Rovdyr (2008)
Sub-Genre- Survival
In Attendance- Me.
Cast Members of Note- A bunch of Nords, none of whom are really of note.
What's it about?- A bunch of annoying Nordic twenty-somethings are trekking into the backwoods to camp, or die, or whatever, and not only do they piss off the locals by calling them "retarded pig fuckers", but they pick up a visibly insane hitchhiker, thus sealing all of their fates. They kinda need to go though, because their really stupid. Still, I can't help but feel for them... Wait, yes I can. Pass away now please.
After the most annoying of them gets what she deserves (really, really deserves) on the roadway, the rest of the half breeds from Oslo are dragged into the woods, where they're hunted like three legged llamas... in other words, very easily. Let it be known that Llamas used to be able to turn invisible at will, but have since lost that ability due to their appetite for cocaine. Look it up on Wikipedia if you don't believe me!
I wont spoil the rest of the film here, but suffice it to say that this is a big downer of a movie. Sure they deserved it, but damn, I was pulling for them towards the end.
The Good- This movie had some genuinely tense and creepy moments, some of which had me holding my breath. Combined with the liberal amounts of violence and gore contained within, and Rovdyr is a flick that should satisfy most horror fans.
It's all very familiar territory, but for some reason it still feels relevant, for the most part. Then again, I'm a sucker for this kind of thing, so maybe I too easily ignored the similarities to Texas Chainsaw, Deliverance, Wrong Turn etc... Familiar territory can be pretty fun though.
Oh, and the ending... damn. He was sooooooo close!
The Bad- Does every stalk-and-slash movie have to be full of stupid-ass characters that do annoying things and refuse to use common sense? Attention filmmakers: Victims that don't deserve to die are far more compelling and add to the tension of your films!
The Downright Horrendous- The list of countries in Europe where it's not safe to vacation continues to grow! At least I still have Switzerland.
The Gory- If you don't like extremely violent or realistically gory movies, then this is one you should probably skip; nasty, nasty, nasty is the best way I can describe this flick...
The Naked- Nope.
Best Line- I think at one point someone said "Viva Sor-Tronderlag!" or something. It was pretty cool.
What did we learn?- DO NOT pick up hitchhikers, especially in Norway. Also, not a good idea to piss of the locals.
Rating- B This is nothing we haven't seen before, but it was a pretty good flick save for the annoying characters. Oh, and if you like it bloody, you won't be disappointed. At All. Definitely check Rovdyr out when you can, at only 1 hour and 15 minutes, you really can't go wrong.
Final Thoughts- Finally, she shuts up!
