Review: ROVDYR

Review: ROVDYR

Posted by Peter Hall - October 25th 2008 @ 1:06 pm

Directed by Patrik Syversen, 2008
Written by Patrik Syversen and Nini Bull Robsahm

I am not inclined to be a fan of backwoods, hillbilly horror.  I get it.  The villains don’t live in a city, so they must be inbred.  Hur, hur.  The only thing they know how to do is live in the filthiest conditions possible.  Hur, hur.  Oh, and rape and kill you.  Hur, hur.  Some city kids go to the Wrong Gas Station and 70 minutes later the men are being stabbed in the kidneys while the women are having dirty fingernails run all over their body.  That’s the jist.

I should not like ROVDYR, but I do.  I like it a lot.  Like, a lot a lot.  Like, way totally.

Yes, it is a complete Wrong Gas Station movie, but there are enough variants to the fundamentals that it supplants all the ills of typical backwoods pseudo-slashers.  Perhaps the most influential difference is ROVDYR’s country of origin, Norway, a region not known for its horror films.  Filling  the Norweigan backwoods is the 1970’s setting, equipped with era appropriate music and clothing.  All of that is superficial, though, as there is another key ingredient that I don’t just like, I admire.

And no, I am not talking about Henriette Bruusgaard, the Scandinavian blonde at the center of it all.

ROVDYR is brutal.  Very, very, brutal in the best, chase through the woods, heart pounding kind of way.  But, aside from the admirable absence of rape, what makes this horror film better than other backwoods chasers is that all 78 minutes of its lean running time take place in gorgeous daylight.  I have always been and will always be the biggest proponent there can be of horror with the lights on.  Anyone can make night scary, but it takes a specific talent to make illumination threatening.  ROVDYR helmer Patrik Syversen shows off just what that talent is.

While his is a rare example of a smooth hand and keen eye behind the camera (the movie is a beaut in HD), Syversen doesn’t have much to brag about behind a typewriter.  There is no plot to ROVDYR, just a stage.  Travelers offend the locals at the Wrong Gas Station, locals catch up with ‘em on the road.  That’s how it always goes down and ROVDYR is no different.  There are some minor characterizations, but for the most part the script lacks progression towards any goal greater than survival.  It lives in the same to the point, cat and mouse genre vein that recent EuroHorror wins THEM and HAUTE TENSION reside in.

As such, it meets thrill criteria fast and often.  For the record, if we’re to play the ranking game, I’d have to spot ROVDYR at the top of the short list.  No more nor no less original than all the others like it, but Syversen’s unwillingness to pander results in a small, capable cast running to and from great, often surprising kills that earn fond memories.  More can be asked for and more can be found from other recent efforts around the world, but I’ve got to hand it to a film that does something well, even if it is only one thing.  Sweet, sweet murderous chasing in day lit forest.  I like that.  I can get behind that.

Tags: ,


rss 5 comments
  1. R.J. Sayer
    October 25th, 2008 | 2:23 pm | #1

    i was sad to click on the actress’ name to find NOT A SINGLE SEMI-NUDE PHOTO.

    how dare you, Peter?

    how dare you?

  2. Nigel Tufnel
    October 25th, 2008 | 2:52 pm | #2

    Wait, Norway?, what did the locals look like? Were they a clan of inbred Black Metal band memebers? Mama kept breeding until she had her keyboardist. I’m just glad this wasn’t another backwoods movie set in WV. You know, the ones based on “true stories”.

  3. October 25th, 2008 | 4:12 pm | #3

    Sounds great. Kudos to the filmmakers for the “admirable absence of rape”.

  4. October 27th, 2008 | 4:36 pm | #4

    Made myself watch the screener a second time before formulating an opinion, and I definitely liked the flick more the second time around. Feels like it fell out of a time capsule, which is probably what they were going for.

  5. Brian
    October 27th, 2008 | 4:42 pm | #5

    I quickly scanned your review and my brain registered the word “rape,” and I was enthused. And then I read John’s comment…”Admirable absence of rape.” That, my friends, is an oxymoron.

    Just kidding. : – )

comment on this article

Recent Blog Entries

Recent Reviews

Recent Comments
»  Ryan in THE CHAOS EXPERIMENT, Review: Join me in the Hate.
Not even worth seeing for those who are so curious about movies with bad reviews, that they feel they must...
»  trick42 in THE COLLECTOR, Review – American Horror Worth Championing.
This is the worst type of movie that I hate watching!!! You know, it’s that type of...
»  fred in SHUTTER ISLAND Review [Warning, Spoilery Talk Follows the First Paragraph]
Yes John, he chose the lobotomy as an alternative to living with feeling he was a...
»  Gargantua in THE CRAZIES Review. [2010's First Must See Horror Movie.]
Hearing such praise for a remake is both rare and encouraging. I will be sure to pay out the...
»  John in SHUTTER ISLAND Review [Warning, Spoilery Talk Follows the First Paragraph]
I could see it either way, but I think he did choose the lobotomy. Otherwise, why...


Categories

HND Connectivity
HND on Twitter: Hanging at @highball while waiting for a midnight movie. 25 mins ago

RSS Feed
Add to Google
Add to Yahoo
Stumble HND
Add to Technorati Favorites


Search The Site


The League


Recommended Film Reading:  
Horror Squad  |  Twitch Film  |  Ain't It Cool News  |  Fangoria  |  Dread Central  |  Movie Forums  |  Cinematical |  24 Frames Per Second


Other Horror Blogs of the LOTTD: 
Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat
Billy Loves Stu
Blogue Macabre
Cinema Fromage
Cinema Suicide
Classic Horror
Day of the Woman
Dinner With Max Jenke
Drunken Severed Head
Evil on Two Legs
 
Fascination With Fear
Final Girl
Goblin Books
Good, the Bad, and Godzilla
Gospel of the Living Dead
Groovy Age of Horror
I Love Horror
Igloo of the Uncanny
Kindertrauma
Love Train for the Tenebrous Empire
Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Movies
Moon is a Dead World
Mystery of the Haunted vampire
Reflections on Film and TV
Slasher Speak
Sweet Skulls
Theofantastique
Unspeakable Horror
The Vault of Horror
Zombos Closet of Horror

Sponsored Links:  
iReel Movies  |  Halloween Costumes | Sexy Halloween Costumes
Buy your favorite scary Halloween costume at PureCostumes.com
Copyright © Peter Hall. So don't even think about it.