I would have been fine with an all Norwegian film, and you're right that it felt like pandering to the market to have it in English. The language barrier while they investigated the Norwegian camp added to the mystery of the Carpenter film.

I have only seen it once when it first came out so I could be remembering wrong, but it felt like a retread of the first film in structure, too. Maybe that is why the other redditor assumed it was a remake rather than prequel.