‘Cold Prey Trilogy’ (2006/2008/2010) Limited Edition Blu-ray Review

‘Cold Prey Trilogy’ (2006/2008/2010) Limited Edition Blu-ray Review

Second Sight Films brings the chills Norwegian style as Cold Prey Trilogy is the latest classic horror collection to get the Limited Edition Blu-ray Box Set treatment this July, complete with the obligatory outstanding slew of special features.

The must-have collector’s set is presented in a stunning slip case with brand new artwork and spectacular special features including new interviews and commentaries with cast and filmmakers, a 120-page book full of new essays and much more and is released on 6 July 2026. Please see the full list attached.

For years many people have disappeared in the Norwegian mountains, were they unfortunate accidents or is there something far more sinister lurking in the snow?

In Cold Prey (Fritt Vilt) from director Roar Uthaug (Toom Raider, Troll) we’re introduced to five friends – Jannicke, her boyfriend Eirik and friends, Mikal, Ingunn and Morten – who head to the mountains of Jotunheimen, for a fun-filled snowboarding trip. But when Tobias falls and breaks his leg, they find themselves cut off with no phone reception and seek refuge in an abandoned building, to wait for help.

Little do they know, a mysterious, brutal serial killer known as the Mountain Man stalks the snow-covered landscape in search of victims and when the slasher finds them, it’s murderous mayhem in the mountains. Will any of them make it out alive?

Mats Stenberg’s chilling sequel Cold Prey II follows on from the fear-filled first feature and Mikkel Brænne Sandemose’s Cold Prey III takes us to the 1980s where a group of teenagers visit an abandoned hotel in the Norwegian woods and find themselves hunted by the psychotic chiller killer.

Cold Prey (2006) Review

My first viewing of Cold Prey remains one of my fondest horror cinema memories. I caught the film during the 2007 edition of FrightFest in London’s Leicester Square, my first visit to the renowned genre festival. At the time, I was writing for the horror website EatMyBrains, and attending the event offered the welcome opportunity to finally meet fellow contributors whom I had previously only known through online correspondence.

As an introduction to FrightFest, Cold Prey could hardly have been a better choice. Prior to the screening, the film was completely unknown to me, adding an extra layer of excitement to the experience. Sitting in a darkened auditorium surrounded by fellow horror enthusiasts, I felt as though I had stumbled upon a hidden gem—a film I would later enthusiastically recommend to friends. Released in its native Norway in October 2006, Cold Prey went on to become the country’s highest-grossing domestic film of the year, a success that is easy to understand after watching it.

Director Roar Uthaug delivers a slasher that pays homage to the genre’s familiar conventions without attempting to reinvent them. There is little here that could be described as groundbreaking, but what the film lacks in originality it compensates for with strong execution. The cast are immediately likeable, allowing viewers to become invested in their fate long before the body count begins to rise. As a result, the film generates genuine tension when the inevitable carnage unfolds.

Particularly noteworthy is the film’s resourceful and determined final girl, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal’s Jannicke, who would later return for the sequel. Tough, intelligent and unwilling to surrender, she emerges as something of a Norwegian answer to Ellen Ripley, proving herself to be one of the more memorable protagonists in modern European horror cinema.

The film’s greatest weakness lies in its pacing. At times, Cold Prey moves at a leisurely pace that occasionally borders on lethargic, delaying the momentum that many slasher fans might expect. Nevertheless, the atmospheric snowbound setting, charismatic cast and effective kill sequences more than compensate for these shortcomings.

While it may not revolutionise the slasher genre, Cold Prey stands as a highly entertaining and expertly crafted example of it. More than fifteen years after I first encountered it at FrightFest, it remains one of the most enjoyable European horror films of the 2000s and a title well worth seeking out for genre fans.

Cold Prey 2 (2008) Review

Director Mats Stenberg’s Cold Prey 2 picks up immediately where the original film left off, delivering a sequel that not only continues the story but improves upon its predecessor in several key respects. Ingrid Bolsø Berdal returns as Jannicke, once again proving herself one of modern horror’s most compelling final girls. Bringing the same resilience, determination, and charisma that made her so memorable in the first instalment, Berdal anchors the film with a performance that is both engaging and believable.

While the original Cold Prey was as emotionally cold and clinical as its snowbound setting, Cold Prey 2 feels noticeably warmer and more accessible. There is a greater sense of momentum and entertainment throughout, making it a more enjoyable experience from start to finish.

The film inevitably invites comparisons to John Carpenter’s Halloween II (1981), with its hospital setting and narrative of a surviving heroine pursued once again by a seemingly unstoppable killer. Unlike its American counterpart, however, Cold Prey 2 offers a plausible explanation for the hospital’s sparse staffing and limited number of patients, lending the scenario a welcome degree of credibility.

As a slasher, the film delivers where it matters most. The kills are inventive and satisfyingly brutal, with one particularly memorable neck-snapping sequence standing out among the carnage. More importantly, the sequel embraces a sense of fun that was largely absent from the first film. The pacing is tighter, the tension more effective, and the set-pieces more memorable.

That is not to suggest the original was unsuccessful; it was a solid and competent slasher, albeit one that occasionally felt laboured and detached. Cold Prey 2 sheds those limitations, embracing the genre’s excesses with confidence. It may require viewers to overlook a few lapses in logic—most notably a medical decision that arguably creates more problems than it solves—but such concerns are easily forgiven in a film so committed to delivering thrills.

A near-perfect slasher sequel, Cold Prey 2 builds on the foundations of the original while offering a more exciting, entertaining, and crowd-pleasing experience.

Cold Prey 3 (2010) Review

Cold Prey 3 proves to be the weakest entry in the otherwise solid Norwegian slasher trilogy. As a prequel to the first two films, its purpose is to explain how the young boy who disappeared years earlier survived, matured, and ultimately became the ruthless killer audiences encountered in the previous instalments. Unfortunately, the film shows little interest in exploring that transformation in any meaningful depth.

While the story briefly hints at the origins of its antagonist, it rushes through the most intriguing aspects of his development in favour of reverting to familiar slasher conventions. This is particularly disappointing given that the premise offers the opportunity for a more psychologically engaging exploration of the character. Instead, the film settles into a predictable formula that lacks both tension and originality.

The earlier entries each brought something distinctive to the series. The original Cold Prey excelled through its icy, unsettling atmosphere, while the sequel embraced its increasingly implausible narrative with enough energy and commitment to remain entertaining. By contrast, Cold Prey 3 feels surprisingly pedestrian. Its 1980s setting contributes little beyond maintaining continuity within the timeline, with only occasional bursts of Kim Wilde’s 1987 hit “Keep Me Hanging On” serving as reminders of the era.

One of the film’s more notable moments depicts the killer’s first human victim and the subsequent reprimand from his reclusive uncle, who insists that animals are fair game, but humans are not. It is a scene that hints at deeper thematic possibilities, yet the film fails to build upon them in any meaningful way.

The result is a slow, uninvolving, and ultimately forgettable horror film. Like many genre prequels, Cold Prey 3 feels less like a story that needed to be told and more like a commercially motivated attempt to extend an existing franchise. The film does at least benefit from striking scenery, exchanging the snowbound landscapes of its predecessors for a warmer, more verdant setting that offers some visual appeal. However, attractive locations alone cannot compensate for a narrative that struggles to justify its own existence.

As horror prequels go, Cold Prey 3 serves as a reminder that not every villain requires an origin story. Some mysteries are better left unsolved.

REVIEW

Cold Prey Special Features

• A new audio commentary with director Roar Uthaug and actor Ingrid Bolsø Berdal
• This is the Vibe: a new interview with director Roar Uthaug
• Draw the Process: a new interview with actor Ingrid Bolsø Berdal
• Alternative Ending
• Behind the Scenes
• The Visual FX of Cold Prey
• Car Scenes Bloopers
• Short Film: Mountain Rose Runs Amok
• Short Film: An Evening in the Green
• Music Video: Bloodlights “One Eye Open”
  •
  Cold Prey II Special Features
• A new audio commentary with director Mats Stenberg
• A Blessing and A Curse: a new interview with director Mats Stenberg
• Dissociation: a new interview with actor Ingrid Bolsø Berdal
• Stepping Aside: a new interview with associate producer Roar Uthaug
• Behind the Scenes
• Bloopers
• Extended / Deleted Scenes
  Cold Prey III Special Features
• A new audio commentary by Christer Andresen and Phillip Escott
• Behind the Scenes
  Limited Edition Contents
• Rigid slipcase with new artwork by James Neal
• 120-page book with new essays by Matt Donato, JA Kerswell, Justin LaLiberty, Paul Lé’s Ariel Power-Schaub
  and Nathaniel Thompson
• Five collectors’ art cards