After Let the Right One In, I was wary about approaching another Swedish vampire film. Surely it couldn't live up to the brilliance of that master piece. Well, it doesn't. But Frostbiten is a different kind of beast altogether. Frostbiten is a wonderful return to classical vampires. They hate garlic, don't have reflections etc. This lends itself well to the comic tone of the film. Even in a foreign language, this is instantly quotable and memorable. From lines such as "Stop throwing garden gnomes at me!" and a girl making an X rather than a crucifix, we have a film that doesn't take itself seriously, but isn't stupid either. The film does well to split up the adult world and the teen world. The teen world is basically filled with drugs and parties, lending itself as the perfect set-up for a massacre. Meanwhile, the adult world is filled with the backstory and the main plot thrust.The score and soundtrack work in perfect harmony. The film opens during the war, and the score has an eerie Gothic sound which seems as though is should be coming straight from a gramophone. The effects are perfect in my opinion. The mix of CG and make-up is almost indistinguishable. It comes across as an old classical stop-motion piece at times. The whole film was enjoyable in the same way as The Lost Boys. Fun, exciting and hilarious. Only, Frostbiten has talking dogs.

This movie starts with a flashback. A flashback were they talk German, but evidently you can hear (if you're familiar with the German language), that the actors are not Germans themselves. Just a trivia fact, for the beginning.

Because this doesn't hurt the movie, after the flashback you get to the present time and the movie kicks off. And that means it really get's going! It then starts out more as (teen-)comedy, just to evolve into a horror-comedy. The transition is pretty good and many jokes work, but unfortunately in the end (literally), the movie falls short. It just seems, that they run out of ideas or money ... or both, but this movie does not feel like it's finished. It's a shame then, because this could've been so much better, but it's still good!

During World War II, the Swedish army (under the direction of Hitler) is fighting the Russians, but is forced to retreat and hide in a cabin. Within the cabin lies a buried secret: a vampire named Maria. Sixty years later, the vampire menace returns to Sweden when a group of teenagers accidentally ingest tainted blood. Blood-thirsty teenagers? Oh my!

Let me get something out of the way so we can end the discussion right now: this film is not the Swedish version of "30 Days of Night". You would think so when the back of the box emphasizes this is a very northern town with thirty days of darkness, and there's vampires. But it's not anything like that other movie. This one was filmed first and has no connection to the graphic novel. And, with the exception of one line in the film, the fact there are thirty days of darkness isn't even relevant to the plot (it takes place over maybe three days, always during "night shift" anyway). So, just ignore all that... because if you're waiting for Ben Foster, you won't find him.

This film excels with the backstory. I really enjoyed how they tied the SS into the vampire legend, because connecting Hitler to evil is always a nice touch. But what I found even more interesting was how since this was from Sweden's point of view, the SS wasn't so much "evil" as it just happened to be a group of soldiers like any other country. Nazis with human traits -- wow, what a concept! Either way, it really gave a great background for what was to come later.

I was curious about some of the humor. I enjoyed it (this is just as much a black comedy as it is a horror film, not far removed from 1980s teen films), but I wonder if Sweden is living in a time warp. One person uses the "falling and can't get up" joke, which is probably obscure to anyone younger than twenty-five. And they make cracks about the drummer from Def Leppard. Hey, I do it, too... but a band that reached its peak twenty years ago is a hot topic? Weird.

More conventional humor exists, such as using a body chart as a dart board (the bullseye is the spleen). And this film offers what is the greatest weapon to use against vampires I've ever seen (at least as far as I can recall): a garden gnome. I have never thought to have a garden gnome as a weapon in a film, but I'm very thankful these guys did, because it sealed the deal on deciding between whether this was a good film and a great film. It's a great film.

The main character is a hot chick by Swedish standards (the character Saga, played by Grete Havnesköld) and another character, Cornelia (Nour El-Refai) is okay, too. Saga's role as the heroine was a nice one -- she is the focus of the film, but isn't some great vampire slayer or trying to save her boyfriend (she's single, guys). She is the heroine simply because she is able to survive... at least longer than most of her friends.

What set this film out from other vampire films for me was the great transformation sequence, showing a boy get the endless thirst. The following changes (allergy to garlic, dislike of Sun and crosses, no reflection) were cool, too, but the scene where he simply cannot control his thirst was amazing. I guess the talking dogs were alright, too, but I feel like something more could have been done with that (where's Zoltan when you need him?).

They do a thing with "vampire vision" which didn't bother me as much as usual, because they kept it to a minimum. The vampire eyes in the dark could have been removed. And, you'll rarely hear me say this, but the cgi was okay. Seriously. I'm a puppet guy, a rubber suit guy... but I think the computer work here was pretty decent. Although I could tell it was a cartoon, it was better than a lot of the stuff I see today (compare the wall-climbing scene here to the one from "Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes" and you'll think this one is platinum quality). So ,good work.

No nudity (sorry guys) but plenty of blood. Blood spraying, blood drinking, blood smeared on walls, animals mutilated... so that's not a concern. You'll get enough blood to satisfy yourself.

I really enjoyed this film beginning to end. From the opening previews (1970s English horror films) to the closing credits, this is what I want to see more of: blood, hot chicks and a good black comedy with teenagers who actually look and act like teenagers. You know, like the 1980s and not so much like the 1990s (sure, Sarah Michelle, I believe you're in high school. Riiiiiight). Unless you have a strong aversion to subtitles, give this one a whirl. Best thing to come from Sweden since Ingmar Bergman.