Frostbite [2006] [DVD]

A very funny and estheticly perfect film. The plot follows Annika(Petra Nielsen) and her daughter Saga(Grete Havnesköld) who move way up north to Norrland(Swedish for Northland) where the sun is gone for a month every winter. Saga makes friend with the strange goth-chic Vega(Emma T. Åberg). However, the town has a dark secret; a family of vampires originating from Ukraine and soon Saga's new friends scumb to the plague of vampirism.

Frostbite has many very funny scenes and a few really scary ones. The the film has a slick look much thanks to director of photography Chris Maris, the best score I ever heard in a Swedish film written by the ingenious Anthony Lledo supported by Swedish rock from The Hives and Millencolin and some Russian folktunes not to mention the amazing special make-up effects. The acting is mostly solid, the leads doing a great job especially Emma T. Åberg and Jonas Karlström as medstudent turned vampire. Some of the minor characters are acted awefully but they do not get much screen time.

There are some unforgetable images such as the main vampire pulsing through the snow dragging his own coffin behind him, red blood dripping into white snow, vampires climbing over a house like spiders, a vampire impaled on a garden gnome(!), the brilliant dinner and morgue scenes not to mention the hillarious headphone vampire(Niklas Grönberg).

The film's only flaw is that it ends when the fun has really begun and leaves you wishing for more.

I am surprised at some of the lukewarm reviews here, as I thought 'Frostbite' was not only one of the best vampire films I have ever seen but was executed with real skill by director Anders Banke. Delicious cinematography, an interesting but not overplayed story and decent performances from the cast made this a riveting watch from start to finish.

Banke clearly knows his stuff and doesn't miss a trick throughout this tale of a town that is beseiged by a vampire plague during a month of perpetual darkness (think '30 Days of Night'). The run-time is perfect and every scene makes the most of the worthy script, building intrigue and tension. The story is wisely kept relatively simple, though not at the expense of intelligence. It's superbly crafted but just doesn't bog the viewer down with unnecessary exposition. The underlying humour also makes sure that this film never reaches the realms of pretension.

As for the vampires, they are pretty vicious and uncompromising and their relentless massacre of the town's human inhabitants is painted quite bleakly by the end. They are near unstoppable and the ending (not to spoil things too much) suits this portrayal nicely. I also enjoyed how the film focused on the newly infected vampires dealing with the change, rather than the tried and tested method of following humans in their desperate attempts to survive (though this is in here too!) There's also a fair bit of blood and guts, though this thankfully never substitutes the narrative.

Of course, I should say that it won't be a movie for those who aren't into vamps or horror in general. Also, the fact that it's a Swedish film sadly means that many will never even hear of it, never mind actively seek it out. But, if it were a mainstream movie, then surely cult status would beckon for this little gem. If this is your thing, I urge you to give it a go.

Have watched it twice since I got it and realy enjoyed it and will probably watch it again after I finish this as it's been a while since last time.

I got "Slaughter Night" AKA "SL8N8" http://www.amazon.co.uk/Slaughter-Night-Region-Import-NTSC/dp/B000MM0LHI/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1339862893&sr=1-1
at the same time and found both to be very well done.
Along with "Dead Snow" http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dead-Snow-DVD-Jeppe-Laursen/dp/B002B7OM7W/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1339863835&sr=1-1
they are producing some good horror movies and I hope they keep doing more like this one.

They are subtitled in english which will put some off, but with DVD/Blu-rays you can easily go back to any talk/action you missed while reading the subs.
If they were dubbed, they would reach a wider audience, but you can't have everything.