Manhunt (2008)

Simply A Masterpiece

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Really only 5 stars? you have to be kidding me this film was great. From start to finish it kept me on the edge of my seat, I felt like my heart was going to pop out of my chest. It is quite a basic movie as are most movies of this nature, there is not to much time spent on plot as we need to build suspense and see how the reactions of the characters play out. Its a basic story of good Vs Evil set in a 1970s Norwegian woods. A group of friends travel to the middle of nowhere to go hiking and camping(what an original idea) and end up in a fight for survival. Its your usual everyday plot for a survival horror, But for what it lacks in originality it makes up for in bucket loads everywhere else. The acting is above par along with suspense and some pretty gruesome effects. Its obvious to me that the makers of this film are big fans of the genre and have stayed true to its spirit, which for another fan makes it a great joy to watch.As I've said the acting is superb, as we get immersed deeper into the action and the dialog becomes ever more sparse we start to see the real capability of the troupe, convincingly portraying the terror of being trapped and hunted by unknowns pushing the suspense level through the roof. Henriette Bruusgaard as Camilla stands out here in the lead role who to my surprise has only played in one other role after this. Visually it looks great, nice grainy quality to the picture along with some solid cinematography. It feels like watching something of a similar nature from the 70s which helps add authenticity to the project. From the main titles to the ending credits it feels like an exploitation movie from the heyday of the 1970s which many movies lately have tried to achieve and haven't managed to pull off half as well as this. The sound design is also very impressive and offers a great soundtrack.I really would like to congratulate everyone who worked on this obviously they put so much effort in and it shows. I cant find any reason to complain about this movie I enjoyed it immensely and can't recommend it enough, like a gruesome flashback to the 70s this movie stays true to the genre pushing you to the very edge of your seat chewing down your fingers to nubs. So put on the oven mitts, glue yourself to the sofa and enjoy the ride.

Rovdyr or as I know it MANHUNT, is the third Norwegian film I've added to my collection, the first two being COLD PREY and COLD PREY: RESURRECTION, while I enjoyed the COLD PREY movies very much, this one appeared as if it had suffered a bit.The makers of this film had the right idea of what they wanted to do, the film was nicely shot, the make up effects were splendid but from what this film suffers from is an inability to build a sufficient amount of tension to keep people on the edge of their seat and this is not because of the lack of plot, the central characters were somewhat undeveloped, sure some of them weren't very likable but believe it or not that wasn't the problem either, the main problem with the characters is that they're stupid, because even in serious situations a complete jackass of a person doesn't have to be a complete idiot he can be dis likable at first and end up being likable at a latter stage.Another problem is once the film gets started you can already tell where this is going making the film obviously too predictable and that is the main problem for its lack of tension, you can tell whose going to die, you can tell exactly when and where the hunters will strike, it just makes this film an uneventful horror movie experience.Overall, bearing in mind this the director's first film, this was a good effort nonetheless but unfortunately the major flaws render it as just another cliché driven mess, my idea of a good survival horror however is one that can be as intense as possible, sadly this one isn't.

Yeah..it was quite influenced by TCM or other survival genre movies but I think it has its moments. Like it almost started like TCM. The same TCM like van..the time period of 70's...the hitchhiker definitely reminded me the Tobe Hooper's masterpiece but when the survival game & blood shed started I began to like it. There were no chainsaw or Leatherface, the villains were attacking with knife & guns in the woods and there was no record or background shown about them. But the question is..."Does it really matters on the way to enjoy a movie?" A group of young people were getting terrorized & killed by some maniacs in the woods and the victims were trying to escape...the simple math, to see is whether any of them in the end able to survive or not.Though the plot was unoriginal but as it pretty successfully able to entertained me so I didn't mind at all. In this days of crap remakes I think we should at least try to appreciate this kinda effort of putting different shade in this popular sub genre of horror.

Patrick Syversen and Ninni Robsahm must be the most dangerous couple in Norway. Together they transformed the harmonic Norwegian woods into a dark nightmare. When this film kicks in you can either love or hate it, but that's how it should be with this kind of movies.The title music by David Hess(taken from Last House on the Left) sets the mood and from there on you can just lean back and get scared out of your mind. This is not the sterile dreamy and slightly funny kind of horror that we usually see these days. Rovdyr has taken back the hardcore thrill ride story telling we saw in American and Italian horror movies during the 70's.I hope Syversen and Robsahm will continue on the route they have started because they are most interesting as makers of Norwegian horror.