Frostbite
Anders Banke, 2006; 98m
The international success of Let the Right One In was preceded, at least domestically, by this funny and effective horror thriller. Near the end of World War II, a German Army patrol comes upon a cache of vampires; most are killed, but one soldier, after having been bitten, manages to get away. Flash forward about fifty years or so: that soldier is now Dr. Beckert, a respected medical doctor and researcher working in Sweden’s northern reaches. Annika and her daughter Saga decide to leave the city and re-locate up north so that Annika can carry out her own research in peace, working under the supervision of the famed Dr. Beckert. They arrive just in time to experience the fruit of Beckert’s years of hard work and research. The snow-covered, austerely beautiful landscapes of far northern Sweden are the perfect backdrop for the ingenious tale of an outbreak of bloodsucking among local teens. As one character puts it, "How do you get rid of vampires in a place where dawn will be in a few weeks?"
