Behind the Couch

Horror films regularly feature unfortunate characters in extreme circumstances and situations. Whether they be battling poltergeists or demonic possessions in the comfort and privacy of their own homes, or evading a hulking brute with a big machete in a remote backwoods cabin; settings usually play an important part of what makes horror stories compelling and relatable. What if you add harsh winter weather to the mix though? Wintry, snowbound horror films can often be chilling in more ways than one. A typical narrative of man versus, well, whatever monster he's facing, soon takes on the added aspect of man versus the elements; which can often be just as threatening - and much more relatable. Or perhaps the elements themselves are the threat? Films such as Frozen, The Shining, The Thing and 30 Days of Night – to name but a few – feature characters in already horrific situations which become somewhat exacerbated by freezing temperatures and blinding snow-storms. Isolation, hyp...

2008 Dir. Mats Stenberg Having survived the massacre that claimed the lives of her friends in an abandoned hotel at the hands of a psychotic, feral killer, Jannicke (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) finds that her nightmare is far from over. Taken to a rural hospital to be treated for shock, she realises that the body of the monstrous brute she thought she’d killed has been recovered along with those of her friends’ and brought to the hospital where she’s staying. On closer inspection, the doctors discover the killer is not dead at all, and before the night is over Jannicke finds herself fighting to stay alive in the midst of another bloodbath… Cold Prey II is one of those rare specimens – a genuinely great slasher sequel. It maintains the momentum of the first instalment , picking up directly where it left off (the first of many nods to Halloween II ), adds to the story and doesn’t just recycle itself in the manner of so many slasher sequels. Viewers will reap a much more rewarding exper...

2006 Dir. Roar Uthaug AKA Fritt Vilt A group of friends on a snowboarding excursion in deepest, darkest Jotunheimen are forced to seek refuge in a seemingly abandoned hotel in when one of them breaks their leg. While exploring the building they discover that the hotel was shut down in the Seventies after a series of mysterious disappearances, including that of the owner’s young son. It soon becomes apparent to the group that they are not alone in the hotel; a mysterious psychopath begins to pick them off, one, by one, by one… While the premise of this expertly crafted and smartly scripted Norwegian slasher flick seems to creak under the weight of its own cliché-ridden conventions, the execution of Cold Prey/Fritt Vilt , is what is most surprising and unconventional and sets this film well apart from its myriad contemporaries. We open in typical slasher style, with the apparent death of a young boy at the hands of an unseen assailant in the midst of a blizzard. Skip forward tw...

2010 Dir. Adam Green Hoping to spend some quality time at a tranquil ski resort, a trio of twenty-something friends Joe (Shawn Ashmore), Dan (Kevin Zegers) and Parker (Emma Bell), instead experience a chilling nightmare when they are unexpectedly stranded on a ski-lift shortly after the resort closes for the week. Unknowingly left dangling high above the ground and with no apparent safe way down as night begins to set in, with increasing panic they soon realize that the threats of frostbite and hypothermia are the least of their worries. Forced to take extremely desperate measures in order to survive the bitter cold, overcome unexpected obstacles and attempt to reach safety, the three friends are driven to ask not only if they have the will to survive, but also to consider what are the worst ways to die… Having already caused quite a stir on the festival circuit, prompting responses from critics such as “terrifying… will do for skiing what Jaws did for swimming” Frozen is ...

2009 Dir. Tommy Wirkola AKA Død Snø A group of medical students on a skiing holiday in deepest, darkest Norway come face to face with marauding zombie Nazis… Yes. Zombie Nazis. Dead Snow is every bit as preposterous as it sounds. In a similar vein to Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland , Wirkola’s striking looking film is an outrageous comedy-horror that deftly mixes chills with chuckles and gore with guffaws. The film sets its tone in the opening scene as a young woman flees in terror across a desolate snowscape accompanied by the strains of Dukas’s mischievous symphony The Sorcerer’s Apprentice . Director Wirkola wisely keeps her pursuers to the shadows and we only catch the briefest glimpses of them before they set upon the unfortunate woman and tear her asunder. The film’s cine-literate characters are an amiable bunch and the script (by Wirkola and Stig Frode Henriksen) takes time to establish group dynamics and ease us into the company of the group before all hell break...