wanting him to share the same life long fate as her ward had.

This is nearly two hours in length but the time just flew by, despite me already remembering many of the story beats. I guess that shows how much the film had stuck in my mind, as I remembered key scenes from this, and even recalled how it ended, something I can't say I can do for many films. This is yet another example of a slow burn horror done right, and if you are after a peaceful film then this is a great example. There are screams every now and again, but for the most part this is a film that paces itself well, lots of scenes of not much noise, characters quietly speaking amongst themselves. The setting is perfect for the story being told, the snowy landscape adds a lot of atmosphere, and of course, red blood on white snow never fails to look good. Oskar was interesting as the bullied protagonist, having to put on the pretence of being happy while at home with his mother, keeping his unhappy existence a secret. Eli was also a great character, she doesn't talk much, but the increasing closeness between the two young teenagers felt natural, and I liked how there could be seen an ulterior motive for why Eli is getting close to the boy, something that is never implicitly brought up.

Being a vampire, Eli is shown able to climb sheer walls, have super strength, and an aversion to sunlight. There are plenty of scenes where she is attacking people, but this is always done in an understated way, or with the dramatic finale, mainly takes place away from the lingering shot from under a swimming pool. The violence never felt gratuitous, and was carefully considered, being used as and when the story required it. Blood effects look great here, the blood being the right colour and consistency to shine on camera. Special effects were also impressive, there was great make-up effects to show a character who had badly mutilated their face, a scene where a character bursts into flame, and an almost amusing scene when a character is attacked by multiple cats!

Rather than take the route of high action and high horror, this instead looks at the subject of a vampire from a more cursed perspective, with Eli doing what she needs to survive but not enjoying what she has to do, and Oskar finding an unlikely soulmate due to both being outcasts of a type. The story isn't deep, but it is effective, focussing more on the relationship between the two lead characters rather than a more extravagant story. I don't mind vampire films, and watching Let the Right One In, I was reminded of how good and different this particular one felt. Vertigo Releasing brought Let the Right One In to UK and Irish audiences across digital platforms on 20th January.

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All Must Die (2019) - Horror Film Review

All Must Die (original title Utdrikningslaget) is a Norwegian slasher that was directed and co-written by Geir Greni. It soon became clear upon starting the screener I had for this that there were no English subtitles. I decided as this was a slasher that I would watch it regardless, with the assumption that once the killing began it wouldn't matter too much that I couldn't understand any dialogue. Unfortunately, while All Must Die is indeed a slasher, it is also a dialogue heavy one, leading to me being avoidably bemused throughout. As such, take my musings on this with a pinch of salt, I am sure the actual release version of this will have subtitles. My synopsis is based on what I think it was all about and may differ from reality.

Gina (Viktoria Winge) is taken away by her four friends for a surprise bachelorette party at a remote cabin. The night begins well with plenty of alcohol and partying, then Gina finds herself in the lead role for a horror themed scavenger hunt. As she follows the clues she begins to notice that things seem a little too real, she keeps getting chased by a masked person (the mask creepily being of her face) armed with an axe, and the fake body parts she encounters seem a little fresh. Despite her friends assuring her this is all part of the game they have created for her, Gina can't shake the feeling that something really is not right with the evening.

The first forty five minutes of this eighty minute movie is the build up to the night of horror. It is all as you would expect, the five friends have differing personalities, with it feeling like there is an undercurrent of something not quite right, such as some voyeuristic camera angles used. When the horror does begin it is all stop and start, moments with Gina alone being chased and discovering what she believes to be bodies, balanced against more downbeat moments where she finds friends who don't believe her stories. With that part it helps that the killer is a considerate one who cleans up after themselves, so Gina trying to prove what is happening is constantly made to look like she has imagined events. It leads to a surprising third act in which past events are shown to have played out slightly differently that what had been presented to the viewer up to that point.

Dead Snow 2 (2014) - Comedy Zombie Horror Film Review

Tommy Wirkola's (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) Dead Snow stuck in the mind for a few reasons. The first was that its snowy setting led to plenty of lovely looking moments of the blood contrasted with the white of the snow. The second standout part were the Nazi zombies, there have been enough films like this over the years that the Nazi zombie is a definite subgenre of the zombie genre itself. I haven't seen Dead Snow since 2010 and so after a quick read of the Wikipedia plot guide I headed into this one. Spoilers for the first film will follow.

Despite it being five years in real life terms, within the context of the movie this picks up immediately after the cliffhanger ending of the first. After his friends are slaughtered up in the mountains after inadvertently angering a group of cursed Nazi zombies, Martin (Vegar Hoel - Dead Snow) is the sole survivor, and after returning the gold him and his friends stole thinks the horror is all behind him. However it turns out he accidentally hadn't returned all the gold and the commander of the Nazi force, Herzog (Ørjan Gamst - Dead Snow) attacks him in his car as he makes his escape. Eventually Martin looses him, but passes out and crashes the car. Sometime later he wakes up in hospital where he is told he is under arrest for the murder of his friends, not only that but the doctors mistaking Herzog's severed arm for Martin's missing arm (that he lost in the first film) have attached it to him. As Martin struggles to control his undead and very powerful new appendage, Herzog is suddenly reminded of the last orders he received back when he was alive; to march on the nearby town of Talvik and kill all its inhabitants. Raising a new army of the undead he sets out to do just that.

The body count this time around is a lot higher, the amount of zombies is also a lot higher. That's what sequels often do after all, make everything bigger and more spectacular. You have that here in the form of a tank that the Nazi zombies are using, that and both Martin and Herzog gaining the ability to raise the dead. Leading of course to a big bloody showdown between the two sides. I remember the first film being bloody and here is no different. Poor Martin spends almost the entirety of Dead Snow 2 caked in blood. Civilians are killed all over the place and not just limited to adults. Death here is almost always played for comedic effect, and so dark humour such as some mothers pushing prams getting obliterated by a tank shell, a tank riding over some children playing in a sand pit, and the politically incorrect sight of a wheelchair bound woman's carer running off and leaving her to ineffectively attempt to escape are not as grim as they may sound. The humour goes all over the place being both physical and with the dialogue of the characters. Some of it works, such as the poor zombie man that Martin first resurrects constantly getting damaged (at one point he even puts him under the wheels of his car after it gets stuck in a snow drift in order to get traction). Elsewhere, most notably with some of the dialogue this doesn't fare as well. There are a trio of American characters who are geek caricatures, one whose dialogue mostly revolved around Star Wars lines was a bit grating. I must mention the comedic highlight of the movie, Martin has gone to a World War II museum to get help from the museum clerk when they find out the Nazi zombies are there. In a scene taken straight out of Scooby-Doo, the two decide the best thing they can do is disguise themselves as part the exhibit. This leads to a wonderful scene of the two standing still like statues, the museum clerk for some reason having chosen the awkward pose of crouching down with a shocked expression on his face, while pointing his finger out!

Christmas Blood (2017) - Horror Film Review

With Reinert Kiil's Norwegian horror Christmas Blood I was a little cheeky with regards to the list of films I have outstanding to review. Due to the obvious Xmas theme I it felt like it would be a good film to watch on Christmas eve and so I bumped it up the list. With the killer in this slasher being dressed up as Santa I thought this may be a comedy, much like what happened with Axemas, however this is far more serious than I expected, though there is black humour peppered throughout.

A serial killer who only kills his victims on Christmas eve is finally stopped after 13 years of terror in Norway and locked away in a mental asylum. Six years later however he escapes and sets out to complete his 'naughty' list he has made. Unknown to him the victim he has chosen is already dead, but the house she used to own is the location of a reunion party that a group of friends are having. Meanwhile a detective teams up with a former detective (Stig Henrik Hoff) who had been obsessed with capturing the killer, together they set out to stop him for good...

I really wanted to like this horror and to be fair I didn't think it was awful. It had a lot of good things going for it. Firstly like the snow itself the camera work and quality is crisp and clean adding an element of class to this. A big complaint I did have though is just how dark the movie as a whole seems. A lot of this takes place in poorly lit locations, from the outset to the end this was a problem for me, I constantly wished there was some sort of light source used to brighten up the surroundings as it could be hard to see what was going on. The group of partying girls are the usual assortment of character types, such as the loose one, the rebel, the good one etc. I liked the dynamic within the group as they really are not having a great time due to friction between some of them. None of these characters really appealed to me, I guess the mute girl was something different as it led to some good moments of her silently running without screaming as you would usually expect. The better storyline was that of the two detectives, I enjoyed the differences between them, the former one being an alcoholic slob, the other one being much more professional and highly strung.

Dead Snow (2009) - Zombie Horror Film Review

Dead Snow, Dead Snow, Deeeead Snoooow! Ahem. I think that the biggest reason that Fargo is as good as it is, is because of the setting. Having the film take place in the snow gave the film a really distinct look. I highly doubt the film would had the same impact if it had been set in say a desert. Dead Snow as the title kind of hints at is set in a snowy location.

A group of medical students set off through the snowy wastes of Norway to their friends log cabin, for a wild holiday of drinking, twister, and snowball fights. They have not been at the cabin long when an old man shows up at the door. He gives them a brief history lesson about a group of Nazis who had fled into the nearby hills at the end of World War II after terrorising a nearby village for several years. The man unimpressed with the 'city kids' leaves. Their friend Sara who owns the cabin has not turned up (she was going to ski there) so her boyfriend sets off on his snowmobile to search for her. Soon after, the group discover a box full of gold hidden under the cabin. Pretty soon they come under attack by a group of zombie Nazis led by their zombie leader Herzog. Can the kids survive the misery of the zombie Nazis? Woooo!

I loved this film. I seem to love most zombie films (with the exception of the utterly terrible Zombie Chronicles), so I don't know that I'm that good of a reviewer being so totally biased. There has been quite a mixed reaction to Dead Snow with people either thinking it is average, or fantastic. The film is Norwegian, and so has subtitles, but these are well written, and don't get in the way of the action. The characters are a likable bunch, but it's still cool when the blood starts to fly!

The zombies can run (well a shambling type run), and roar like monsters. They follow the lead of the commanding Nazi zombie. He looks fantastic, and acts like you would expect a leader to, staying out the way of the action, and observing things through a pair of binoculars. All the zombies have a kind of intelligence to them; they usually use knives to kill their victims, and they work together.

There is lots of action here. The humans put their all into fighting the zombie Nazis using a variety of weapons. There are decapitations, severed limbs, and even a few guts spilling out. Quite bloody in places which contrasts well with the pureness of the deep snow so that everything looks hyper real. The film has quite a streak of dark humour running through it as well which was appreciated, as well as more than a few purposeful nods to the Evil Dead films.

I really enjoyed this film. It was unique as a zombie film due to its setting, and is definitely the best zombie Nazi film I have seen (not hard, it's a niche genre!)

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