Pathfinder
Director: Nils Gaup
Year Released: 1987
Rating: 1.5
Malicious marauders terrorize people in the iciest parts of Norway - when it's cold in the States, all I want to do is wrap myself in blankets, but it appears to make some of these people mighty violent. As a predictable, filmed "fable," it doesn't have much to offer in terms of suspense, purpose (in case you run into crazed warriors in the arctic, lead them back to your home and then throw them off a cliff) or suspense, and the characters are thinly developed - there are the good, there are the bad ... and the bad look ferocious and wear black clothes. None of this is helped by Gaup's technique and preference for zooming and exaggerated expressions in close-up. It tries to lure you in early on by having the baddies kill (a.) a dog and then (b.) a small girl and disposing of the body, which is a cheap bid for immediate sympathy.
