[Frostbitten]
Plot:Annika, a medical doctor and her 17-year old daughter Saga have just moved to a small cold town far up north, as Annika is going to work at the hospital there. At her new school Saga meets a bizarre girl named Vega. And pretty soon, all hell breaks loose.

Cast:Petra Nielsen, Grete Havnesköld, Emma Åberg, Jonas Karlström, Måns Nathanaelson, Carl-Åke Eriksson, Mikael Göransson, Anna Lindholm.

My Thoughts:Sometimes...the simplest vampire movies are the best vampire movies.

Review:Vampire films had been languishing as of late. Let's be honest, vampire movies these days minus "30 Days Of Night", have been the crazy bum stuck in the dumpster outside a Tai food restaurant, who just can't seem to find his way out of the dumpster no matter how hard he tries. But now more foreign horror writers and directors are delving into the vampire movie genre, and in the case of the German vampire flick "Frostbitten"...with positive results. The movie doesn't try to be fancy, or put a new spin on the vampire mythology, or even create it's own mythology. Best of all, there's no dracula here which makes the film that much better.

The movie sets up a simple premise, vampires running wild, and it goes with it. "Frostbitten" begins during WWII, where during the conflict, a vampire has decided to show up on the battlefield in Germany, which makes sense considering there were alot of dead or dying around at that time, and blood littered the landscape. Perfect feeding grounds for the vamp. Fast forward many years later, a woman and her daughter move to a small snow-ridden northern Germany town for work purposes at the local hospital.

But the vampire from many years ago, has chosen this time to rear it's ugly head again, and once it begins biting the towns populous, a new vampire plague is soon born which begins spreading very quickly. With the towns human population quickly dwindling, will the mom and her daughter be able to face down this supernatural threat, or end up becoming a part of it? "Frostbitten" takes a very simple plot, and makes the most of it. That's really what the vampire movie is all about. Vampire mythology has been covered over and over again. Dracula has had countless films about him, but rarely...very rarely do we get a movie that just takes the vampire and puts it in an A-typical situation where it acts out it's normal behavior and bad things begin to happen.

It's nice to see a vampire film get back to basics, which is exactly what "Frostbitten" does. The movie also does some new things with it's vampire, like keeping it invisible for most of the movie, including the early attack scenes which are further strengthened by the dark, moody, quiet, and snowy backdrops of Northern Germany. Director Anders Banke's unique directing style also acts as a credit to the film, giving it a very slick and comic book styled look. He manages to capture every angle of the action very well, avoiding any shaky camera angles or abrupt movements which can sometimes ruin a very good scene.

The acting in the film is very good as well, which is another thing that's been lost in the "american" vampire movie. This German production really sought out some blossoming young talent, as well as some good older talent to put this cast together. In effect, the human characters were just as entertaining to watch on screen as the vampire itself. Daniel Ojanlatva and Pidde Andersson wrote the movie and give it a nice blend of horror as well as comedy. But not comedy in the hokey-cheesy sense, but more of a gothic sort of dark humor, which fit very well within the blueprint of a vampire movie.

Anderson and Ojanlatva also made sure to pull back on the comedic bits when necessary, and not overdo things. "Frostbitten" is one of those rare movies where everything and everyone comes together to create a damn near flawless production. There weren't really many if at all any weak points in the films script, which is a very smart script indeed. It's rare if the vampire in a vampire movie is given much intelligence, but in the case of "Frostbitten", that's all changed. Unlike vampire movies where the creature just goes around picking off people one by one until someone with a stake takes it out, this vampire has a pretty solid and intricate plan to build it's numbers up, a plan which fits into the normal scheme of things in the human world.

Blood and gore enthusiasts won't be disappointed by "Frostbitten", as it has enough blood and neck-biting scenes to keep those of you satisfied, but the scenes are done in a more quick-paced and edgy fashion, not the sloppy gratuitous fashion we're used to seeing now-a-days. The movies vampire fx are also a thing of beauty, as no CGI is used and the scenes where the main vamp undergoes it's full transformation are quite awesome to watch. "Frostbitten" is a vampire movie that challenges the norm, and smashes it completely. It gets the vampire movie back to basics and has alot of fun doing it. A very entertaining 97 minute ride indeed.

Positives:Good acting, an interesting vampire, alot of very exciting moments, a solid story, and great sceneries.

Negatives:Nothing major.

Overall:A very enjoyable vampire picture.





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