Interesting...but not brilliant

Rating: 6/10 (7 November 2000)

This is an interesting film, mainly because it is one filled with some of the most disgusting special effects I have ever seen - though I admit that I am fairly new to horror flicks of this kind.
What's good about it? For one thing, it is a very clever touch not to reveal who has been infected and who hasn't until it is absolutely necessary. It is completely impossible to tell who is who, and the suspense raises sky-high because of that.
Also, the performances are actually pretty good, considering the cramped confinement of the set and the sparse and somewhat lame dialogue. These are ordinary men talking, though most of them seem to be more or less criminal in some way.
The beginning is very clever, and it takes quite a while before one gets the hang of why these crazy Norwegian are so eager to hunt the dog with machine guns and hand grenades (!) that they injure one of the Americans in the process. Of course, the first time I saw it, I knew what was coming, but it makes it better nonetheless.
I have a favorite scene in this movie, it is one I will remember forever: when the doctor is trying to resuscitate one of the team members, who has been infected, he gets his hands caught in some weird mouth that opens right in the guy's chest. That is awful. It doesn't matter much that the doc's hands seem to break off by themselves...
What else? Well...it's a cult classic, and deserves it. Like many of those, it's very far from brilliant, but are nonetheless very good and entertaining to watch.