By David Dent
Philip W. da Silva’s debut horror feature is set three days before Christmas in the snowy wastes of the Malmveden nature reserve in Sweden. When a park ranger reports an abandoned car, the reserve being closed for the holidays, back at base Angelica (Rakel Benér, doing one of those po-faced Norcrime performances) is intrigued, and discovers that the vehicle belongs to a local woman, Maria (Amanda Kilpeläinen Arvidsson) whose son Theo had gone missing in the same area. Maria is also missing.
While the authorities are uninterested in a search for Maria so near to the holidays, Angelica, who has a connection with Theo – revealed later in the film – sets up an informal search party, roping in ex boyfriend Viktor (Oscar Skagerberg) who’s good with dogs but not in a great state mentally. Joining the team are grumpy Johan (Peter Mörlin) and practical Aisha (Archana Khanna).
Viktor reveals to the audience (less so his colleagues) that he’s zonked out on prescription pain killers on account of the frostbite in his hand, occasioned in the original search for Theo. His habit of glimpsing what he thinks is Theo out of the corner of his eye suggests that there might be something supernatural at work; a suggestion compounded by the discovery of certain documents at Maria’s apartment relating to a local legend, the curse of the cave wraith.
A lot of the pleasure (if that’s the right word) in da Silva’s gloomy mood piece is in the crisp photography and natural lighting which makes the whole thing look gorgeous. The small cast do a good job in communicating the tensions in a small community where the unknown is all around them, although it’s difficult to relate to the whole miserable bunch.
The wandering around in the forest, endless bickering and even their arrival at a woodlands cabin, as well as the f*lk horror backstory, suggests an homage to a well known groundbreaking 1999 found footage film; and if the end resolves itself a little too neatly, for the most part the ride is a good one, if bleak.
Bloody Flicks 