Escape

Escape (2012) is a subtitled medieval thriller from Norway. It's a little over an hour long, including credits, so there's not a lot of content here but I still found it to be entertaining. Think of it as sort of like a D&D encounter without any monsters.

The movie opens with a family traveling through the mountains when suddenly mom gets hit with an arrow. Two kids hide inside a wagon while dad tries to fight off a gang of vicious Viking-like marauders, and he gets cut down as well. When little brother tries to run, they put him down with another arrow. The only surviving member is a pre-teen girl who they capture for the purposes of impregnating so another little girl with the group can have a younger sister. These are very bad people.

Some pretty horrible things happen here, especially at the beginning when the family is slain and the girl gets captured. She eventually escapes and the rest of the movie has her being chased by the group, which is led by a psychotic blonde (Ingrid Bolso Berdal) who loves shooting people with her crossbow. There's plenty of blood and gore, a couple of good stunts, and not many dull moments given how short the movie was.

In the end, I liked Escape for its costumes and props as well as great use of the scenery. There are no big castle or village scenes so the whole thing is just a handful of actors chasing each other around some rather beautiful landscapes while trying to do horrible things to each other. If you like medieval type action movies, you may want to check this one out.