Fantasia Film Festival 2020 Screening – This short film would be right at home in a horror anthology more interested in tension, setting, and performances than extreme gore or silly fun (not that there’s anything wrong with that). My biggest two takeaways from this one were that I’d like to see lead Nina Yndis in a horror feature she could make a name for herself with and that this was nicely directed by Astrid Thorvaldsen.

In 1880 on a prairie in Minnesota sisters Ingrid (Nina Yndis), Liv (Siri Meland) and Ada (Rikké Haughem) cross paths with an apparently wounded stranger (Liam McMahon). Ingrid provides aid while also arming herself to protect her sisters and their home however necessary…

Siri Meland and Rikké Haughem each have a couple respectable moments as her sisters, but I think Nina Yndis has a strength in her face and how she can carry herself that screams “Get in my way and you’ll regret it.” Personally, I think she’ll be a Final Girl for the ages whenever she gets that chance and hopefully a long, varied film career follows but first I’d love Nina Yndis to have her own You’re Next or something of that sort.

I have no idea what the budget for Who Goes There? was, but whatever director Astrid Thorvaldsen got I’m confident she made it shine on screen. The Minnesota prairie is efficiently brought to life and lovely to look at, even though it was probably somewhere in the UK (but so what, who cares?). So, fingers crossed I see these names again in the not-too-distant future either together or separately. 

7 out of 10 Protective Prairie Sisters