Torsten

"You're gonna call the police? Unfortunately, I am the police."

- Torsten

"You betrayed your own brother, Erik. To me, the family is godlike... I would never do such a thing."

- Torsten to Erik, while they are hunting.

Torsten, last name unknown, is the main antagonist of the 2011 Swedish film False Trail (Swedish: Jägarna 2), which is the sequel to the 1996 film The Hunters. He is a psychopathic, superbly intelligent police officer who is working with the protagonist Erik Bäckström in order to solve a case involving the murder of a girl Torsten once had a relationship with, until it's revealed that he is in fact the killer himself.

He was portrayed by Peter Stormare, who also portrayed Gaear Grimsrud, Werner Zytle, and The Ghost.

Killing Elin
Torsten had a relationship with a girl named Elin, but when she got angry at him and threatened to tell his wife about it, Torsten killed her, and even then he had planned everything out, how he was going to evade the arrest, who he would frame for the murder, how he was going to do it, how he would make the police on his side, and what time would be the perfect one to cancel the case.

Framing Jari
Torsten keeps a facade once she is killed, and starts complaining about the fact that she is dead. However, Torsten frames Jari for the murder, who is a notorious gangster who gets into fights all the time, has been arrested a bunch of times, and according to Torsten has attacked him previously. However, before the case can be done, Torsten states that they need help from the "best of them all", who in this case is Erik. They greet each other, and instantly seem to get along. The police burst into Jari and his girlfriend's house, and grab Jari. Jari has just woke up however. Torsten confronts Jari's wife, and prepares to take her bag to use as proof. She tells Torsten not to touch it, and that she got it from Jari. Torsten smiles sadistically, and takes the bag anyway, causing her to start fighting Torsten. The police have to hold her back, and Torsten smiles even more.

Once Torsten is back and is preparing for interrogation, he talks with the boss, and asks why the just don't put Jari in jail already. He tells Torsten that he'd love to, but that they can't, and that they have to "work slow, the old police way", which frustrates Torsten. During interrogation, the film hints that Torsten may be corrupt, as Jari states that the police have been harassing him for a very long time, and instantly assumes that Erik is also corrupt, "every police officer is the same". Erik tells him that he isn't working for anyone but himself and that he barely knows anyone in town, Jari still believes that Erik is corrupt. Jari states that he was stealing something near the place that Elin was murdered, but he didn't kill her, but he did see someone there. When Erik walks away, Torsten asks Erik if Jari was aggressive, just to keep the facade going, and getting no one to suspect him.

Torsten manages to place proof in Jari's house, so that when the police come to look after proof, they find alot of proof, including a rifle and other things. They also find Elin's shoe on their way back, also placed by Torsten, which makes the case even more complicated for everyone else. However, when they test the rifle, they find that it doesn't match the weapon of which the murder was executed with. They test every other rifle of the same caliber, but no proof is to be found, making the case even more complicated once again than it already was. During the night, Erik goes to a bar, where Torsten and his wife also happen to reside. Torsten tells Erik that Leif's biological son, Peter, who is now being raised by Torsten, is singing a song for the late Elin. Erik starts walking away, not wanting to get to know Peter as it could lead into Peter realizing the truth about his father, but when Peter starts singing, Erik sees a new Leif in Peter, and gets more interested in getting to know him. Erik eats dinner with Torsten and his family, and they talk about different things, and eventually Leif.

The next day, Torsten talks with his wife Karin, and she finally realizes that Torsten was cheating on her with Elin, and starts suspecting him. Torsten tells her to shut up, and that he doesn't like when she talks like that. He manipulates her into changing her mind and apologizing. The police find Elin's body, with her uterus carved out. Erik almost instantly starts to understand that the entire case has beene orchestrated by Torsten, he is the mastermind behind it, but he has no proof yet. Erik gets furious at Torsten, but Torsten denies the accusations, and so do the rest of the police crew. Jari drives to a bar and sees a picture of Torsten, and finally realizes that it was Torsten who he saw. He uses the bar's phone to call his brother and tell him that he knows who the killer is, but Torsten hears all this. Torsten knocks Jari, and drives him to the middle of the road. Torsten holds him, and then throws him in front of a truck, making it look like an accident.

Although at this point the case is done and enough proof has been done to conclude that Jari was the killer, Erik is still sceptical. He drives to Torsten's home, and looks at the basement. There, he finds a bunch of proof that Torsten is the killer, so he calls his colleagues. However, when he returns, the proof is gone. Torsten, along with another policeman, come home while Erik is looking for proof, and Torsten starts provoking him, telling him that the case is done already. Torsten finds that Erik has a gun, and he provokes Erik even more.

Fixing the Family
Torsten talks with Peter, who has developed a good relationship with Erik, about how Erik "betrayed" and "killed" his own brother, and how wrong it was, and then tells him that, if he ever has a concern over something, he should always talk with him about it, not Erik or someone else. Ironically, the same day, Karin acknowledges that Torsten could be the killer, only this time she doesn't apologize. Torsten instantly starts brutally abusing Karin, but Peter comes in between. He tells Torsten to stop, but Torsten ignores it. Peter yells a second time, but this time, Torsten confronts Peter, and starts abusing him even more brutally, all while Peter is playing Jussi Björling music. Torsten calms his family down, but Karin grabs a champagne bottle and slams it in Torsten's face, and tells Peter to run away. Peter hides in the bathroom, and calls Erik, telling him about the situation. Torsten starts abusing Karin even more, before running away and chasing Peter.

Peter is running as fast as possible through the woods, having no other thought but to get away from Torsten. Torsten manages to catch up, however, and grabs Peter, telling him to go home and pretend like nothing happened. Erik comes right in time however, which makes Torsten furious, claiming that Erik is a monster who ruins everything. They have a long battle, with Peter damaged and not being able to do anything. Torsten is armed, Erik has nothing. At the end, Torsten gets noticeably weaker and sadder, and eventually starts crying, screaming things like "WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO THE BOY?!". Despite being a heartless monster, Torsten finally shows during the final battle that he genuinely believed that what he was doing was right, and in his final moments, Torsten is weaker than ever, and loses the aggressive tone he has had almost the entire film, and tells Erik to take care of Peter, before committing suicide and fallling into the water.