Cold Prey II (DVD)

Cold Prey IIGenre: HorrorsLabel: Shout FactoryDescription: The sole survivor from the first Cold Prey film arrives at a local hospital for medical attention following a massacre in which her friends were killed by a psychopath in the Norwegian mountains. But when she steps out of her bed and finds the hospital dark and silent without a living soul in sight it becomes clear that her nightmare is far from over... A rare horror sequel that lives up to the standard set by its predecessor the Norwegian thriller Cold Prey II is an effective follow-up to the 2006 snow-bound stalker film as well as a high-tension chillfest on its own. Ingrid Bolsø Berdal (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) returns as the sole survivor of the mountaintop massacre depicted in the first film; rescued while wandering through the icy Jotunheimen region she is taken to a remote hospital where as it so happens the body of the parka-clad maniac who claimed the lives of her boyfriend and companions is also cooling in the morgue. Even the most fresh-faced horror fan knows that killers presumed dead rarely stay dead and soon the mountain man is picking off the hospital staff while Berdal and a nurse (Marthe Snorresdotter Rovik) fight for their lives. While clearly indebted to the '70s-'80s American slasher cycle (especially the hospital horror subgenre embodied by Halloween II and Visiting Hours) Cold Prey II is far from a simple tribute/carbon thanks largely to Mats Stenberg's effective direction which offers a well-balanced mix of mounting tension and jump cuts and Berdal's performance which shifts from victim to avenger with impressive power and physicality. Genre fans seeking a fresh take on the stalk-and-slash picture as well as fans of the first film will be pleased with this entirely worthy sequel. The DVD offers a Norwegian-only audio track (with English subtitles) in addition to a seven-plus-minute collection of (mostly inconsequential) deleted or extended scenes as well as the original theatrical trailer. --Paul Gaita