Frostbiten
Encyclopedia
Frostbite is a Swedish
comedy
horror film
from 2006 directed by Anders Banke
.
The film was produced outside the bigger Swedish films studios, which would be considered an independent film
in America. It is not considered an independent film in Sweden as it received support from the Swedish Film Institute.
As well as the horror theme, various parts also have pure humour elements, and it is considered a horror/comedy by some newspapers that rated it. The film takes place in a small town in northern Sweden during midwinter, making the environment perfect for vampires because there are no sun hours during the dark and cold Nordic winter days. The vampire infection is brought to the area by the sole survivor of a Scandinavian SS
unit that was attacked by a female vampire in a peasant's hut in Ukraine
, during World War Two. The infection then lies dormant until, many years later, the theft of mysterious red capsules from a local hospital and the ingestion of them by a group of teenagers at a party leads to an outbreak of delirious mayhem and bloodshed as the young party-goers are transformed into vampires.
Despite having a similar concept to American horror movie 30 Days of Night
, the movies are almost completely different. It's highly possible that the producers were not aware of each other's work. However, the 2008 comic 30 Days of Night: Red Snow
, which has written long after the publication of Frostbiten, has more in common with Frostbiten than the original 30 Days of Night. All of these stories were pre-dated by an issue of Tales from the Crypt
and an adaptation of that story in the television series of the same name entitled "Comes the Dawn".
1944. The remnants of 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking
are fleeing from The Red Army. A small platoon partly made up of Swedish volunteers escape into the vast and frozen Ukrainian forests. They find an abandoned cabin and take shelter there. As they go to bed they are attacked by a vampire
woman who kills two of the soldiers. The other soldiers seemingly kills it and one of the Swedish volunteers find a hidden crypt beneth the cabin. In the crypt he finds a coffin belong to the child vampire Maria. Maria tries to escape her coffin but the soldiers buries her.
, doctor Annika and her teenage daughter Saga are moving to a town in Lappland, so Annika can work close to the famous Swedish geneticist Gerhard Beckert. Since Lappland is located above the arctic circle
, the polar night
has begun, meaning that there is one month until dawn, with only a few hours of twilight each day before complete darkness, much to Saga's dismay. Just a few blocks away from their new home, a local biker is attacked and killed by an unseen creature.
The next day Annika is shown around the local hospital, where she is introduced to Beckert, who since a year back in taking care of a comatose patient. She is also introduced to medical students Sebastian and Lucas. Saga goes to school and is harassed by a strange goth named Vega, who behaves as if she had known Saga her entire life. She invites Saga to a party that is going to be held at her friend John's house. Vega's other friends are Cornelia(who is Sebastians girlfriend), the immigrant girl Cissi and heavy metal fans Joel and Robert.
At the hospital, beckert sneaks into the morgue and drives a stake into the heart of the dead biker, revealing him to be a vampire. Sebastian comes across a red pill in the comatose patient's room. He shows the pill to Lucas, who jokes about that the pill is a drug and Sebastian tests the pill. On his way home strange things happen. He starts to develop super hearing and improved vision, is tormented by an extreme thirst and has a encounters with a dog who talks to him. Sebastian returns to the hospital and breaks into Beckert's private lab. He finds and steals an entire can of the red pills. When returning home he is soon visited by Vega, who has paid him to fix drugs for the party. Sebastian claims he doesn't have any, though Vega thinks he's holding out. Sebastian realises that he has forgotten that he was going to Cornelia's parents house to eat with them. Sebastian runs off. Vega finds the can with the red pills and mistakes them for drugs and brings them to John's house which then John and Joel takes. Annika looks after the comatose patient and discovers that she has no pulse. Seconds later the patient bites Annika in the arm. Annika searches up Beckert, who just discovered that his lab had been broken into and tells him what just happened. Beckert appears to be helpful, but beats Annika unconscious with a hammer.
Sebastian arrives at Cornelia's house, where he discovers that his mirror image is fading. To make matters worse the dinner is garlic baked trout. Sebastian finally eases his thirst by sneaking away and draining Cornelia's brother's pet bunny of blood. Saga goes out to join the party, being stalked by the same unseen creature that killed the biker. However, Saga makes it to the party alive and is greeted by John, who is beginning to feel the pill's effects. Wanting to "get the party going" John puts a few of the pills in the punch-bowl causing several unknowing party goers (among them Vega) to be infected. At the hospital, Annika wakes up tied up in what appears to be a secret lab. One of the soldiers from the beginning of the movie shows up and demands that Annika tells her where the pills are. When he understands that Annika knows nothing about the pills he tries to stake her, but Annika breaks free and takes his stake and demands to get to know what is happening. The soldier tells her about the cabin, and that he was bitten while burning the vampire woman. He then killed his comrades and dug up Maria's coffin and brought it to Sweden. Annika laughs in disbelief until the soldier transforms into the elderly Beckert, which is a twist since Beckert up to this point have seemed to be the "Abraham van Helsing
" of the film.
Sebastian's transformation completes, his mirror image disappears and he feels his new fangs. He flees Cornelia's house and makes his way home. Saga, who has started to befriend Joel, tries to help him as he suddenly feels sick and takes him to the bathroom. John succumbs to his vampirism and starts to maul several partgoers, among them Cissi. Saga and Joel are oblivious to the bloodbath outside. Joel's eyes hurt and he asks Saga to turn off the light. Saga does so for a brief time, during which Joel's eyes begin to glow red and when she turns the light on, Joel is gone. Saga hears the cries of terror from outside, who suddenly becomes quiet.
Beckert tells Annika that he has been trying to find a cure for vampirism using Maria as source for vampire blood. He also reveals that he has been modifying himself to become a stronger creature and his intent to create a new species
. He says he has tried to "upgrade" Maria to become like him, but she has refused. Beckert mutters she is a
outdated just like Annika. Annika is frightened by Beckert's comment and Beckert reveals that Annika is turing into a vampire. The comapatient is his guneia pig. Beckert tries to kill Annika, who slashes his throat with a scalpel and proceeds to liberate Maria. Behind her Beckert transforms into a horrifying creature and starts to chase Annika through the hospital while her transformation becomes apparent.
Former Stockholm
police officer Jacob is called in to interrogate Sebastian who has been arrested. His collagues are unable to explain what the problem is. The other police forces him to gear up in a complete riotsuit and Jacob thinks they are crazy. Jacob barely makes it out of the interogation alive and Sebastian is locked in to the interrogation room with armed guards outside. Saga walks out of the bathroom and finds the walls and floor covered in the blood and body parts of the party goers. She looks behind her to see Joel, grinning at her from the celling. Saga backs away from him and spots John who is calmly sitting in the middle of the carnage and listen to music. John grimly laughs at Saga and starts to chase her through the house. Saga escapes into the basement. In the basement Saga meets up with Vega, who has also become a vampire. Saga fights her, with both of them ending up unconscious. At the hospital, Beckert chases Annika to the ambulas garage where she manages to impale him. She then runs him over, finishing him of.
Meanwhile John's calls the police, complaining that the teens are making too much noise, "and climbing the walls", oblvious the fact that the teens are vampires.
Jacob and ahis partner Mona arrives to John's house and are greeted by a group of vampires. The vampires push the two officers back, and Cissi attempt to handcuff them. The hysterical Mona tells Jacob to call for so much fucking backup.
Saga and Vega wake up, and Saga uses two sticks to form a cross. Vega points out that Saga holds them like an "X". Saga pushes a shelf over Vega and escapes through a window. Vega follows and tries to bite her. Saga beats Vega in the head and pushes her onto a gardening gnome, impaling her on it, as Vega lamnensts that it was the lamest death ever. The vampires start to overrun the town. Saga runs into Jacob, who almost shoots her before realising that she is still human. Jacob puts Saga in an ambulance that drives her away to safety. As Jacob, Mona and the other police are surrounded by the vampires, Jacob comments how the situation just can't be happening and John taunts him by saying:
Don't worry. This will be over any minute. Dawn is... just a month away!
The screen then cuts to black.
, turing up the radio which is playing Diablic Scheme by The Hives
.
. Daniel Ojanlatva had grown up in Norrland
and thought it was just right to add vampires. Originally the film was set to be a Pulp Fiction
-style movie with several stories and characters that went in and out of them and was going to be called Something Wicked this Way Comes. Pidde Andersson joined the crew and did some work on the dialog and suggested the new title Frostbiten. The movie was mostly shot in Kalix
in the winter of 2005 and the board scenes was shot in the Ystad Studios. Anthony Lledo
, who had worked with Anders Banke before, was selected to write the score. The producers drew inspiration from vampire films such as The Lost Boys
, Fright Night
and The Fearless Vampire Killers
and Peter Jackson's Bad Taste
.
Petra Nielsen
was cast as Annika; she was always Banke's first choice for the part. Grete Havensköld, who had starred in Astrid Lindgren
films as a child was cast as Annika's daughter Saga. Per Löfberg had been in the hit romcom Ha ett underbart liv and in the cult film Evil Ed
and was cast in a then secret role, and Carl-Åke Eriksson had played small parts in several films and television series was cast as the professor. Most of the cast were selected in open auditions.
The producers had trouble finding a Swedish distributor for their film, until Paramount
took over the DVD sales after seeing only the 20 first minutes of the film. The theatrical release was nationwide but still limited.
In the promotin, mostly through the now defunct Beckert website, moviegoers were deceived that Gerhard Beckert would be the "Abraham van Helsing
" of the film.
. The special effects were delayed as several of the animators were employed for Peter Jackson
s King Kong
. Ulitka Post created the opening title, removed wires and created the long, physically impossible take in the cabin scene. Fido Film did all the creature design, created the diffrent vampires, animated the talking mouths on the dogs and and created the knifestabbings. CGI and practical effects were heavly mixed. The hideous supervampire that appears at the end was played by actor Kristian Pehrsson wearing a fullbody suit. Over 300 fx shots are in the film, which is the current Swedish record.
. An album featuring most of the music is available on iTunes Store. Missing from the album is Tyomnaja Notch by Leonid Utyosov
that is played over the opening credits. The name of the song means "Dark Night".
Other than the score the soundtrack is mostly made up of Swedish pop- and rock-music, among those Millencolin
, Raised Fist
, Langhorns
, Quit Your Dayjob
, Son Kite and then newcomers BWO. Diabolic Scheme by The Hives
is played over the closing credits.
on February 3, 2006. The response from Swedish reviewers was mostly mediocre, with a few exceptions. The movie did very average at the box office in Sweden and seemed to be a failure. That all changed however at the Cannes film festival
, where the movie was applauded, and sold for distribution to over 40 countries. According to the producers, Frostbiten became the first horror movie ever to be screened in North Korea
. The movie was a big hit in Russia
and opened for Anders Banke's career in the Russian film industry. Frostbiten was by far the most popular Swedish movie on the foreign markets that year.
The response was very mixed. In Sweden the film was met with mediocre to negative reviews. Aftonbladet gave it a 3/5 score, calling it an enjoyable horror film. Expressen
panned the film, calling it "a meaningless splatterfilm". Swedish filmsite Moviemix gave the film a 5/6, but said the film did not deliver the splatter climax he wanted at the end.
The reception was better internationally; Bloody Disgusting
gave the film 8/10, calling it a masterpiece, saying that the film had a strong cast and the film the most enjoyable vampire film since the 80s, and the horror site Eatmybrains.com gave it 4/5 stars. Film4
gave the film 3.5/5, saying that the wartime neutrality of Sweden theme and anxieties about migration (Becket dishonestly sneaking into Sweden and creating a master race) made the reviewer uncomfortable and it took away some of the fun.
Most critics praised Emma Åberg's performance as Vega, saying that she stole every scene she was in. Jonas Karlström also recived praise for his part.
Frostbiten won the best film award at Fantasporto
and collected the several awards at Screamfest.
, the movie takes place in a frozen environment and has vampires who bite people in it. The original title was Something wicked this way comes. The producers liked the title Frostbiten more since it was more international, and by just cutting the last letter they had an English title. Teasers and trailers on film festivals therefor wore the name Frostbite. However, it was only called Frostbite in U.K.. In the U.S. the movie is called Frostbitten, the exact translation of the original title.
movie (unless you consider Ingmar Bergman
's Hour of the Wolf
to count).
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
from 2006 directed by Anders Banke
Anders Banke
Anders Banke is a Swedish director. He was born and raised in Ystad and developed an early interest in film. He was trained as a director at VGIK in Moscow and learned to speak Russian. There he meet his friend and future collaborator Chris Maris...
.
The film was produced outside the bigger Swedish films studios, which would be considered an independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
in America. It is not considered an independent film in Sweden as it received support from the Swedish Film Institute.
As well as the horror theme, various parts also have pure humour elements, and it is considered a horror/comedy by some newspapers that rated it. The film takes place in a small town in northern Sweden during midwinter, making the environment perfect for vampires because there are no sun hours during the dark and cold Nordic winter days. The vampire infection is brought to the area by the sole survivor of a Scandinavian SS
Germanic-SS
The Germanic SS was the collective name given to SS groups which arose in Occupied Europe between 1939 and 1945.The units were modeled on the Allgemeine-SS in Nazi Germany...
unit that was attacked by a female vampire in a peasant's hut in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, during World War Two. The infection then lies dormant until, many years later, the theft of mysterious red capsules from a local hospital and the ingestion of them by a group of teenagers at a party leads to an outbreak of delirious mayhem and bloodshed as the young party-goers are transformed into vampires.
Despite having a similar concept to American horror movie 30 Days of Night
30 Days of Night (film)
30 Days of Night is a 2007 American horror film based on the comic book miniseries of the same name. The film is directed by David Slade and stars Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, and Danny Huston...
, the movies are almost completely different. It's highly possible that the producers were not aware of each other's work. However, the 2008 comic 30 Days of Night: Red Snow
30 Days of Night: Red Snow
30 Days of Night: Red Snow is a prequel to the comic 30 Days of Night.-Collected editions:* 30 Days of Night: Red Snow paperback -Lilly:...
, which has written long after the publication of Frostbiten, has more in common with Frostbiten than the original 30 Days of Night. All of these stories were pre-dated by an issue of Tales from the Crypt
Tales from the Crypt
Tales from the Crypt may refer to:* Tales from the Crypt , a comic book published by EC Comics during the 1950s** Tales from the Crypt , a 1972 Amicus film starring Ralph Richardson partially based on the comic book...
and an adaptation of that story in the television series of the same name entitled "Comes the Dawn".
Prologe
UkraineUkraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
1944. The remnants of 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking
5th SS Panzer Division Wiking
The 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking was one of the elite Panzer divisions of the thirty eight Waffen SS divisions. It was recruited from foreign volunteers, from Scandinavia, Finland, Estonia, The Netherlands, and Belgium under the command of German officers...
are fleeing from The Red Army. A small platoon partly made up of Swedish volunteers escape into the vast and frozen Ukrainian forests. They find an abandoned cabin and take shelter there. As they go to bed they are attacked by a vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
woman who kills two of the soldiers. The other soldiers seemingly kills it and one of the Swedish volunteers find a hidden crypt beneth the cabin. In the crypt he finds a coffin belong to the child vampire Maria. Maria tries to escape her coffin but the soldiers buries her.
Main story
In present day SwedenSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, doctor Annika and her teenage daughter Saga are moving to a town in Lappland, so Annika can work close to the famous Swedish geneticist Gerhard Beckert. Since Lappland is located above the arctic circle
Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs north of the Equator....
, the polar night
Polar night
The polar night occurs when the night lasts for more than 24 hours. This occurs only inside the polar circles. The opposite phenomenon, the polar day, or midnight sun, occurs when the sun stays above the horizon for more than 24 hours.-Description:...
has begun, meaning that there is one month until dawn, with only a few hours of twilight each day before complete darkness, much to Saga's dismay. Just a few blocks away from their new home, a local biker is attacked and killed by an unseen creature.
The next day Annika is shown around the local hospital, where she is introduced to Beckert, who since a year back in taking care of a comatose patient. She is also introduced to medical students Sebastian and Lucas. Saga goes to school and is harassed by a strange goth named Vega, who behaves as if she had known Saga her entire life. She invites Saga to a party that is going to be held at her friend John's house. Vega's other friends are Cornelia(who is Sebastians girlfriend), the immigrant girl Cissi and heavy metal fans Joel and Robert.
At the hospital, beckert sneaks into the morgue and drives a stake into the heart of the dead biker, revealing him to be a vampire. Sebastian comes across a red pill in the comatose patient's room. He shows the pill to Lucas, who jokes about that the pill is a drug and Sebastian tests the pill. On his way home strange things happen. He starts to develop super hearing and improved vision, is tormented by an extreme thirst and has a encounters with a dog who talks to him. Sebastian returns to the hospital and breaks into Beckert's private lab. He finds and steals an entire can of the red pills. When returning home he is soon visited by Vega, who has paid him to fix drugs for the party. Sebastian claims he doesn't have any, though Vega thinks he's holding out. Sebastian realises that he has forgotten that he was going to Cornelia's parents house to eat with them. Sebastian runs off. Vega finds the can with the red pills and mistakes them for drugs and brings them to John's house which then John and Joel takes. Annika looks after the comatose patient and discovers that she has no pulse. Seconds later the patient bites Annika in the arm. Annika searches up Beckert, who just discovered that his lab had been broken into and tells him what just happened. Beckert appears to be helpful, but beats Annika unconscious with a hammer.
Sebastian arrives at Cornelia's house, where he discovers that his mirror image is fading. To make matters worse the dinner is garlic baked trout. Sebastian finally eases his thirst by sneaking away and draining Cornelia's brother's pet bunny of blood. Saga goes out to join the party, being stalked by the same unseen creature that killed the biker. However, Saga makes it to the party alive and is greeted by John, who is beginning to feel the pill's effects. Wanting to "get the party going" John puts a few of the pills in the punch-bowl causing several unknowing party goers (among them Vega) to be infected. At the hospital, Annika wakes up tied up in what appears to be a secret lab. One of the soldiers from the beginning of the movie shows up and demands that Annika tells her where the pills are. When he understands that Annika knows nothing about the pills he tries to stake her, but Annika breaks free and takes his stake and demands to get to know what is happening. The soldier tells her about the cabin, and that he was bitten while burning the vampire woman. He then killed his comrades and dug up Maria's coffin and brought it to Sweden. Annika laughs in disbelief until the soldier transforms into the elderly Beckert, which is a twist since Beckert up to this point have seemed to be the "Abraham van Helsing
Abraham Van Helsing
Professor Abraham van Helsing is a protagonist from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.Van Helsing is a Dutch doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "M.D., D.Ph., D.Litt., etc." The character is best known as a...
" of the film.
Sebastian's transformation completes, his mirror image disappears and he feels his new fangs. He flees Cornelia's house and makes his way home. Saga, who has started to befriend Joel, tries to help him as he suddenly feels sick and takes him to the bathroom. John succumbs to his vampirism and starts to maul several partgoers, among them Cissi. Saga and Joel are oblivious to the bloodbath outside. Joel's eyes hurt and he asks Saga to turn off the light. Saga does so for a brief time, during which Joel's eyes begin to glow red and when she turns the light on, Joel is gone. Saga hears the cries of terror from outside, who suddenly becomes quiet.
Beckert tells Annika that he has been trying to find a cure for vampirism using Maria as source for vampire blood. He also reveals that he has been modifying himself to become a stronger creature and his intent to create a new species
Master race
Master race was a phrase and concept originating in the slave-holding Southern US. The later phrase Herrenvolk , interpreted as 'master race', was a concept in Nazi ideology in which the Nordic peoples, one of the branches of what in the late-19th and early-20th century was called the Aryan race,...
. He says he has tried to "upgrade" Maria to become like him, but she has refused. Beckert mutters she is a
outdated just like Annika. Annika is frightened by Beckert's comment and Beckert reveals that Annika is turing into a vampire. The comapatient is his guneia pig. Beckert tries to kill Annika, who slashes his throat with a scalpel and proceeds to liberate Maria. Behind her Beckert transforms into a horrifying creature and starts to chase Annika through the hospital while her transformation becomes apparent.
Former Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
police officer Jacob is called in to interrogate Sebastian who has been arrested. His collagues are unable to explain what the problem is. The other police forces him to gear up in a complete riotsuit and Jacob thinks they are crazy. Jacob barely makes it out of the interogation alive and Sebastian is locked in to the interrogation room with armed guards outside. Saga walks out of the bathroom and finds the walls and floor covered in the blood and body parts of the party goers. She looks behind her to see Joel, grinning at her from the celling. Saga backs away from him and spots John who is calmly sitting in the middle of the carnage and listen to music. John grimly laughs at Saga and starts to chase her through the house. Saga escapes into the basement. In the basement Saga meets up with Vega, who has also become a vampire. Saga fights her, with both of them ending up unconscious. At the hospital, Beckert chases Annika to the ambulas garage where she manages to impale him. She then runs him over, finishing him of.
Meanwhile John's calls the police, complaining that the teens are making too much noise, "and climbing the walls", oblvious the fact that the teens are vampires.
Jacob and ahis partner Mona arrives to John's house and are greeted by a group of vampires. The vampires push the two officers back, and Cissi attempt to handcuff them. The hysterical Mona tells Jacob to call for so much fucking backup.
Saga and Vega wake up, and Saga uses two sticks to form a cross. Vega points out that Saga holds them like an "X". Saga pushes a shelf over Vega and escapes through a window. Vega follows and tries to bite her. Saga beats Vega in the head and pushes her onto a gardening gnome, impaling her on it, as Vega lamnensts that it was the lamest death ever. The vampires start to overrun the town. Saga runs into Jacob, who almost shoots her before realising that she is still human. Jacob puts Saga in an ambulance that drives her away to safety. As Jacob, Mona and the other police are surrounded by the vampires, Jacob comments how the situation just can't be happening and John taunts him by saying:
Don't worry. This will be over any minute. Dawn is... just a month away!
The screen then cuts to black.
Epilogue
In the ambulance Saga meets a little girl(whom the audience will recongince as Maria) who enigmaticly claims they are sisters. Saga looks into the drivers seat and finds the now vampire Annika there. Annika drives south towards StockholmStockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, turing up the radio which is playing Diablic Scheme by The Hives
The Hives
The Hives are a Swedish garage rock band that first garnered attention in the early 2000s as a prominent group of the garage rock revival. Their mainstream success came with the release of the "greatest hits" album Your New Favourite Band, featuring their most well-known song "Hate to Say I Told...
.
Production
The first draft of Frostbiten was finished in 1998. Ander Banke and Magnus Paulsson had been trying to make a Swedish horror film for years but with little success, until a script by Daniel Ojanlatva was sent to them about vampires showing up in NorrlandNorrland
Norrland is one of the three lands of Sweden , the northern part, consisting of nine provinces. The term Norrland is not used for any administrative purpose, but it is common in everyday language, e.g...
. Daniel Ojanlatva had grown up in Norrland
Norrland
Norrland is one of the three lands of Sweden , the northern part, consisting of nine provinces. The term Norrland is not used for any administrative purpose, but it is common in everyday language, e.g...
and thought it was just right to add vampires. Originally the film was set to be a Pulp Fiction
Pulp fiction
Pulp fiction may refer to:* pulp magazines, short stories presented in a magazine format, printed on cheaply made wood-pulp paper* Pulp Fiction, a 1994 film directed by Quentin Tarantino...
-style movie with several stories and characters that went in and out of them and was going to be called Something Wicked this Way Comes. Pidde Andersson joined the crew and did some work on the dialog and suggested the new title Frostbiten. The movie was mostly shot in Kalix
Kalix
Kalix is a locality and the seat of the Kalix Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. The name Kalix is believed to have come from nomadic tribes, possibly of Sapmí origin, and is derived from the word "Kalasätno", meaning "The cold river"...
in the winter of 2005 and the board scenes was shot in the Ystad Studios. Anthony Lledo
Anthony Lledo
Anthony Lledo is a Danish composer.Anthony Lledo has composed music for film and television since the mid-1990s. His credits include the score for the Swedish hit film Frostbiten for which he won the 'Best Score' award at Screamfest Horror Film Festival in Los Angeles in 2006, the Russian action...
, who had worked with Anders Banke before, was selected to write the score. The producers drew inspiration from vampire films such as The Lost Boys
The Lost Boys
The Lost Boys is a 1987 American teen comedy horror film directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Kiefer Sutherland, Jami Gertz, Corey Feldman, Dianne Wiest, Edward Herrmann, Alex Winter, Jamison Newlander, and Barnard Hughes....
, Fright Night
Fright Night
# "Fright Night" – 3:45# "You Can't Hide from the Beast Inside" – 4:14# "Good Man in a Bad Time" – 3:41# "Rock Myself to Sleep" – 2:57# "Let's Talk" – 2:52# "Armies of the Night" – 4:34...
and The Fearless Vampire Killers
The Fearless Vampire Killers
The Fearless Vampire Killers is a 1967 comedy horror film directed by Roman Polanski, written by Gérard Brach and Polanski, produced by Gene Gutowski and co-starring Polanski with future wife Sharon Tate...
and Peter Jackson's Bad Taste
Bad Taste
Bad Taste is a 1987 cult science fiction comedy horror film. Produced on a low budget, it is one of the first films directed by Peter Jackson. The film features Jackson and his friends taking a number of key roles, both on and off-screen...
.
Petra Nielsen
Petra Nielsen
Petra Nielsen is a Swedish singer and actress. She has starred on Broadway during her career. Her mother is Swedish actress Monica Nielsen and her father Adam Inczédy-Gombos. She is best known for her appearances at the Chinatheater in Stockholm in the 1990s, in musicals including Grease and Fame...
was cast as Annika; she was always Banke's first choice for the part. Grete Havensköld, who had starred in Astrid Lindgren
Astrid Lindgren
Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren , 14 November 1907 – 28 January 2002) was a Swedish author and screenwriter who is the world's 25th most translated author and has sold roughly 145 million copies worldwide...
films as a child was cast as Annika's daughter Saga. Per Löfberg had been in the hit romcom Ha ett underbart liv and in the cult film Evil Ed
Evil Ed
Evil Ed is a 1997 Swedish horror comedy film directed by musician Anders Jacobsson.The film parodies and pays homage to numerous American horror classics, most notably the Evil Dead films, Halloween, The Silence of the Lambs, and The Shining.The film is a satire towards the harsh censoring that the...
and was cast in a then secret role, and Carl-Åke Eriksson had played small parts in several films and television series was cast as the professor. Most of the cast were selected in open auditions.
The producers had trouble finding a Swedish distributor for their film, until Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
took over the DVD sales after seeing only the 20 first minutes of the film. The theatrical release was nationwide but still limited.
In the promotin, mostly through the now defunct Beckert website, moviegoers were deceived that Gerhard Beckert would be the "Abraham van Helsing
Abraham Van Helsing
Professor Abraham van Helsing is a protagonist from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.Van Helsing is a Dutch doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "M.D., D.Ph., D.Litt., etc." The character is best known as a...
" of the film.
Special Effects
Frostbite was the most special effects heavy film ever made in Sweden at that time, and two companies were employed to handle them all. Swedish effect company Fido Film and Ulitka Post, the same team who did special effects for Night WatchNight Watch (2004 film)
Night Watch is a 2004 Russian supernatural thriller film directed by Timur Bekmambetov. It is loosely based on the novel The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko, and is the first part of a trilogy, followed by Day Watch and ending supposedly with Twilight Watch .-Plot:In the prologue, which...
. The special effects were delayed as several of the animators were employed for Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
s King Kong
King Kong (2005 film)
King Kong is a 2005 fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson. It is a remake of the 1933 film of the same name and stars Naomi Watts, Jack Black and Adrien Brody. Andy Serkis, through performance capture, portrays Kong....
. Ulitka Post created the opening title, removed wires and created the long, physically impossible take in the cabin scene. Fido Film did all the creature design, created the diffrent vampires, animated the talking mouths on the dogs and and created the knifestabbings. CGI and practical effects were heavly mixed. The hideous supervampire that appears at the end was played by actor Kristian Pehrsson wearing a fullbody suit. Over 300 fx shots are in the film, which is the current Swedish record.
Cast
- Grete Havnesköld – Saga
- Petra NielsenPetra NielsenPetra Nielsen is a Swedish singer and actress. She has starred on Broadway during her career. Her mother is Swedish actress Monica Nielsen and her father Adam Inczédy-Gombos. She is best known for her appearances at the Chinatheater in Stockholm in the 1990s, in musicals including Grease and Fame...
– Annika - Carl-Åke Eriksson – Dr. Beckert
- Emma ÅbergEmma ÅbergEmma Åberg is a Swedish actress and producer undoubtedly most known for her critically acclaimed role as the vampire Vega in the Swedish hit horror film Frostbite. She made her film debut in the 2004 remake of Language of Love....
– Vega - Jonas Karlström – Sebastian
- Mikael Göransson – Officer Jacob
- Niklas Grönberg – John
- Per LöfbergEvil EdEvil Ed is a 1997 Swedish horror comedy film directed by musician Anders Jacobsson.The film parodies and pays homage to numerous American horror classics, most notably the Evil Dead films, Halloween, The Silence of the Lambs, and The Shining.The film is a satire towards the harsh censoring that the...
- Young Beckert - Nour El-Refai – Cornelia
- Gustav Johansson – Joel
- Måns Nathanaelson – Lucas
- Linnea Jonsson – Cissi
- Malin Vulcano – Ukrainian vampire
- Aurora Roald – Maria
- Mikael Tornving – Policeman 1
- Isidor Torkar – Cornelia's father (priest)
- Erik Dalin – Sander the Biker
- Thomas HedengranThomas Hedengran-Biography:Hedengran has become a well known actor in many Swedish television series and films. He has also worked as a stage actor in Lorden från gränden and Intiman....
- Doctor
Music
The music was composed by Anthony LledoAnthony Lledo
Anthony Lledo is a Danish composer.Anthony Lledo has composed music for film and television since the mid-1990s. His credits include the score for the Swedish hit film Frostbiten for which he won the 'Best Score' award at Screamfest Horror Film Festival in Los Angeles in 2006, the Russian action...
. An album featuring most of the music is available on iTunes Store. Missing from the album is Tyomnaja Notch by Leonid Utyosov
Leonid Utyosov
Leonid Osipovich Utyosov or Utesov ; real name Lazar Vaysbeyn or Weissbein , was a famous Soviet jazz singer and comic actor of jewish origin, who became the first pop singer to be awarded the prestigious title of People's Artist of the USSR .-Biography:Leonid Utyosov was brought up in Odessa...
that is played over the opening credits. The name of the song means "Dark Night".
Other than the score the soundtrack is mostly made up of Swedish pop- and rock-music, among those Millencolin
Millencolin
Millencolin is a punk rock band that was formed in October 1992 by Nikola Šarčević, Mathias Färm, and Erik Ohlsson in Örebro, Sweden. In early 1993, drummer Fredrik Larzon joined the band...
, Raised Fist
Raised Fist
Raised Fist is a Swedish hardcore band formed in 1993.-History:The name "Raised Fist" came as an idea from the Rage Against the Machine song "Know Your Enemy", where part of the lyrics are as follows: "Born with an insight and a raised fist..." The band has become more successful over the years,...
, Langhorns
Langhorns
Langhorns is an instrumental surf music band from Lund, Sweden. The members are:* Michael Sellers - guitar * Martin Berglund - bass* Rikard Swardh - drums...
, Quit Your Dayjob
Quit Your Dayjob
Quit Your Dayjob is a Swedish dance-punk band originating from Malmö/Scania, Sweden made up of Jonass , Marcass and Drumass . They were signed to Bad Taste Records in Sweden.-Albums:*2004: Quit Your Dayjob...
, Son Kite and then newcomers BWO. Diabolic Scheme by The Hives
The Hives
The Hives are a Swedish garage rock band that first garnered attention in the early 2000s as a prominent group of the garage rock revival. Their mainstream success came with the release of the "greatest hits" album Your New Favourite Band, featuring their most well-known song "Hate to Say I Told...
is played over the closing credits.
- "War" 1:23
- "Ukraine" 1944 0:53
- "Abandoned Cabin" 1:34
- "The Vampire" 2:08
- "The Coffin" 3:35
- "Saga" 0:31
- "Stake Through The Heart" 0:48
- "Talking Dog / The Kitchen" 2:03
- "Rufus, Lord Of Evil" 0:30
- "Beckert's Story" 4:48
- "Sebastian's Transformation" 1:46
- "Lamppost Lunch" 0:42
- "You Are One of Us" 1:39
- "They're All Dead / John Attacks" 1:43
- "The Hunt" 2:19
- "There You Are..." 0:56
- "Like An X" 0:41
- "Annika Stabs Beckert" 0:42
- "Hit The Lights" 0:57
- "Get The Hell Out Of Here" 0:41
- "Maria" 0:45
- "Frostbite Trailer" 1:01
Release
The film opened at Gothenburg Film FestivalGothenburg Film Festival
Göteborg International Film Festival is an annual film festival in Gothenburg, Sweden, launched in 1979. The first year the festival showed 17 films on 3 screens, and had 3 000 visitors. Today, the film festival is the biggest in Scandinavia and takes place 10 days every year between January and...
on February 3, 2006. The response from Swedish reviewers was mostly mediocre, with a few exceptions. The movie did very average at the box office in Sweden and seemed to be a failure. That all changed however at the Cannes film festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, where the movie was applauded, and sold for distribution to over 40 countries. According to the producers, Frostbiten became the first horror movie ever to be screened in North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
. The movie was a big hit in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and opened for Anders Banke's career in the Russian film industry. Frostbiten was by far the most popular Swedish movie on the foreign markets that year.
The response was very mixed. In Sweden the film was met with mediocre to negative reviews. Aftonbladet gave it a 3/5 score, calling it an enjoyable horror film. Expressen
Expressen
Expressen is one of two nationwide evening tabloid newspapers in Sweden, the other being Aftonbladet. Expressen was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and slogans "it stings" or "Expressen to your rescue", always on the reader's side....
panned the film, calling it "a meaningless splatterfilm". Swedish filmsite Moviemix gave the film a 5/6, but said the film did not deliver the splatter climax he wanted at the end.
The reception was better internationally; Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting is a website that covers horror movies with reviews, interviews and news. It is currently run by Brad Miska, and Tom Owen. According to one source, the site has 1.5 million unique visitors and 20 million page views each month. It is widely considered to be the "world's most...
gave the film 8/10, calling it a masterpiece, saying that the film had a strong cast and the film the most enjoyable vampire film since the 80s, and the horror site Eatmybrains.com gave it 4/5 stars. Film4
Film4
Film4 is a free digital television channel available in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned and operated by Channel 4, that screens films.-Programming:...
gave the film 3.5/5, saying that the wartime neutrality of Sweden theme and anxieties about migration (Becket dishonestly sneaking into Sweden and creating a master race) made the reviewer uncomfortable and it took away some of the fun.
Most critics praised Emma Åberg's performance as Vega, saying that she stole every scene she was in. Jonas Karlström also recived praise for his part.
Frostbiten won the best film award at Fantasporto
Fantasporto
Fantasporto, also known as Fantas, is an international film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal. Giving screen space to commercial feature films, auteur films and experimental projects from all over the world, Fantasporto has created enthusiastic audiences, ranging from...
and collected the several awards at Screamfest.
Title
The title is an obvious play on frostbiteFrostbite
Frostbite is the medical condition where localized damage is caused to skin and other tissues due to extreme cold. Frostbite is most likely to happen in body parts farthest from the heart and those with large exposed areas...
, the movie takes place in a frozen environment and has vampires who bite people in it. The original title was Something wicked this way comes. The producers liked the title Frostbiten more since it was more international, and by just cutting the last letter they had an English title. Teasers and trailers on film festivals therefor wore the name Frostbite. However, it was only called Frostbite in U.K.. In the U.S. the movie is called Frostbitten, the exact translation of the original title.
Background
Frostbiten is Sweden’s first vampireVampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
movie (unless you consider Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
's Hour of the Wolf
Hour of the Wolf
Hour of the Wolf is a 1968 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann. It combines elements of the film drama, surrealist film and horror film.-Plot:...
to count).
Awards
- 'Best Film' FantasportoFantasportoFantasporto, also known as Fantas, is an international film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal. Giving screen space to commercial feature films, auteur films and experimental projects from all over the world, Fantasporto has created enthusiastic audiences, ranging from...
2006 - 'Best Score' Screamfest Horror Film FestivalScreamfest Horror Film FestivalScreamfest Horror Film Festival is the largest horror film festival in the United States. Some of the largest horror online publications have called it the "Sundance of Horror". Previously held at Loews Universal Studios Cinemas, Universal CityWalk, the festival is now held annually at the...
2006 - 'Best Makeup' Screamfest Horror Film FestivalScreamfest Horror Film FestivalScreamfest Horror Film Festival is the largest horror film festival in the United States. Some of the largest horror online publications have called it the "Sundance of Horror". Previously held at Loews Universal Studios Cinemas, Universal CityWalk, the festival is now held annually at the...
2006 - 'Best Special Effects' Screamfest Horror Film FestivalScreamfest Horror Film FestivalScreamfest Horror Film Festival is the largest horror film festival in the United States. Some of the largest horror online publications have called it the "Sundance of Horror". Previously held at Loews Universal Studios Cinemas, Universal CityWalk, the festival is now held annually at the...
2006