In Gabrielle Christensen’s Mountain King, the phrase “Monster-in-Law” gets a literal translation. In this relationship horror-comedy, we get a wintry, folkloric version of Meet the Parents on a budget. Christensen stretches every penny to deliver practical creature cosmetics; a scrappy, resourceful indie with fangs.
What’s essentially a four-hander holiday reunion turns awkward family introductions into a nightmare Lifetime special (complimentary). It’s rough around the edges, but whispers sweet nothings and unleashes havoc with enough gusto to overcome its noticeable production restraints.
Hannah Deale stars and shines as lost-in-love Hannah. On a whim, she stalks her sorta-ex-boyfriend, Gregor (Carter Sirianni), all the way to Sweden’s snow-covered mountains. She arrives dressed for a New York City December, much to Gregor’s shock, since he thought they were separated. Hannah wants to show her lover she’s in it for the long haul, but she doesn’t know she’s crashing Gregor’s family Solstice celebration. He begs Hannah to leave, but she insists on meeting Gregor’s mother, Ingrid (Irina Malygina), and father, Vilhelm (Keoki Trask)—but Dorothy’s not in Kansas anymore, and Gregor’s family traditions might be more than Hannah can handle.
From the second Deale’s mesh-dressed cityslicker trudges to Gregor’s doorstep, the actress is a rom-com delight. Hannah’s cutesy blindness thanks to Cupid’s arrow is an immediate joke—the way she uses “Find My Friends” to locate Gregor without his knowledge—but she’s hardly a punchline. Love is a monster in Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s Spring terms, which Hannah confronts more lightly.
Deale is hilarious as a Girls proxy, trying to get her life together by securing the hunky Gregor once and for all; every bubbly thrust to win over Ingrid and Vilhelm ignores brighter red flags for the sake of entertainment. She’s fantastic as the anxious millennial who says “yes” to romance at the worst possible time, and she anchors much of Mountain King’s highlights.
Admittedly, Christensen’s comedy offerings are buoyant, while the horror elements work harder to stay afloat. An opening hike through Scandinavian wilderness (by way of Pennsylvania shooting locations) tears a limb; the third act’s swerve into monster mayhem is more playful than dreadful despite massive stakes. But the humor doesn’t work without juxtaposing morbidity as Solstice celebrations give way to beastly heritage mythologies come to life. Vilhelm’s gruff campfire stories about Giants who lurk past the treeline—the spirits born of fable pages—are more than bedtime stories. That’s what Mountain King gets right; the laughs flow until Gregor’s pleas for Hannah to leave reveal their reason.
To be fair, Mountain King isn’t coy. Christensen and her co-writers—Graham Dunn and Simon Louis Ong—make Hannah a naive little mouse who rests her head in wolves’ mouths. Malygina’s best takes as Ingrid exude matriarchal hospitality, with suspect dialogue that mocks Hannah’s tolerance for violence. Trask’s Vilhelm is a burly Nordic brute who’s tickled by Hannah’s retelling of Shrek, but barbarically represents everything about chieftain culture.
The fun isn’t being surprised by what happens once the family finally unveils their ceremonial horrors—that’s inevitable. It’s more about Hannah’s stunned realization of the situations she’s found herself in, and whether she wants to escape or participate.
Mountain King’s heart-shaped gimmick is enough to overcome its sometimes-dawdling simplicity. Christensen’s feature debut is far tastier than those chalky generic February 14th candies, albeit not the $1,000 box of designer chocolates. It sits comfortably in the middle: a cozy Scandinavian hug of creature-feature battles and satirical Hallmark antidotes. Deale’s performance is worth the production’s inability to go full-blown savage, as glistening Decembertime cinematography captures midnight moonshines off the ice. For that alone, Mountain King earns its spot as a lower-budget recommendation.
Mountain King screened at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.
