I'm always tempted to reward these movies from Northern Europe with some extra points, simply because the languages they speak over there are so utterly cool! Just look at this film's title, with the remarkable "o", and listen to some of the monologues! Even the most awful teen-slasher suddenly gets a whole lot more sinister with an odd title like this. The truth is, however, that this Danish attempt to cash in on the successful slasher-formula doesn't deserve to get any extra points. "Morkeleg" internationally released as "Backstabbed" is an incredibly unoriginal and mundane thriller that compares with the overload of slashers released in the States during the 80's. We've got a bunch of teenagers gathering in an old abandoned mansion to play a game in which they have to hunt and pretend to kill each other with fake knives. Naturally, the fun stops when a real maniac joins the party and actual blood flows through the corridors. The best thing I can possibly say about the film is that director Martin Schmidt occasionally manages to create a genuinely creepy and ominous atmosphere. The scenes in which an unseen culprit stalks the boys & girls up & down the stairs and through the dusty corridors are fairly unsettling and the actual murders are pleasingly gore. However, it's really easy to figure out the killer's identity and the red herrings attempting to mislead the viewers are laughably ineffective. The acting performances are okay, I guess. I've never heard of any of these Danish stars but I suppose they're popular in their home country and do a reasonably convincing job in their first horror roles. One of the characters keeps talking to his own finger, on which he has drawn a cute face and refers to as 'little piggy'. That was odd.
