History Film / TheSnowman2017

* StockholmSyndrome: [[spoiler: Apparently, Mathias' mother is so distraught when the abusive rapist married man she was having an affair with left her that she decided to commit suicide.]]

''The Snowman'' is a crime {{horror}}/{{thriller}} film directed by Creator/TomasAlfredson. It is an [[TheFilmOfTheBook adaptation]] of the ''Literature/HarryHole'' novel of the same name by Jo Nesbø, and it stars Creator/MichaelFassbender, Creator/RebeccaFerguson, Creator/JKSimmons, Creator/CharlotteGainsbourg and Creator/ValKilmer.

* UnfortunateNames: You can't get much worse than Harry Hole. And yes, that ''does'' come from the original novel and not a PornParody of it. Mind you, a Norwegian speaker would pronounce it "holy," but "Harry Holy" is kinda silly too.

* PostersAlwaysLie: Specifically the poster with the message, "Mister Police. You could have saved her. I gave you all the clues." This leads you to expect the killer is playing CriminalMindGames by deliberately leaving clues to their next victim, but nothing of the sort happens in the movie.

* YourCheatingHeart:
** [[spoiler: The victims of the Snowman all either had affairs or engaged in casual sex, discounting the ones who are killed mostly because they either [[HeKnowsTooMuch knew too much]] or who the killer frames to cover his tracks.]]
** Harry himself almost cheats with Rakel on her new boyfriend Mathias, [[spoiler: which nearly gets both them and her son killed since he was the murderer all along]].

* UnfortunateNames: You can't get much worse than Harry Hole. Mind you, a Norwegian speaker would pronounce it "holy," but "Harry Holy" is kinda silly too.

* PsychopathicManchild: This appears to be Harry's opinion of the killer. This is best seen when he points out to Katrine that the killer's MO (building snowmen, cutting things into little pieces) are what a child does to establish order, and this is further supported by the killer's own notes, which are very childlike:

* AdaptationalHeroism: A mild case: unlike in the novel, [[spoiler:Mathias didn't kill his mother, and actively tried to save her from drowning herself in a lake.]]

* AdaptationalWimp: Here, Harry doesn't display much of the drive and the reasoning skills that he had in the novel, with Katrine Bratt displaying more of these qualities, making his talent come off as an InformedAttribute. There's also the fact that he's unable to control his alcoholism here, while he had a fair degree of control in the novel.

* FriendToAllChildren: Harry gets along well with kids as seen when he speaks to the daughter of one of the victims.

* RelatedInTheAdaptation: Inverted. In the novel, [[spoiler: Jonas Becker's father is Arve Støp]], but in the film, [[spoiler: Josephine Becker's father's identity is unknown.]]

* UnexplainedAccent: Arve Støp is a Norwegian tycoon; however, Creator/JKSimmons uses an English accent for some reason.

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Zig-zagged with [[spoiler: the killer, a.k.a. Mathias]]. In the novel, [[spoiler: he was mocked by other children for lacking nipples due to a genetic defect, and when he found out that his mother was having an affair with another man (who also lacked nipples) and that he was the child produced by said affair, he decided that [[DeathSeeker he wanted to die]] and [[TakingYouWithMe take his mother with him]]]], but here, [[spoiler: his mother committed suicide and he gained an [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] who abandoned him after his mother died, as noted above]].

* TrappedInASinkingCar: Invoked by [[spoiler: Mathias' mother when committing suicide]]. Consequently, there is no struggle when her car starts sinking into the lake.

* AnachronismStew: A rather bizarre case of this occurs with the (fictional) [=EviSync=] devices, which are tablet [=PCs=] that look like they came from the early 2000s, but several scenes show [=iPhones=] and modern computers being used, indicating that the film occurs in the present day. What makes this even more bizarre is that the [=EviSync=] device wasn't in the novel.

* AnachronismStew: A rather bizarre case of this occurs with the (fictional) [=EviSync=] devices, which are tablet [=PCs=] that look like they came from the early 2000s, but several scenes show [=iPhones=] and modern computers being used, indicating that the film occurs in the present day.

* StockholmSyndrome: [[spoiler: Apparently, Mathias' mother is so distraught when the abusive married man she was having an affair with left her that she decided to commit suicide.]]

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Arve Støp is a successful Norwegian tycoon who is campaigning for Oslo to hold the World Cup. He also screwed one of his old business partners out of their company, had an affair with the guy's wife, and is a serial womaniser who lets an abortionist colleague pimp out young women to him.

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Zig-zagged with [[spoiler: the killer, a.k.a. Mathias]]. In the novel, [[spoiler: he was mocked by other children for lacking nipples due to a genetic defect, and when he found out that his mother was having an affair with another (who also lacked nipples) and that he was the child produced by said affair, he decided that [[DeathSeeker he wanted to die]] and [[TakingYouWithMe take his mother with him]]]], but here, [[spoiler: his mother committed suicide and he gained an [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] who abandoned him after his mother died, as noted above]].

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Zig-zagged with [[spoiler: the killer, a.k.a. Mathias]]. In the novel, [[spoiler: he was mocked by other children for lacking nipples due to a genetic defect, and when he found out that his mother was having an affair with his real father (who also lacked nipples), he decided that [[DeathSeeker he wanted to die]] and [[TakingYouWithMe take his mother with him]]]], but here, [[spoiler: his mother committed suicide and he gained an [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] who abandoned him after his mother died, as noted above]].

** While Dr. Idar Vetlesen was hardly a saint in the novel, here he pimps out young women to Arve Støp.
** Similarly, Arve Støp didn't get Vetlesen to pimp out young women to him in the novel.