The Cold Prey Trilogy (2006, 2008, 2010)

 

Second Sight are giving their lavish boxset treatment to the Norwegian slasher franchise that launched the international career of director Roar Uthaug (TROLL, TOMB RAIDER) and provided horror fans with a novel setting for murderous mayhem. Second Sight’s limited edition set comes with the three films on Blu-ray (1080p transfers on three separate discs), each with a set of extras, and you also get a 120 page book with new writing, five art cards, and a slipcase. So let’s take a deeper look at what we get:

Disc One: Cold Prey aka Fritt Vilt (2006)

Five friends set off for a snowboarding holiday on the Norwegian slopes. Unfortunately their fun is curtailed almost immediately when one of them, Morten Tobias (Rolf Kristian Larsen) manages to break his leg. Fortunately there’s somewhere to take him in the form of the rotting and long-disused hotel that’s just over the next rise, the one near which all manner of winter sports enthusiasts have disappeared. They settle in to some of the most disgusting hotel rooms committed to celluloid and pretty soon they’re being bumped off. Could it have anything to do with the child from the opening scene who mysteriously disappeared years ago?

In the extras director Rolf Uthaug says he pitched COLD PREY by playing the trailer for Marcus Nispel’s TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE remake and said “Now imagine that, but cold.” Which is kind of what COLD PREY is to an extent. But what could have been a generic slasher is kept fresh by good direction, an amazing location and likeable performances, especially from Larsen and final girl Ingrid Bolsø Berdal. It’s a must-see for slasher enthusiasts and was a deserved hit.

Second Sight’s Blu-ray is step up from previous DVD releases, but overall this is a pretty grainy low-res film so don’t expect anything spectacular, for this or the other two in the series. Extras include a new commentary from Uthaug and Berdal (in English in case you were wondering) and new interviews with the director (22 minutes) and star Ingrid Bolsø Berdal 19 minutes). There’s also an ‘alternate ending’ which is actually just the ending we see but fleshed out with storyboards for material they didn’t have the budget for, and featurettes on the visual effects (24 minutes) and behind the scenes (22 minutes), plus nine minutes of bloopers. The disc is rounded off with two short films: Mountain Rose Runs Amok (2 minutes) which is a brief amateur slasher piece and An Evening in the Green which is three minutes of jolly fun with a lawnmower and, as its director (Roar Uthaug) puts it ‘a bucket of pig intestines’. There’s also a music video but it’s not for the catchy end credits song.

Disc Two: Cold Prey II aka Fritt Vilt II (2008)

Unsurprisingly following in the wake of the success of the first film, COLD PREY II is to COLD PREY what Rick Rosenthal’s HALLOWEEN II was to John Carpenter’s original. Taking up where the previous film ended, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal’s Jannicke is taken to hospital. Soon the bodies of her friends are taken there too. And the body of the axe-wielding maniac. You can guess the rest. This one really is a bit too much by the numbers to make it interesting but if you love generic slashers you’ll probably still have a jolly hospital-based time.

Extras include a new commentary track from director Mats Stenberg (again, in English) as well as a 32 minute interview. There are also interviews with Ingrid Bolsø Berdal (11 minutes) and Roar Uthuag (4 minutes), who was associate producer on this one. There are also extended and deleted scenes (5 minutes), bloopers (3 minutes), and a behind the scenes featurette (34 minutes & goodness me the weather looked terrible).

Disc Three: Cold Prey III aka Fritt Vilt III (2010)

It’s prequel time! The little boy who would grow up to be the killer in the first two films kills his parents. Twelve years later a group of friends hiking in the area start to get bumped off by the ‘Mountain Man’. COLD PREY III is the most by the numbers of the lot and feels very much like a Texas Chainsaw ripoff. However we still get some impressive locations (and very little snow this time) making the Norwegian landscape the star of this one.

Extras this time include a new commentary track from Christer Andresen (a Norwegian associate professor of film studies specialising in Norway’s horror films and Phillip Escott of Second Sight, and a behind the scenes featurette (8 minutes).

The COLD PREY trilogy is available in a special limited edition set from Second Sight on Monday 6th July 2026

Kraken (2026)

“What’s That Coming Out of the Fjord?”

Actually you can probably guess, going by the title of this one. New Norwegian monster movie KRAKEN is getting a digital release from Signature Entertainment.

In Norway’s deepest fjord, with a maximum depth of 1300 metres, a salmon farm is using a revolutionary new sonic delousing device to rid its fish of unwanted parasites. But strange things are happening. Fish are throwing themselves onto the beach, crabs are leaving the water in a mass exodus and, as the film opens, two jet-skiers are pulled under the water by something huge.

Marine scientist Johanne (Sara Khorami) helped design the device and, now working for the environment, is called into find out what might be going on. She finds herself faced with a Norwegian salmon company keen to sign a massive deal with the Japanese and the discovery of some large bioluminescent parasites the size of dinner plates that suggest their host is colossal, while all the time the bodies are piling up.

KRAKEN doesn’t do anything especially new. In fact it’s derivative and cliched but it embraces those cliches in a setting we don’t see very often in monster pictures. It takes a while to get going, and the pacing is a little off as the film reaches its climax, but those who are old enough can think of this as a similar to a 1970s-era Dr Who six parter where all the action happens in episode five. Budgetary constraints mean we don’t get to see a lot of the titular monster (but you do see it, for those who might be worried) and while there’s some necessary reliance on CGI there could have been a lot more, and the Norwegian locations frequently look refreshingly green-screen free. Not a bad time at all if you’re looking for a new monster movie to watch. Here’s the trailer:

KRAKEN is out on Digital HD from Signature Entertainment on Monday 1st June 2026

The Ugly Stepsister 4K (2025)

After a successful run on the streaming service Shudder and appearing on quite a few Best of 2025 lists, Norwegian writer-director Emilie Blichfeldt's rich, heavily gothic retelling of the Cinderella story from a different point of view to that envisioned by Giambattista Basile and afterwards by the Brothers Grimm is getting a 4K UHD and Blu-ray special edition release from Second Sight.

The stepsister of the title is Elvira (Lea Myren) who, along with her sister Alma (Flo Fagerli) ends up having to live with her recently widowed mother Rebekka (Ahe Dahl Torp) and Rebekka's new husband Otto (Ralph Carlsson) and his daughter Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Naess). Otto soon dies in a cake-throwing incident and it turns our he wasn't as wealthy as the rest of the family had previously thought.

Elvira dreams of marrying a prince but with her radiant beauty Agnes is highly likely to beat her in the courtship game. So Elvira embarks on a series of increasingly desperate measures that include considerable body modification / self-mutilation in an attempt to make her more appealing than her sister. As with the traditional tale, it all comes to a horror-filled climax at a ball and I won't spoil the surprise of what happens.

As gorgeously filmed as the best Italian gothics of the 1960s, Emilie Blichfeldt's film is a must see for any fan of European horror cinema. The director has cited her influences as David Cronenberg (there is a character named Kronenberg in the film) as well as Argento, Fulci and Julia Ducournau and the film certainly bears this out. Of all the strong performances in the film it's Myren who stands out in the lead (at least until she mutilates her foot) offering a compelling sympathetic performance that you cannot help feeling sorry for.

Second Sight's disc comes with two commentary tracks, the first from Blichfeldt with Patrik Syversen and the second from academic Meagan Navarro. There are interviews with Blichfeldt (35 minutes), Myren (19 minutes), Naess (14 minutes) and SFX artist Thomas Foldberg (18 minutes) followed by a very entertaining piece with him on the effects where he demonstrates some of the prosthetics surrounding him during the interview (11 minutes). Kat Hughes provides an 18 minute visual essay, there's a three minute deleted scene and two Blichfeldt short films: How Do You Like My Hair? (10 minutes) and Sara's Intimate Confessions (22 minutes). 

Finally, the limited edition comes with a 120 page book featuring new writing on the film, six art cards and a rigid slipcase. Also worth noting is that the disc does not contain the English dub of the film that is currently available on Shudder.

Emilie Blichfeldt's THE UGLY STEPSISTER in 4K is being released in a limited edition UHD / Blu-ray combo with all the trimmings as well as standard edition UHD and Blu-ray editions on Monday 23rd February 2026

Sacrifice (2020)

 

Probably still best known for her star turn in Stuart Gordon's 1985 REANIMATOR, Barbara Crampton has been quite the festival favourite of the last few years, appearing in all manner of low budget fare from the impenetrably art house (SUNCHOKE) to the frankly daft (PUPPET MASTER: THE LITTLEST REICH). While some of the films have been (to put it kindly) rather below par, her performances in them have always been consummately professional, frequently delivered with an effective and deliciously sinister edge.

In Andy Collier and Tor Mian's film SACRIFICE, getting a release in the UK from 101 Films, she plays a police officer for a small Norwegian village who is keen to question Isaac Pitman (aha!) who has returned home after his mother took him away 25 years ago. There are Cthulhoid statues on sale in the local shop (aha again!) and a cult devoted to something the locals call 'The Slumbering One'. Is Isaac (Ludovic Hughes) going to start growing gills or is the cult more interested in his very pregnant wife Emma (Sophie Stevens)?

SACRIFICE premiered at last year's Frightfest where it became known as 'the one where there's a shot of eggs being boiled from underneath', which indeed there is. It boasts some terrific locations and for such an obviously ultra low budget affair the direction is competent (and believe me that's not always in the case with films that make it into festivals - even Frightfest). In an era when many movies of this type just scrape past the 74 minute mark it seems a shame to suggest that the 87 minute running time of this one could have been tightened up a bit, but there are just a few too many dialogue scenes which feel drawn out, too many sequences with the same 'it was just a dream' punchline, and nowhere near enough made of the potential to build what could have been some great atmosphere, especially in the scenes with the cultists.

Barbara Crampton's performance is excellent (she always gives it her all and what a treasure she is) and there are some refreshingly different locations for the Deep Ones to be hanging out in (or is that under) but ultimately SACRIFICE is just a bit too rough around the edges (and not in a Chad Ferrin's THE DEEP ONES kind of way way) for it to qualify as top tier Lovecraft-inspired horror. 

SACRIFICE is getting a digital release from 101 Films on Monday 15th March 2021

Thelma (2017)

"Norwegian Art-House CARRIE"

...or even PATRICK (1978 0r 2013). Yes, director Joachim Trier may be following in the footsteps of Stephen King, Brian de Palma and even Richard Franklin, but here's a distinctly different take on the theme of the 'troubled teen with psychic powers' and it's about to get a UK DVD & Blu-ray release from Thunderbird.

Thelma (Eili Harboe) has just started university. Coming from a closeted, stifling upbringing by overprotective and very religious parents, her new world is enough of a culture shock without the other problems she soon begins to experience.

While studying at the library, Thelma undergoes a violent seizure. After that, very strange things start to happen - people disappear and objects move of their own accord. EEG and brain MRI scanning reveal no physical abnormalities. Could it have anything to do with her having fallen in love with a fellow female student? And is she responsible for what is happening to her or are outside forces at work? Are her parents to blame? Or is she herself  the reason for the way they have brought her up? 

I shall say no more, except that through a number of flashbacks all is revealed in Trier's thoughtful, careful profile of a teenaged girl coming to terms with who and what she is. Despite my comparisons above, don't expect any exploding cars, roasting alive before our very eyes or any overly spectacular melodramatics. THELMA is very much a low-key character study that's no less effective for the way in which the subject matter is handled. The ending will give you something to think about, too. 

Thunderbird's Blu-ray also includes short interviews with director Trier and star Harboe, and several very short featurettes on behind the scenes filming. You also get a trailer reel for the other Joachim Trier movies that Soda / Thunderbird have released. 

Joachim Trier's THELMA is out on UK DVD & Blu-ray from Thunderbird Releasing on Monday 26th February 2018