To avoid the crowded tourist resorts, five snow boarders head out to an isolated mountain with a dazzling descent rate. What they naturally forgot to consider is that one of them might make a nasty fall and in that case they'd be trapped and cut off from the outside world. This is exactly what happens, of course, when Morton Tobias breaks his leg and the quintet has no other option but to look for shelter in a nearby abandoned hotel. The place isn't just forsaken for no reason, as something dreadful took place here years ago. There was a fire and the disappearance of a deformed young boy. All this happened in 1975, thus plenty of time for him to grow into a unworldly and pick-axe wielding psychopath. "Cold Prey" represents a new – and not necessarily American – generation of uncanny slashers. It's wild and exciting, but also massively clichéd and derivative of at least a dozen of other movies. You can easily overlook the unoriginality, however, since the film boosts so many beautiful snowy landscapes and the breathtaking sight of authentic Norwegian glaciers. The atmosphere inside the hotel is grim and sinister, emphasized through detailed camera-work and eerie music. The lead characters are rather amiable (as in: you don't necessarily wish for them to die in such gruesome ways, but it happens anyway) and the killer is a fairly menacing figure. He's a huge bloke, kind of like the Norwegian counterpart of Jason Vorhees, with a thick furry coat and inseparable pick-axe. There's not a whole lot of gore in "Cold Prey", but the violence is mean-spirited and disturbing. The climax sequences are very intense and admirably reveals the answers to several questions that were raised earlier in the film. Good, chilling slasher-fun recommended to all fans of nowadays brutal horror as well as to fans of the nostalgic 1980's. The sequel is – surprisingly enough – even better!
