Review: Fritt Vilt 3 (2011)

"I'm pretty sure that the 3rd time is not always a charm..."

*If you haven't seen the first two films in the Fritt Vilt (Cold Prey) series, you may want to read our reviews for Fritt Vilt and Fritt Vilt 2, to get yourself up to speed. Then again, if you haven't seen at least one of the first two movies, then why in the hell are you watching part 3 to begin with? Cheaters.

Sub-Genre- Backwoods Horror/Torture Porn

Cast Members of Note- Ida Marie Bakkerud, Kim S. Falck-Jorgensen, Julie Rusti, and a bunch of other Norway people that I can't seem to keep straight in my head.

Set in the 80's, FV III tells the story of the series' killer as a child and troubled youth. Yes, it's a prequel and an origin story, and I guess someone in Norway thought both were somehow necessary.

Looks so odd without the snow...

Remember in the first movie how we learned that the mountain-man killer was buried alive by his parents as a kid, because he had an odd mole on his face? Well he found himself a mentor in them there Norwegian woods, who went and dug him up, learned him how to kill and gut him some animals, and how to effectively act all creepy. Eventually, he decides he'd rather kill and gut him some people instead. That's basically the plot of this movie.

This is not the killer all grown up, this is Santa. From the looks of things, he's about to add another HO to his repertoire... He's supposed to have 3 of them, you know.

"A bunch of young, dumb-ass kids head into the wilderness of _______ for a weekend of _______, only to find a bloodthirsty _______ waiting to _______ them off one by one." Yeah, we've heard the same exact plot over and over and over and over again, so just fill in the blanks in a way that suits this film, and we have another cookie-cutter Horror flick on our hands. There really isn't much else to say about the plot.

Don't be pissy about it, you know I'm right!

Unlike its predecessors, which were Slasher flicks, Fritt Vilt 3 decided to go the Torture Porn route. Did it work? I suppose so, if you like the average Torture Porn offering, but it played more like Wrong Turn than the first two films in its own franchise, and that threw us off a bit.

As a prequel, it was decent; it told the back story of the killer in an interesting way, showing us how he got to where he was, and why. As an installment in the Fritt Vilt series, it was also decent, but felt oddly out of place. The first 2 movies were set in an isolated, snowy mountain top location, which added to the tension and isolation of it all. The other films also had a strong, dynamic Final Girl who we couldn't help but root for. I'm not taking anything away from the Final Girl of this one, but the material here just wasn't as good, so it felt as if she were less awesome in a way?

The movie did have some good kill scenes/gory gags that made us cringe, and if that's really all you care about, then you will enjoy FV III, I'm sure. Oh, and the girls were nice to look at too.

Dirty girl.

The charm of the series kinda died with this one. Instead of being a Slasher flick set in the wintry mountains of Norway, we get a Backwoods Horror flick set in the forests of Norway in the summer time... In our opinion, making those changes really took away the one unique thing the first two movies had going for them.

Giving them the most disapproving stare that he could muster, Jorgen hoped that they would get the point. They didn't, though. They didn't.

Why only a quick side boob? There were two really cute girls in this movie, and all they did was tease us. We, the audience, demand gratuitous nudity in our standard hack-and-slash movies, because we deserve it. It's like a little bonus for us having to sit through retreaded material, and poorly scripted,generic efforts. Weak story + no boobs= just not right.

Tease!

It's Torture Porn, so of course there's some good blood and gore to be had here; various stabbings, slashing, and shooting (shotgun and bow, mind you), and even a cat being gutted. Blood lovers will be happy with this movie.

Final Girl.

Aside from a naked man ass and a brief shot of a side boob, everyone remained clothed in this one. For shame, Norway, for shame. You're supposed to be progressive with that kind of stuff!

They should have stopped at part 2.

What the fuck are they smiling at?

Nowhere near the film that either of the first two Fritt Vilt films were, FVIII delivers some good kill scenes and blood, but not much else. The summer setting took away a bit of the charm established earlier in the series, or maybe I just really like snow. No. After the winter we've had so far here in Michigan, I think it's safe to say that snow can go fuck itself. So I guess then that it just felt more like every other Backwoods Horror movie that has come along in recent years, and the change of scenery didn't help things.

It's worth a watch, but I fear that it wont please fans of the series as much as parts 1 and 2 did.

C-

Isn't it good, Norwegian Wood? Also, Julie Rusti makes me want to move to Norway.