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: ROVDYR, ROVDYR REVIEW