Rovdyr (a.k.a. Manhunt) is a 2008 Norwegian horror film directed by Patrik Syversen.
The summer of 1974. Four young friends have planned a relaxing weekend out in the woods. At a remote truck stop they pick up a hitchhiker, who only after a short ride demands that they stop the car. They are terrified. Suddenly they are all ambushed and left unconscious. They wake up deep in the woods with no one around but the sound of a hunting horn. Someone is out hunting, and they are the prey.
Tropes:
- Agony of the Feet: Mia has the back of her ankle very graphically blown off with a Sawn-Off Shotgun. Prior to that, a young woman steps into a bear trap in the prologue.
- Almost Dead Guy: Roger, Camilla and Jorgen find an almost dead guy tied to a tree when they wake up in the forest. However, his ability to give them any kind of message about what is coming on is severely hampered because his tongue has been cut out. To their credit, Camilla and Jorgen attempt to take him with them when they run, but he is soon caught and killed by one of the hunters.
- Bear Trap: The film opens with a girl being pursued through the forest. Suddenly she steps in a bear trap which snaps closed on her leg. As she is struggling to free her mangled leg, she gets shot In the Back.
- Blood from the Mouth: Mia is stabbed in the neck with a hunting knife and blood fountains from her mouth.
- Booby Trap: When Jorgen is captured, he is sat on the ground and tied to a tree. Under him is a pressure plate, so when he is untied and stands up, it triggers a deadfall.
- Bound and Gagged: When Roger, Camilla and Jorgen wake up in the forest, they are bound and gagged and their first task is to get themselves free. Later, Camilla finds Jorgen bound and gagged and tied to a tree. In a sadistic tough, he has been gagged with heavy rope that making his mouth bleed, and his wrists and ankles have been bound with barbwire.
- Chekhov's Lecture: Mia insists on going over the rules for back country hiking with her friends in the van. She doesn't get much past the first one—that red ribbons on trees mark the way back to the road—but that is the one that becomes important later in the film.
- Covers Always Lie: Downplayed. The girl in the prologue isn't barefoot when she steps into the bear trap. Also, the foot on the cover is more in line with the trauma that Mia is put through but her Agony of the Feet issue doesn't involve any bear traps.
- Developing Doomed Characters: The first third of the movie shows the road trip the protagonists are making to a hiking trail in northern Norway. This does establish the personalities of the group: Mia is Team Mom, Jorgen is an Extreme Doormat, and Camilla is a Granola Girl. But what it overwhelmingly establishes is that Roger is a huge Jerkass. It actually comes as a surprise when he is not the first to die.
- Disgusting Public Toilet: The women's restroom at the gas station is disgusting, and includes a male vagrant sleeping off a bender in one of the cubicles, who scratches Camilla when she startles him awake and then passes out again.
- Domestic Abuse: The relationship between Roger and Camilla shows many of the hallmarks of being abusive. He constantly belittles and ignores her; speaks for her rather than allowing her to answer for herself; grips her arm quite forcefully while they are in public; and whines about how he'll be lonely when she goes off to university. Team Mom Mia picks up on this and encourages Camilla to stand up for herself.
- Doomed Hurt Guy: Roger, Camilla and Jorgen find an Almost Dead Guy tied to a tree when they wake up in the forest. However, his ability to give them any kind of message about what is coming on is severely hampered because his tongue has been cut out. To their credit, Camilla and Jorgen attempt to take him with them when they run, but he is soon caught and killed by one of the hunters.
- Don't Go in the Woods: four friends (for given values of friendship) plan a weekend hiking trip in the woods of Norway's far north. On the way there, they are abducted and knocked unconscious. When they wake up, the discover that have dumped deep in the woods and are now the prey for someone who is Hunting the Most Dangerous Game.
- Final Girl: The blonde-haired Camilla is the only one of the protagonists to walk out of the woods; having killed all of the hunters singlehanded.
- Gutted Like a Fish: The Almost Dead Guy Roger, Camilla and Jorgen rescue from the tree is finally killed when one of the hunters literally guts him like a deer: slicing him open and pulling out all his viscera.
- Hand Gag: More than once, one of the hunters will grab one of the protagonists from behind, clamp a hand over their mouth, and drag them off.
- Harbinger of Impending Doom: Renate comes up to Roger in the café and begs a lift from him. Roger immediately agrees without consulting with the rest of the group. Mia is suspicious because Renate's story about her car breaking down really doesn't hold water. Being a Jerkass, Roger airily overrules her objections because it is his van. Once out on the road, they are intercepted by the hunter pursuing Renate, who kill her and take the others hostage.
- Hillbilly Horrors: The Scandinavian equivalent. Four friends heading for hiking trip in the deep woods of Norway are abducted by a trio of backwoodsmen who enjoy Hunting the Most Dangerous Game.
- Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Four young friends on a hiking trip are abducted, rendered unconscious, and dumped in the deep woods. When they wake up, they here a hunting horn and discover someone is hunting them.
- Impaled Palm: Jorgen gets his right palm impaled on one of the hunters' barbwire snares, and has to painfully pull it free with his left hand.
- Jerkass: Roger. He is rude to his friends (although there is very little evidence that even regards Mia and Jorgen as friends); abusive and possessive towards his girlfriend; condescending towards the locals, and tries to pick a fight with them; flirts with another woman in front his girlfriend; overrides others' very justified concerns in a highhanded manner...the list goes on. About his only positive character trait is courage, and even that seems more like arrogance.
- Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: Doubles as a Freeze-Frame Bonus. Mia apparently loses one of her shoes when fighting her way free of the hunter that's holding her. Shortly after, Agony of the Feet occurs to her now bare foot.
- Made of Iron: The Almost Dead Guy Camilla and Jorgen rescue from the tree takes a surprising amount of damage while escaping before finally dying, including a knife in the back,despite having been subjected to extensive torture for who knows how long before the protagonists arrived. He finally succumbs only when he is Gutted Like a Fish by one of the hunters.
- Man Bites Man: When a hunter applies a Hand Gag to Mia during the ambush on the road, Mia bites him with enough ferocity to force him to let go. Her newfound freedom does not avail her very much, however.
- Market-Based Title: Rovdyr would literally translate from Norwegian as 'Predator', but was released in the English-speaking world as Manhunt to avoid confusion with the well known film franchise.
- Not Quite Saved Enough: Final Girl Camilla has killed the three psychos who murdered her friends, and finds the path leading her out of the woods. Reaching the road, she flags down a car that turns out to be driven by the woman from the café. The woman calms down the hysterical Camilla and puts her in the back of the car drives off: presumably to the police station or the hospital. And that's when Camilla discovers that the doors in the back don't open from the inside... Roll credits.
- One-Word Title
- Pistol-Whipping: One of the hunters snatches the Sawn-Off Shotgun off Camilla and then smashes the butt into her face.
- Pursued Protagonist: Opens with a young blonde woman running through the forest, fleeing something that is chasing her. She steps in a Bear Trap, and while struggling to free herself, is shot from behind.
- Sawn-Off Shotgun: One of the hunters carries a sawn-off double barreled shotgun, which becomes one of the more used weapons in the movies. Eventually it ends up in the hands of Camilla, who uses it to kill one of the hunters.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: The hunters are experts are suddenly appearing silently behind the protagonists.
- Team Mom: Mia. She ensures all of the group know the hiking safety rules; defends her bother against Roger's bullying; encourages Camilla to stand up Roger's abusive behaviour (and warns Roger that she's watching him); tends to Camilla's wound after she is scratched by the vagrant; and even angrily confronts their abductors, demanding to know who they are and what they want. That last one was probably a bad idea.
- Teaser-Only Character: Jenta, the Pursued Protagonist who steps in a Bear Trap in the opening scene.
- Tongue Trauma: Roger, Camilla and Jorgen find one of the hunters' previous victims strung up on a tree. The Almost Dead Guy has had his tongue cut out.
- Trap Master: The hunters have laced the woods with traps to makes the prey's attempts to escape even more dangerous. These include Bear Traps, spring-loaded spikes, and barbed wire strung between trees.
- Twisted Ankle: Jorgen twists his ankle when he and Camilla are fleeing through the woods: greatly slowing his pace and forcing the pair of them to hide rather than run when one of the hunters gets close.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: When Renate makes Roger stop the van and gets out, she can be seen visibly vomiting over the edge of the bridge. She also hurls over Jorgen's comic book.
