I have a soft spot for found-footage films, particularly those that don't contain annoying characters and dumb decision-making is kept to a minimum. As is the case with 'Cold Ground', an unnerving horror film set in the forest-covered mountain ranges of the French-Swiss border.

It's 1976, and this is the footage recovered from two journalists who went with a small team to investigate cases of cattle mutilation, but stumbled across something monstrous instead...

Where 'Cold Ground' succeeds so well is with its visual style. It does an impressive job of not only transporting us into this chilly, snow-smothered place miles from sanctuary, but by convincing us that this is the late 70s. Maybe it's a simple method of utilising a specific filter for the camera, but either way the film looks fantastic and I admired its staunchness for authenticity.

It follows the routine of similar films of its kind as we follow the group, listen to their backstories, and get teased with scary tales of the location's faux history before they settle in for the night and face a real scare or two... but it works. Come nighttime, eerie sounds augment the suspense, and though it's very basic in execution, it remains true that less is more in a horror film. A twig snapping or an unnatural howl is far creepier than a screen full of monster.

Inevitably things go downwards rapidly for the cast as whatever's out there becomes bolder and more hostile, but 'Cold Ground' proves enjoyable enough even when it occasionally threatens to undo all the hard work it accomplished of getting under your skin. Overall, this is a solid entry into the found-footage subgenre that I was glad to stumble across.

7/10

COLD GROUND is a found footage indie horror flick from France, once again made in the same mould as the BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. The notable difference this time around is the winter setting, so the main characters explore a wintry woodland landscape as they investigate a series of cattle mutilations in the area. It's a fairly creepy little effort which strives for realism and achieves it for the most part. As such, some natural suspense is built up along the way, even though very little happens and the viewer isn't party to much that the characters see. It's just a shame it copies BLAIR WITCH so heavily that you can easily guess what's going to happen every step of the way.

This is definitely not the first horror movie to look like this one. No and I also hope it won't be the last. Creepy, with of course the first fifteen minutes where there is the unavoidable scenes to introduce the characters, explain the what abouts, the rest of the film is excellent, with also an exquisite ending. That proves you can make a terrific and terrifying feature with a minus budget. Some things are unexplained but who cares? It is not proved though that with a sixty millions dollars budget, the same director would have made PREDATOR as John McTiernan did. I use this example because there are a few things in common in the basic scheme of those two movies; very very different and which you can hardly compare one to the other. But on the other hand, if you had given McTiernan the same budget as for this one, I am sure he would not have made the very same film either.