As a nation, we do pretty well producing comedies in the UK. There are classics such as Fawlty Towers and The Good Life, to quirkier material such as The League of Gentlemen and Stath Lets Flats.

And then there was Spaced, the Channel Four comedy that although only ran for two series, it was a springboard for some impressive talent, namely its director Edgar Wright who is now a Hollywood regular, as well as its two stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

The pair continued to work together, most notably with the Cornetto Trilogy (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End) – all of which were also directed by Wright – before Pegg went it alone into actual space with Star Trek as Scottie, as well as getting chummy with Tom Cruise with the Mission: Impossible franchise.

And although Frost has continued to work on various projects, none are anywhere near as high profile as his Spaced sidekicks.

He stars here in this comedy horror film, that he’s also written, that sees him once again team up to face adversity.

Driving through Sweden are the Smith family - Richard Frost and his wife Susan (Aisling Bea), along with their two teenage children Jessie (Maisie Ayres) and Sam (Sebastian Croft). They’ve travelled all the way from their home in the UK to visit a remote island, Svalta, to witness its curious celebration of its dark history.

They don’t exactly get a warm welcome from the locals when they arrive by ferry, but they’re undeterred and are keen to not let it ruin their holiday. That may be difficult however, as the locals are celebrating their ancestors taking on the English – by eating them. But can they survive not being on the menu?

It’s no surprise that Frost’s script has a sprinkling of the comedy flavour of The Cornetto Trilogy, despite not actually writing any of them. And that may well be part of the problem here as it needed far more than a sprinkling to make it actually funny.

Perhaps some if it is just lost in translation, with the film directed by Dutch director Steffen Haars, who does fairly well stylistically, with the film feeling like a mix between National Lampoon’s European Vacation and Midsommar, but comedically it struggles from the off.

But even with the humour unable to tickle the funny bone, the film still manages to hold something back with a twist; unfortunately, it shows its hand far too early, giving the audience a clear indication as to what this twist –which is more of a slight leaning more than anything – is.

You get the impression that Frost didn’t analyse exactly what mad the Cornetto films funny, which, as it turns out was Pegg and Wright, who knew – and certainly his solo writing skills aren’t anywhere near on par with them.

This then is more of an Iceland branded popsicle – all ice and no flavour - and who wants that when you can always reach for a Cornetto or three.