Watch out, folks!! The Swedish "Evil Dead" is here...
In horror Movies curiosity usually kills the cat, but reinventing old Movies Always kills the Movie. Some Movies are just better off left alone. Evil Dead is such a Movie because it is a true Product of its day. You cannot outshine Bruce Campbell, nor the great atmosphere and the ingenious, although amateurish, sfx.
For such a small country as Sweden we have succeeded in delivering so many international stars within the Movie industry: Max Von Sydow, Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, Mauritz Stiller, Gösta Bergman, Stellan Skarsgård. Now, Vittra won't go down in history as the ultimate Swedish Movie, however, it is far better than I expected and I am not a fan of Swedish Movies, especially Movies within the action and the horror genres where we suck big time. Why? Because we haven't succeeded in creating our own identity within those two genres. The dialog just doesn't work, it just sounds silly and the action sequences is retarded and static and the Movies themselves lack ingenuity. Everything tries to be American. That said, I love and prefer American Movies because they give me what I want, i.e. Entertainment. But when genres lack their own identity and at that, instead, tries to be something they cannot be...well I Think you know how the result will turn out...
Plot: a Group of Young friends decides to get together for a weekend in a cabin in the Woods to catch up. One of them wonders off to explore and silence her curiosity, when she returns something has changed...
Well, what to say? It is not bad, in fact, it is quite good. Of course, the weight is on the sfx and as I mentioned above, it lacks story, originality, wit, identity. Above all, it is too much Evil Dead to be taken seriously to any degree. Nevertheless, it is not, thank God, cheesy and badly executed. The dialog sucks and it just sounds silly.
To my fellow Swedes, I can't really compare Vittra to any other Swedish Movie within the genre since we don't make a lot of these. The only Movie that comes Close is Evil Ed (1995) which is, truly, a cheesy Movie, so cheesy that it becomes funny. To my international colleagues, Watch this one if you like "Evil Dead" or any other Movie about people being stuck somewhere and stalked by creatures of the unknown.
I give it 5 out of 10 because it is well made, good sfx and lots of gore. It lacks any degree of originality and it is one of those Movies where the directors/creators just want to show off their technical skills in order to get funds for their next venture, which I Believe they will. But Vittra will not stand the test of time like Evil Dead.
