SIFF 2006: Frostbite

Someone is still going to have to do right by the Thirty Days of Night concept.

Frostbite was my horror movie pick for SIFF 2006 - Sweden's first vampire movie. It was a nice approach to the genre, fairly fresh without being over the top, humorous without descending into self-parody, and gory without going for the splatter effect. Imagine Ginger Snaps with subtitles.

Young Saga and her mother move to a town in the far north of Sweden, where it's nighttime for an entire month. In this town resides a vampire. People get bitten. Hilarity ensues.

The disappointing part is that it could have been set anywhere at any time - because the whole "it's night for a month!" aspect only came up at the very end, and wasn't integral to the plot whatsoever. This means that the greatest concept in the last thirty years of vampire fiction remains unsatisfactorily explored (I think I made that word up.) Thirty Day didn't deliver, and Frostbite, while satisfying, didn't really explore it either.

Still, it's coming to American theaters later this year, and it's worth a look.