Severin Eskeland made a lot of shorts but this is his first full feature and it is not that bad at all but their are a few problems. If you think you will see a splatter flick or a slasher then you better leave it on the shelves but if you want some suspense turning into a mess then this is for you. It clocks in at 77 minutes but still it takes a while before things really go wrong. Some things you can see coming from miles away, the story about the cop, who is the son of the elder couple at the abandoned house,...but somehow I kept watching. There is no gore and not that much of the red stuff so many will hate it for that but I guess Severin will learn from his mistakes and is a name to watch out for.
11 Reviews
Waiting is (more than) half the fun
soloraid27 September 2010
I was watching this movie last night with my wife, and we were excited to see another Norwegian horror movie.
During the last years, we've had the pleasure of seeing good Norwegian horror movies like "Fritt Vilt I & II" and "Villmark", which were a thrill to see.
I really like to see horror movies with ingredients that put the setting in an "everyday life" situation, and things that can actually happen. This movie is based on a true story, and the story is good. Some of the effects are good and a little bit scary, but most of all we spent the time watching this movie waiting to be scared.
When things finally started to happen, they happened so fast and so much within short time, that it wasn't scary at all.
I liked the movie after all, had a good time watching it, and my wife didn't disagree. So, I would recommend watching it, but don't bring too many pillows. You don't need to hide...
During the last years, we've had the pleasure of seeing good Norwegian horror movies like "Fritt Vilt I & II" and "Villmark", which were a thrill to see.
I really like to see horror movies with ingredients that put the setting in an "everyday life" situation, and things that can actually happen. This movie is based on a true story, and the story is good. Some of the effects are good and a little bit scary, but most of all we spent the time watching this movie waiting to be scared.
When things finally started to happen, they happened so fast and so much within short time, that it wasn't scary at all.
I liked the movie after all, had a good time watching it, and my wife didn't disagree. So, I would recommend watching it, but don't bring too many pillows. You don't need to hide...
American horror coated in Scandinavian fur
aminjacoub30 May 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Detour would be a very good horror movie if it would not suggest typical American horror concept. For any horror movie fan it is obvious mix of few, well known titles. For me the suggestion goes to Texas Chainsaw and Hills have eyes. It is Norwegian-Swedish language movie, with good cast and quality production. Unlike most of the Scandinavian horror movies which are slow, this one is fast and tense, but very predictable. The plot have those well known elements which are typical: scary night, abandoned gas house with bunch of abandoned cars, turning to the nowhere road, abandoned mansion, crazy family, torture with recording, helping policeman turning to be a bad guy, victim running through wood... There is a lot of flaws, but in general it is not so bad, as many horror movies today seems to copy each other or strongly lay on some of the famous titles. What disappoints me is the elimination of bad guys that looked too easy, and all of the positive characters stayed alive (even we like them), except one fellow who acts as a collateral here. So, nothing smart or new here, too predictable, yet more fast than typical Scandinavian horror.
That's it, seriously?!?
Coventry1 May 2010
Scandinavia is a flourishing horror movie region lately. I can easily name multiple world-widely acclaimed titles to backup this statement, like "Cold Prey", "Let the Right one in", "Dead Snow", "The Substitute" and "Antichrist". As a devoted horror geek, I want to follow and remain au courant of this contemporary genre boom and thus blindly selected "Detour" as one of the titles I wanted to watch at this year's edition of the Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Films. Well
"Detour" was quite a surprise, indeed. I was literally astonished – shocked, even – about how ordinary, dull and derivative this movie was! Think the most rudimentary and clichéd backwoods/survival imaginable and you pretty much fully covered the idea of "Detour". We're talking clichéd story lines, one-dimensional characters, predictable twists, uninspired gore, lame attempts to imitate genre classics and ineffective suspense. Young couple intend to cross the rural Swedish/Norwegian border with a trunk full of illegally smuggled booze, but are forced to make a detour when the main road is closed off because of an accident. They subsequently get two flat tires, run into a deranged garage owner who watches nasty videos, meet a friendly cop who clearly cannot be trusted, pick up a confused girl in the woods and arrive at a secluded mansion owned by a mysteriously elderly couple. Lina and Martin also don't realize they're constantly being filmed by a series of strategically placed cameras all over the woods. They unwarily ended up in the middle of a snuff movie as the involuntarily lead actor and actress. "Detour" is an incredibly short movie (barely 77 minutes) and yet manages to be quite boring and repetitive. The amount of false scares and obviously transparent red herrings is enormous and the pacing is too often interrupted by dreadful dialogs and pointless sentimental moments. The gore-factor and body count are intolerable low and even the breathtaking northeastern Norwegian forestry filming locations can't hold your attention longer than ten minutes. The soundtrack is pretty cool (Norwegian black metal) and the lead actress Marte Cristensen is a beautiful lady, but "Detour" is an overall unremarkable film and not worthy to rank between the aforementioned Scandinavian winners.
Finding
kosmasp26 December 2010
It's actually harder finding this movie with its English title (Detour), then finding the hiding place of Santa Clause. Seriously though, this little slasher movie is pretty decent. It's straight from beginning to finish and delivers on its premise. Of course you have to suspend your disbelieve here and there, but then again there's almost no movie out there, who doesn't ask that from you.
What I liked, was the fact, that it stayed true to its premise and was mean and lean. Not too much and not too little. You know what you are letting yourself into, when you rent/watch this movie. It's low budget and has quite a few flaws of course. It's up to you, if you like those movies or not ... if you do, give it a try!
What I liked, was the fact, that it stayed true to its premise and was mean and lean. Not too much and not too little. You know what you are letting yourself into, when you rent/watch this movie. It's low budget and has quite a few flaws of course. It's up to you, if you like those movies or not ... if you do, give it a try!
Crap
Hansen900011 September 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Sondre Larsen, a Norwegian television-star, lends his face to this very poor horror effort. I would not recommend this movie, based solely on the fact that it brings nothing impressive to the table.
It is just pure boredom, pure noise and pure crap. What I mean by noise, is that the main character in the movie is loud and annoying music stings, paired with noisy sounds of people crashing into things. Sure, you jump out of your chair when a shadow moves in front of the camera, and the music shrieks, but haven't we seen that in every thriller or horror flick? I jump out of my chair when my friend sitting next to me in the theater goes "boo!", but does make him a genius? No, but, in his defense, that was the scariest part of the movie.
It fails in the horror-department, but that's not all. The script didn't do it for me. Every single plot-twist is completely predictable, and the movie fails to impress me with all of its symbolism, both religious and otherwise. Mikkel Gaup, a far better Norwegian actor, appears in an extremely forced and ridiculous cameo, that was obviously shoehorned in simply because they had a chance.
That's about enough for me to give this bad-boy one out of ten stars. I hated this movie.
It is just pure boredom, pure noise and pure crap. What I mean by noise, is that the main character in the movie is loud and annoying music stings, paired with noisy sounds of people crashing into things. Sure, you jump out of your chair when a shadow moves in front of the camera, and the music shrieks, but haven't we seen that in every thriller or horror flick? I jump out of my chair when my friend sitting next to me in the theater goes "boo!", but does make him a genius? No, but, in his defense, that was the scariest part of the movie.
It fails in the horror-department, but that's not all. The script didn't do it for me. Every single plot-twist is completely predictable, and the movie fails to impress me with all of its symbolism, both religious and otherwise. Mikkel Gaup, a far better Norwegian actor, appears in an extremely forced and ridiculous cameo, that was obviously shoehorned in simply because they had a chance.
That's about enough for me to give this bad-boy one out of ten stars. I hated this movie.
Classic horror movie with a gripping atmosphere that doesn't overstay its welcome
kluseba28 July 2017
Snarveien, better known as Detour, is a classic Norwegian horror movie. The story is quickly told. A young couple that illegally smuggles alcohol has to take a detour because of an accident and gets stranded on an abandoned road in the woods. Soon, strange things start to happen. They get into an aggressive argument with an obscene stranger at a gas station, realize that their wheels got destroyed on purpose, run into a confused female fugitive, cross the path of a mysterious police officer and meet a secluded family with an unspeakable secret.
While the characters and the story are quite predictable, there are several things I liked about this film. First of all, it doesn't overstay its welcome with a very reasonable length of seventy-seven minutes. Secondly, the movie doesn't focus on brutal torture scenes or cheap jump scares but develops a gloomy and mysterious atmosphere from start to finish. Thirdly, the characters might be predictable but they are still somewhat interesting. Martin is a young man who tries to protect his girlfriend but can't hide that he is scared to death which makes him authentic. He gets a bonus point for wearing a cool Black Sabbath shirt. His girlfriend Lina is the heroine of this movie and turns out to be a courageous, resilient and tough pregnant woman who fights to save those she loves and everyone around her. She's a sympathetic character and viewers will care about her survival story. A special shoutout goes out to the female fugitive Lotta who manages to look attractive to me despite the incredible hardship she is going through. Only the villains are somewhat one-dimensional and their background story is poorly developed.
Snarveien might not be a memorable or innovative horror movie but it's an entertaining average horror film for genre fans with a consistent atmosphere that doesn't overstay its welcome. I have seen far more ambitious horror movies that were much worse. It's definitely a better alternative to the numerous boring remakes and sequels that are flooding the market these days.
While the characters and the story are quite predictable, there are several things I liked about this film. First of all, it doesn't overstay its welcome with a very reasonable length of seventy-seven minutes. Secondly, the movie doesn't focus on brutal torture scenes or cheap jump scares but develops a gloomy and mysterious atmosphere from start to finish. Thirdly, the characters might be predictable but they are still somewhat interesting. Martin is a young man who tries to protect his girlfriend but can't hide that he is scared to death which makes him authentic. He gets a bonus point for wearing a cool Black Sabbath shirt. His girlfriend Lina is the heroine of this movie and turns out to be a courageous, resilient and tough pregnant woman who fights to save those she loves and everyone around her. She's a sympathetic character and viewers will care about her survival story. A special shoutout goes out to the female fugitive Lotta who manages to look attractive to me despite the incredible hardship she is going through. Only the villains are somewhat one-dimensional and their background story is poorly developed.
Snarveien might not be a memorable or innovative horror movie but it's an entertaining average horror film for genre fans with a consistent atmosphere that doesn't overstay its welcome. I have seen far more ambitious horror movies that were much worse. It's definitely a better alternative to the numerous boring remakes and sequels that are flooding the market these days.
Amateurish thrills from Norway
Leofwine_draca17 August 2016
DETOUR is a dull little Norwegian horror/thriller with a plot that we've seen play out countless times. Sadly it looks cheap and derivative, failing to bring out the isolated beauty of the forested Norwegian locations. In addition, it's a film set at night that takes place in pitch black conditions almost all the way through, so that it's all but impossible to make out what's supposed to be going on.
The set-up is intensely predictable: a young and carefree couple are driving through an isolated location and come into contact with the creepy locals. Bizarrely, there's a voyeur who has dotted video cameras around the locations so that he can spy on what's going on, like that angle hasn't been covered before. After a while the film turns into the usual woman-in-peril type thriller, with far too many false scares, random sub-plots that add nothing but pad out the running time, and virtually nothing in the way of real horror or fear.
I'm glad that the makers of DETOUR never descended into the fully-fledged arena of torture porn but at the same time there's nothing here to enjoy either. The thumping death metal soundtrack is headache-inducing, the camera-work is muddled and poor, and there's no characterisation so that you're never involved in the proceedings. I like Scandinavian cinema as a rule, but DETOUR is a real chore to sit through.
The set-up is intensely predictable: a young and carefree couple are driving through an isolated location and come into contact with the creepy locals. Bizarrely, there's a voyeur who has dotted video cameras around the locations so that he can spy on what's going on, like that angle hasn't been covered before. After a while the film turns into the usual woman-in-peril type thriller, with far too many false scares, random sub-plots that add nothing but pad out the running time, and virtually nothing in the way of real horror or fear.
I'm glad that the makers of DETOUR never descended into the fully-fledged arena of torture porn but at the same time there's nothing here to enjoy either. The thumping death metal soundtrack is headache-inducing, the camera-work is muddled and poor, and there's no characterisation so that you're never involved in the proceedings. I like Scandinavian cinema as a rule, but DETOUR is a real chore to sit through.
What would you do for booze?
maybedead21 September 2009
This movie is awesome. Plain forward good kicking' entertainment. Lot's of the horror elements you like to see, makes the chills go down your neck, and then spooks and shakes you out of your mind. Some nail popping', gimp kicking', old hag busting' action! A couple is driving from Norway to Sweden to get some cheap booze. They get car trouble in the deep woods and need to seek assistance at the nearest house. Well this is where the fun begins.
The protagonist have to show what shes made of when battling man pigs and other dangers to save the day (Love a good female hero!). She has a awesome boyfriend, and it's very enjoyable to see the flirt romantic scenes with the two of them. It's real cozy before all hell breaks loose. So if you want to see a straight "cut the crap" forward good entertaining horror thriller, "Snarveien(Detour)" is the way to go. Is by far one of the best movies from Norwegian cinema, cause of it's strong acting (this is unlike Norwegian film), great twist ridden script and flawless directing Enjoi!
The protagonist have to show what shes made of when battling man pigs and other dangers to save the day (Love a good female hero!). She has a awesome boyfriend, and it's very enjoyable to see the flirt romantic scenes with the two of them. It's real cozy before all hell breaks loose. So if you want to see a straight "cut the crap" forward good entertaining horror thriller, "Snarveien(Detour)" is the way to go. Is by far one of the best movies from Norwegian cinema, cause of it's strong acting (this is unlike Norwegian film), great twist ridden script and flawless directing Enjoi!
Great movie
cfisler-211 May 2010
Snarvein is a new horror movie that also includes the Wilhelm scream. The Wilhelm Scream was created by Sheb Wooley in 1951. Sheb Wooley was an actor that played the character Pete in Rawhide. George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino use the wilhelm scream all the time in their movies. Other movies that have the Wilhelm Scream are Under the Tuscan Sun, Date Movie, Willow, Texas, Bolt, Dragonball evolution, Tooth Fairy, Once Upon A Time in Mexico, Street Fighter, Star Trek the Motion Picture, Over Her Dead Body, Wrong Turn 3 left for Dead, The Mist, Flushed Away, History of the World Part 1, Meet the Spartans, Watchmen, Time Machine, Howard the Duck and The Green Berets. Plo keywords, Horror, Wilhelm Sercream thriller.
It was good
Likeafrisbee29 December 2020
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