I guess the closer we get to Halloween, the more horror films are going to crawl out of the woodwork. Some will be re-treads of ages old formula, while the occasional offering will actually involve some sense of fresh creativity. So far, one movie I've seen recently conveniently straddles the fence incorporating both. "Frostbitten" takes all the fun of genre icons such as teenage massacres, vampires and mad scientists and wrangles them up in a place where the night lasts for a month. And that's where the fresh comes in… "Frostbitten" is a Swedish horror film, filmed in Sweden. The plot of "Frostbitten" is kind of all over the place, as it starts out in the mid 1940's with lost soldiers happening upon a snow covered cabin. When they come face to face with what's inside the film cuts to the present and introduces us to a doctor (Pietra Neilsen) and her daughter (Grete Havneskold). They've moved to a small town in order for the doctor to work for a famed geneticist (Carl-Ake Eriksson), who unfortunately has his hands in some questionable experiments.

As it turns out the geneticist has a pretty stupid assistant who opts to try out some pills he's found in the lab. He steals the pills, only to have them stolen in turn by a student who wants them for a party. The pills have a rather adverse affect on the assistant, who starts to display some mighty odd tendencies while meeting his girlfriend's parents for the first time. This sets us up for the 'soon to get started' party, where the pills get into just about everyone's system. So we end up with vampires and one very, very long night.

As I understand from all the background information on "Frostbitten", it is actually the first vampire film out of Sweden. If this is true, director Anders Banke definitely did his overseas homework. The movie is far from a straightforward horror film and instead moves into the realm of horror/comedy. Not a "Shaun of the Dead" style horror comedy, but more like "Fright Night" (lots of scares mixed with one-liners). Being that it came from outside the U.S. and depends on subtitles, the humor translated well. Banke definitely has a grasp on what works as I quite enjoyed the film. Even the special effects were above average for a low budget, first time horror film.

Genius Entertainment is releasing "Frostbitten" this month on DVD, complete with a behind the scenes featurette, some deleted scenes and a blooper reel. Of the three, the behind the scenes is the better of the features, though it doesn't really give as much of a look behind the scenes as it could have. The deleted scenes don’t really amount to much and the blooper reel was kind of a disappointment.

"Frostbitten", while not an awesome vampire flick, does show a lot of talent on the part of Banke. I'd be curious to see what he follows it up with.

Directed by: Anders Banke
Starring: Petra Neilsen, Greta Havneskold, Emma Aberg, Jonas Karlstrom, Nathanaelson
Extras: Behind the Scenes, Deleted Scenes, Bloopers
Specifications: Widescreen, Swedish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Studio: Genius Entertainment
Release Date: 10/2/2007
Region 1
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Website
Website

We'll give Frostbitten a C+.