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Gagging for gore? Greedy for giggles? Then why not sink your teeth into Frostbite, a vampire romp set in darkest Lapland. But be warned: though it's got fresh blood in its veins, the stakes aren't that high. Letting nocturnal neck-biters loose in a place where there's no daylight for a month is a killer conceit, so why doesn't director Anders Banke make more of it? And why does he favour fake scares over real ones? Gnawing doubts aside, there's plenty here to chew on.

Take the pre-titles prologue, a mini-movie in itself. We're in 1944 Ukraine, where a lost unit of Nazi soldiers chances upon a monster house from which they'll never leave. Following this fraught intro, the tone - if not the climate - lightens as we fast-forward to the present day, meeting newly arrived doctor Annika (Petra Nielsen) and her teenage offspring Saga (Grete Havnesköld).

"NOT A GREAT SENSE OF COHESION"

Mother and daughter have an appealingly spiky chemistry, but they end up feeling like straight foils to the movie's other, more colourful characters. Sinister pathologist Dr Beckert (Carl-Ake Eriksson) is one; gregarious Goth-girl Vega (Emma Åberg) is another. Then there's medical intern Sebastian (Jonas Karlström), whose theft of some strange red pills brings on The Hunger, which isn't good news for his girlfriend's family rabbit. The sick-humoured set-pieces (others involve small dogs and gnomes) are nicely/nastily executed, but there's not a great sense of cohesion to the plot; just as things are coming together, Banke makes a dash for the closing credits, trailing loose ends like spilt intestines. Good enough, though, that the idea of seconds would be welcomed with open mouths.