Is it worth the gore? :Rovdyr (2008)

Rovdyr (Norway, 2008) (AKA "Manhunt")
Rating:*1/2
Starring: Henriette Bruusgaard, Jørn Bjørn Fuller Gee andLasse Valdal

Rovdyr (2008) is a backwoods bodycount film. Set and made in the woods of Norway. The usual victims are here; a quartet of teenagers out in a road trip, only to cross paths with a trio of hunters who, after knocking them out unconscious, let them loose in the woods in order to hunt them down for sport. That's pretty much the whole plot.

The movie stays true to its exploitation slasher roots, that I am sure, but it's so basic that there's barely anything special about it other than the icky gore. Gorehounds will love this film for its visceral vivisection, feet blown off, and all other assorted ways innards turn out in places where they it shouldn't be, but in terms of originality and proper scares, there are barely any. Tension is present at times but I hardly care since none of these characters are worth rooting for. They're acted good, yes but so what? If the whole movie lags around a plot we've seen dozens of times before, none of that really matters. (Plus the villains aren't even that special, they're middle aged men with bad hygiene, period.)

Now, don't get me wrong, I like a few plotless horror films, I really do. I gave four starts to Stagefright (1987) and that one barely has a story, but it makes up for it with flair within its despair. Some cheddar within the chunky guts. Fun within its fright. Rovdyr (2008) didn't do any of that, thus it fails to really stand out from one or two other backwoods titles out there that can easily replace this for a night's viewing.

I know many people other out there may give this a higher rating but I'll be honest with my feelings here, this film mildly delivered the real goods. Better luck next time, Norway.

Bodycount:
1 female shot on the back with a shotgun
1 male seen dead
1 female shot on the chest with a shotgun
1 female had her foot nearly blown off with a shotgun, gets a hunting knife to the neck
1 male disemboweled with a hunting knife
1 male had a hunting knife forced to his gut
1 male gets a hunting knife to the neck, mostly offscreen
1 male shot on the chest with a shotgun
1 male gets an arrow forced into his chest
1 male impaled on the mouth with a pickaxe
Total: 10