Here are two solid horror films from overseas. Both came out last year, neither of course receiving much of a release by their distributors, but now both widely available on DVD and the Internet.
The artwork I saw for Triangle featured a killer wearing a bag over the head, eyeholes poked out, and immediately reminded me of Strangers (2007). Aside from that small detail, however, this movie shares no similarities with that film. Some fun-loving adventurers, including a woman (Melissa George) who’s just had a frightening and unexplained experience with her autistic child, set off on a boat for an afternoon voyage. They’re bowled over by a sudden storm, and find themselves capsized and without help. Seemingly out of nowhere (perhaps out of the mist, out of the fog) appears a cruiser. The scared group boards the cruiser, and that’s when the really weird shit starts happening.
It’d be pointless for me to try and describe what occurs next without attempting to explain the entire film and thus, give away the ending. Let me just say that this movie appears, from the beginning, to be one of those stories that includes some sort of supernatural element, and could possibly lead to a disappointing twist—one of those deals that has such a great setup, you wonder how they could possibly pull off a satisfying finish. I’m thinking Identity (2003), that kind of awful ending, where the surprise, the twist, is nothing more than a cheat that negates everything the viewer has previously seen. (If I wanted to open myself up for taking some real shit, I’d say that I felt similarly about the much-beloved The Usual Suspects [1995].)
Triangle’s ending makes sense of everything that came before, and ties into the movie’s theme, hinted at towards the beginning, with great effect.
A much different film, this one from Norway, Dead Snow I’ve seen described as a horror-comedy. The comedy—which one can naturally imagine, based on the description: Nazi zombies attack vacationers in the woods, during winter—comes a bit late in the film, after roughly a half-hour of creepy, somewhat violent moments. I didn’t welcome it.
The comedy in Dead Snow isn’t like the outrageous humor of Shaun of the Dead (2006) or what one would normally expect from an American horror-comedy show. Naturally, things are going to be a bit different coming from that part of the globe, but for me, the humorous moments simply stuck out from the film and took away from the spooky atmosphere established in the opening.
There are some extremely effective scenes here and there, however, and overall, the film is suspenseful and enjoyable. I grew a bit tired with the last half hour’s attack scenes, running scenes, shooting scenes, etc., but there’s a lot to admire in what leads up to that final showdown between the campers and the undead Nazis.
Check out this interview with Christopher Smith, director of Triangle.
Check out this interview with Tommy Wirkola, director of Dead Snow.
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