Frostbitten (2006/Genius/Vampires/Sweden)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C Film: C+
When
Ingmar Bergman passed away, it was a big international news story because his
films were so widely known. It was also
because his home country of Sweden is not known for much cinema beyond Bergman
and art films involving his actors.
However, there are plenty of different kinds of cinema that and every
other country produces, though we only see a fraction of it. Anders Banke’s Frostbitten (2005) is an ambitious attempt to create a vampire film
with some difference and impact.
It may
not always work, but it has some interesting moments, even when it is
derivative. Part of the reason is simply
the location of the northern territory of Sweden and its city of Norrbotten,
which is scenic and interesting. Even
with its limits, it embarrasses the dozens of awful U.S. and especially indie
vampire disasters of late and the twist is that the geographical location will
be in darkness for 30 days in a row!!!
The cast
and director are having fun with the Daniel Ojanlatva screenplay and From Dusk Til Dawn is the film this
reminded me of off hand, but all are trying to show a real love of such films
and fans will find this a must-see. If
you are interested in a vampire film with a difference, you might want to give
it a look too.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image has some nice shots by Director of
Photography Chris Maris and as I watched, I noticed an interesting look of
color and composition, the cinematography was different from anything I had
seen lately. Why? Was it digital enhancement? No.
Was it the brand of film stock?
They used Kodak well enough with some digital work, but nothing out of
the ordinary. So could it be the scope
format used? The detail looked like
Super 35mm work, yet something was different.
Research
says it is in Techniscope, a format that has not been used in eons, but it is
not listed as such in the credits that way.
If used as a general term (many films dubbed scope or CinemaScope do not
use the oldest system) on the fly, this means each frame was a tiny
2-perferations of 35mm, which is narrow and leaves no room for error. All in all, it is an asset for the film.
The film
was exclusively a DTS theatrical release, but only a Dolby Digital 5.1 track is
available on this disc. Too bad, because
the Dolby is limiting the dynamic range of what sounds like a very good
soundmaster. The Anthony Lledo score is
not bad and the combination of the two shows Sweden can get serious and deliver
high quality genre product technically.
Extras
include bloopers, a behind the scenes featurette and deleted scenes.
- Nicholas Sheffo
